A Vented Step

We were in Loches last weekend, and I noticed this architectural detail at the entry to one of the award winning boulangeries. It's a very elegant solution to the problem of what you do when the only practical place to put a door is over the ventilation for the cellar.

Armistice Day 2019

Armistice Day was on Monday. In France it's a public holiday, and every town has a ceremony. This year in Preuilly it rained appallingly, and everybody got soaking wet. We went, but I left early, because I didn't fancy standing around in the rain whilst still trying to recover from bronchitis.

The parade is starting to form

This year the ceremony was shorter: normally we would leave the War Memorial and parade to the opposite end of town for a ceremony at the Cemetery. This year (and probably in future) that part of the ceremony was cancelled because the volunteers of the Preuilly branch of the organisation Souvenir Française, which cares for the war graves and conducts the ceremony in the cemetery have disbanded. The municipal council has taken over the care of the military section of the cemetery.

Fungi Foray in the Forest of Loches November 2019

The 5 November fungi foray to the Forest of Loches was led by Didier Raas, a pharmacist from Loches. He leads outings a couple of times a year to teach anyone who chooses to turn up about how to identify mushrooms, and best practice when foraging. Outings are often in partnership with the Association de botany and de mycology de Sainte Maure de Touraine. They are advertised in the local press and at the Tourist Office in Loches. He's leading another one today in the Forest of Preuilly, from 9.30 am.

Fungi foragers gather in the car park of the Pyramide de Saint Quentin.

A dry rot Serpulaceae (Fr. mérule) growing on a stump. Not the species that can damage your house.

Cream coloured 'milk' forming on the gills of Oak Milkcap Lactaria quietus (Fr. Lactaire tranquille) after they are touched. This species smells strongly of bedbugs or wet laundry.

A slime mould Myxomycetes (Fr. Myxomycète).

A curtain crust Stereum sp (Fr. une stérée).

Dominique explaining how to identify Death Cap Amanita phalloides (Fr. Amanite phalloïdes),

 the most toxic mushroom in the forest.

Bicoloured Deceiver Laccaria bicolor (Fr. Laccaire bicolore).
These can be found everywhere, in the forest and in damp grass in light woodland such as orchards.
They are abundant and a mushroom you most likely see every day.

Mostly bracket fungi. Includes Strict-branched Coral Ramaria stricta (Fr. Clavaire dressée),Variable Oysterling Crepidotus variabilis (Fr. Crépidote variable), Turkey Tail Trametes versicolor (Fr. polypore versicolore) and Lingzhi Mushroom Ganoderma lucidum (Fr. Reishi). The latter is made into a syrup used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for the usual plethora of ailments.

The mushrooms are laid out in their family groups at the end of the outing to be identified. 

Amanita spp left foreground, Russula spp right foreground.

Didier showing the two groups of mushrooms that have pores (not gills, like 'supermarket' mushrooms). Bracket fungus on the left, Bolete on the right.

Didier holding an Edible Cep Boletus edulis (Fr. Cèpe de Bordeaux) and explaining how to recognise this prized edible species. Other edible boletes on the left hand end of the table.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

11 November

If you're driving through Preuilly sur Claise this morning, please be careful - and patient.

At 10.30 there will be a group of people gathered in front of the Mairie to comemmorate the end of the First World War, 101 years ago. From there we will be walking behind representatives of the Veterans Associations to the War Memorial, then on to the cemetery at the other end of town. This means that there could be a considerable number of people on the main road up until about midday.

Please don't try force your way through in your car, as some have done in the past. The march is always led by the pompiers (firemen), and there is also usually a ceremonial police presence.

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If you're not doing anything today and you live in France, the transit of Mercury across the face of the sun will be visible from about 12:30. If you go to this website you can set the cursor to your location and get the exact times. This is your last chance until November 13, 2032.

PS - don't look directly - here is more information. Assuming you can see the sun...

Giant Moths

Situated between the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the National Museum of Australia in Canberra are a number of large sculptures of moths. This seems like an odd choice of subject matter unless you know about Bogong Moths.

The sculptures were designed by Aboriginal artist Jim Williams and made in collaboration with Matthew Harding. They were commissioned in 2001 to celebrate the ongoing culture and history of the Ngunnawal people, who are the traditional owners of the area. The Ngunnawal and others gathered here to collect and feast on the moths.

Bogong Moths migrate annually and were an important source of food for the Ngunnawal. Millions of the creatures emerge in the spring along the Queensland - New South Wales border west of the Great Dividing Range and start heading for the Southern Alps where they will spend the summer hiding in caves and crevices to avoid the heat. Flying at night, they are attracted by the lights as they overfly Canberra, briefly invading the city. Supposedly each moth contains three times the fat of a Big Mac. Traditionally they are roasted to remove the wings and legs. They can be eaten immediately, or made into a paste that can be transported by nomadic people.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

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Basque Four-headed Cross

Everywhere in Basque country you will see a four-headed cross symbol called the lauburu. Its origins and meaning are shrouded in mystery but it has been used as a decorative element in the area since the 16th century, and today it has become a symbol of Basque unity.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

Returning to a Childhood Home

Gary, Gabrielle, Sally and Fran at l'Esperance.

Some months ago I was contacted by Sally, an American who was planning to come to France in October to visit her childhood haunts. Her father had been in the US military, based at the huge American facility at Déol, on the outskirts of Chateauroux. The family, Harry and Elizabeth the parents, and their five children Diane, Sally, Gary, Dawn and Les, lived in France between 1952 and 1956. Because of the shortage of accommodation at the time American families were often lodged a considerable distance from the base.

Walking down the road to the mill. Mme Fauvet lived in this building, and Sally and her siblings once caught some burglars coming out of the ground floor windows.

Sally wanted help identifying the chateau she had lived in. She knew it was just outside Preuilly sur Claise but couldn't remember its name and couldn't find it on any maps or satellite images. A major clue was that she remembered it had a mill house and a swimming pool, something that would not have been at all common in the 50s in the Touraine, even at a chateau.

Gary and Sally get their first glimpse of where they used to live.

I sent messages to anyone I thought might be able to help. As the replies came back it was clear we all agreed on two possible locations: the chateau de Ris, which is actually just outside Bossay sur Claise; and the Moulin de Humeau, between Preuilly and Chaumussay (not a chateau, but quite a grand complex of buildings).  Humeau looked like the best contender, and satellite photos show it certainly has a swimming pool now, but it seemed clearly more modern than we needed. But we had some discussions about whether it was really Preuilly sur Claise. Maybe Preuilly sur Cher or Preuilly le Ville should be looked at too.

As more information came from Sally we really started to get somewhere. She knew the owner of the property at the time was a Madame 'Fuvay', and she lived there with her mother, her daughter and son-in-law, whose names, Sally recalled, were 'Christian' and 'Bob' 'Shebwasone'.

A Canadian kite hanging on the end of the mill.

I knew immediately that the younger couple must be Christiane and 'Bob' Chaboisson. I didn't yet know how they fitted in to the larger Chaboisson clan, but I knew how to find out. I just had to wait until I saw Martin, who is a member of this well known local family.

The apartment at the Moulin de Humeau that Sally's family lived in.

 It has gained dormer windows and a back door since the 1950s.

Bruno suggested that Madame 'Fuvay' might have been Madame Fauvet, and he did some digging to find out that the first of the big name domestic pool companies in France was started in 1958. Then Jean told me he was sure that the Moulin de Humeau had a pool in 1952. Yvonne told me she thought that the Chateau de Ris would have had a pool at the time too, but I was dubious about it being the American's home because I think it was owned by Hispano-Suiza as a village des vacances for employees at the time.

Sally's little sister and brother fishing in the swimming pool at Humeau in the 1950s.

Photo courtesy of Sally Weinbach.

Gérard told me that the Fauvet family had owned the mill at Humeau. It was looking more and more likely as the place we were seeking.

Finally I ran into Martin, at the municipal swimming pool. As I suspected he is closely related to 'Bob', who was his uncle ie Bob was his father's brother. Bob's real name was Albert, but he worked for NATO and all the Americans called him Bob (his family called him Bébert). When de Gaulle left NATO and chucked the Americans out of France, Bob moved to Luxembourg in order to stay in his job. Martin also told me the name of the current owner of the Moulin de Humeau and suggested we get in touch. My friend Yvonne, whose husband had also worked for NATO, and who was taking a lively interest in all of this subsequently gave me the phone number of the owner.

The water wheel on the end of the old flour mill at Humeau.

And Martin gave me some background on the Fauvets.  Monsieur Fauvet died very suddenly and unexpectedly. At the time, a freight car intended for him was at Preuilly station, and Martin's grandmother was subsequently asked to pay for this shipment.

The impression I got from several people who recalled him was that he was a big wheeler dealer with a champagne lifestyle -- apartment in Paris, the property at Humeau and another one somewhere else. Always luxury and high living. I guess the luxury lifestyle explains why there was a swimming pool there at such an early date.

The Moulin de Humeau.

By the time Sally and her family knew Madame Fauvet she was a widow. Sally says "She had our family over for meals quite often and usually we did not go beyond the large country kitchen, however once in a while she would let us see the formal dining room and the parlor where there were beautiful and countless antiques to look at. She also rented a couple of rooms upstairs to a young couple with a toddler, also American. This and rent from my family may have been her income."

Gabrielle, Gary, Simon, Sally and Fran walking towards the bridge at Humeau.

Then I ran into my friend Jean and his wife Ninon in the street. Ninon's parents had been the teachers at the school in Chaumussay and she and Christiane had been in the same class. They reminded me that there were three Chaboisson brothers -- Albert/Bob, Paul (who was the charcutière in Preuilly), and Jacques (the veterinary). Paul's widow is the only one of this generation still living. Jean reckoned the pool was installed some time in the 1940s. Ninon told me that Monsieur Fauvet had been a manufacturer of glass preserving jars. The Fauvet family came down to Chaumussay to live during the War, as refugees from Paris. Initially they lived in a grand house on the other side of the river, then at Humeau, which they bought in 1947.

Gary, Jean, Sally and Ninon outside Jean and Ninon's house.

Sally's family lived at Humeau for about a year. Her little brother Les had his first haircut at the barber's in Preuilly. The older children would walk or cycle in to town for the cinema. But Preuilly is a long way from Chateauroux and their parents were always trying to move closer. At one point Sally's father fell asleep at the wheel of his car and had an accident coming home from work. After living in the former home of the doctor in Saint Hilaire en Lignière accommodation was finally built at the base and they moved into an apartment there. Sally has photographs of  Madame Fauvet, Bob and Christiane visiting them on the base, with everyone sitting around the table playing cards.

Mme Fauvet, Christiane Fauvet Chaboisson, Bob Chaboisson and Elizabeth Hoover (Sally's Mom) sitting around the table in the apartment on the base at Chateauroux in the 1950s.

Photo courtesy of Sally Weinbach.

Finally, after weeks of correspondence, and some lovely meetings with local people who were young in the 50s, or had connections to the American armed forces, the day arrived and we met Sally, her brother Gary, his wife Fran and their daughter Gabrielle at the Hôtel de l'Esperance in Preuilly for a coffee and croissants. After walking around Preuilly they treated us to lunch at the Relais de la Mothe in Yzeures sur Creuse. Then it was time for the big event! -- visiting the Moulin de Humeau.

Sally and her niece Gabrielle.

Gabrielle, who speaks French, had phoned the owner to ask his permission for the family to have a look around. He was most gracious and told her to just turn up whenever. He would not be there as he was in Canada, where his son lives, but he would let the American friend who was staying at Humeau know that people would be visiting. Gabrielle also lives in Canada, as it happens, and to everyone's astonishment, in the same city as Humeau's owner! What are the chances!!

Sally and Gary were visibly moved by the experience of looking around Humeau. They remembered everything so clearly and the visit was obviously important to both of them. Sally shed a few tears and Gabrielle confided that she had never seen her father so happy.

The famous swimming pool, as it is today.

To round off the day we went over to Jean and Ninon's place for a chat. They were their usual wonderful friendly and hospitable selves and told lots of great stories about life in Chaumussay in the 1940s and 50s. Ninon talked about the tremendous social divide between the wealthy Parisian Fauvets and all the ordinary people of Chaumussay; Jean related the scandal he caused by wearing fashionable brief swimming trunks to go swimming in the river one day. 

This is the laundry copper in which Sally's Mom did the family's washing.

It was lovely to be able to help them achieve their dream and for it to have turned out so positively. Sally found us because of the blog. It's not the first time someone has done so, and it is always an absolute delight to meet people that have an intriguing connection to Preuilly. I know all my friends loved helping to solve the mystery of where the family lived, and passing on their memories. I would like to particularly thank Martin, Jean and Ninon, Yvonne and Gérard for the information they provided and the interest they took. Also of course, JLC, the owner of the Moulin de Humeau and his friend in residence Mrs Fry. 

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

An Accident in the Forest

The headline local news since Saturday has been about a shocking car accident in the Forest of Loches, where a car hit a stag in broad daylight. The young woman who was a passenger in the car remains in hospital in a medically induced coma. There is ongoing controversy over whether the driver of the car was to blame because of excess speed or whether the local hunt was to blame because the hounds chased the deer on to the road. It had been raining and the road was slippery.

According to the family of the victims there was no roadside signage to indicate a hunt was in progress. The crash was very dramatic, with a couple of eye witnesses, and has shocked everyone who spends time in the forest -- drivers, hunters and nature lovers alike. The vehicle ended up on its roof, in the ditch. The stag was thrown 50 metres. Forestry officers were called to retrieve the body of the animal. The medivac helicopter couldn't land near the scene due to the proximity of the trees, so the injured were taken by road ambulance to the hospital in Loches. The helicopter was waiting there to take the young woman, who had suffered a cardiac arrest, to intensive care in Tours.

A typical road through the Forest of Loches (not the stretch of road where the accident occurred).

A car carrying a man driving, his wife as passenger and their two year old child in the back hit a stag on the D764 between Loches and Genillé. According to the police there was a white van on the road with its hazard lights on to warn that a hunt was taking place in the forest. According to an eye witness the stag was not being pursued, but crossed the road calmly when the vehicle, travelling at considerable speed, collided violently with the beast. This witness had been standing at the edge of the forest and spotted the stag. They stepped forward to take a photo and the car appeared out of nowhere and slammed into it.

The brother of the driver has a different version of events though. According to him, his brother was driving at 80-90 kilometres per hour. He saw the vehicle stopped on the road in the distance, but no warning lights. He wondered what it was doing there. He passed it but did not see the stag coming, and says it was being chased. He saw the hunters and hounds arrive five minutes after the collision. He did not see signs placed along the roadside warning of the hunt.

A Red Deer stag Cervus elaphus (Fr. cerf) (not in the Forest of Loches).

The president of the local hunt federation says there are two sorts of responsibilities when there is a collision with big game animals. If the stag is being pursued by the hounds, then the hunt is responsible. In the hunt the prey becomes the property of the hunt organisation when it is being pursued. To prove the hunt is responsible you need to know if the hounds had caught up with the stag.

The driver's family talks about a delay of five minutes after the impact. An eye witness says it was a quarter of an hour.  If the game animal was not being chased and crossed freely it means the animal is not the property of anyone in particular, but is common property.

The hunt president also mentioned that the law is vague about the circumstances when a hunt must be indicated with signage. Under current regulations there is no obligation to put out signs, other than that hunters must wear high viz (usually choosing orange). He also observed that hunters are not the only people in the forest disturbing the wild animals. Mushroom hunters are also in the areas where the big game lives.

Local opinion is split on the subject. Some people are demanding the cessation of hunting. Others criticise the speed of driving and point out that hunting is useful for regulating the deer population. Drivers who use the road frequently say that the hunt would not have been indicated to road users. Others say that the presence of large game is a natural risk and requires everyone to be extra vigilant.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

Assistance for Workers Transport

Electric assisted city bikes for hire in Amboise.

French employers are obliged to subsidise their workers transport fees if those workers are using public transport of any sort (buses, trams, trains, city bikes). These days this arrangement is explicitly to encourage people to use more climate friendly means of getting to work than individually driving themselves from home. The payments involved are tax and social contributions free for both parties. As well as subsidising train tickets employers can also choose to hire a fleet of bicycles (regular or electric assisted) that their employees can use.

Tram in the city of Tours.

To benefit from this system employees must hold a season ticket or subscription that is regularly topped up for their chosen public transport service. If an employee chooses to use their own car, scooter or bike there is no obligation for their employer to contribute to the costs. However, in practice, if workers have no access to public transport or work shifts that mean public transport is not running when they need it, then good employers will stump up, and both parties are allowed to take advantage of the tax benefits.

Fast trains at Tours Centre station mean you can live in Tours and work in Paris.

Employers must contribute 50% of the second class fare for the shortest journey between the worker's home and place of employment. Part time employees are included in the 50% contribution rules if they work 18 hours or more a week. Fewer hours than that means you get the subsidy on a prorata basis.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

Regional Roof Tiles

I've been talking about roofs and tiles to various people recently, so I thought I would refresh and repost something Simon wrote in October 2008.

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Flat terracotta tiles in La Guerche.

Preuilly sur Claise is on or close to a number of borders. At the time our barn was built it was on the border between England and France. During the Second World War it was close to the border between Vichy and Occupied France. Now it is very close to the border between the départements (counties) of Indre, Indre et Loire, and Vienne.

It is also close to another less formal border - that of roof tiles.

In Preuilly we have flat tiles, known as tuiles plates. These tiles are traditionally made in terracotta (in French terre cuite) and are found in all places north and east of us. The tiles are hung by a little tag on horizontal battens, which you can see quite clearly in this photo of our roof under repair.

 Our barn roof being renewed with flat terracotta tiles.

However - travel only 25 kilometres toward Poitiers and you will see roofs of canal or mission tiles (tuiles canal). These are also made from terracotta, but are slung in vertical battens, with one tile on its "back", with another tile upturned over the top. This makes everything look very Roman, or mediterranean. These tiles are in St Germain de Confolens, in the Charente.

Of course, if you had a lot of money when you built your house, or subsequently came into money and wanted everyone to know about it, you have a slate roof. Like a lot of buildings in Preuilly, our barn has a slate roof facing the street, but a tiled roof where it doesn't show.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

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November is Offal Month in France

Offal is considered a delicacy in France. You can always buy a certain amount but in November it is particularly noticeable in the butchers' windows. The calves born in the summer will be slaughtered at 20 weeks and there will be a sudden, short lived glut of testicles, sweetbreads, heads and hearts.

Andouillette, a pungent sausage made of pigs intestines.

Veal testicles (known euphemistically in French as rognons blanc or 'white kidneys') 

and fraise de veau (an obscure part of the intestine known as calf's ruffle in English).

Calf's ruffle, tripe and têtes de veaux (calves heads, boned,with the skin rolled
around the tongue and cheek meat) at the front, brains just above on the far left.

Veal sweetbreads (ris de veau).
Calf thymus glands from the neck, and pancreas from near the stomach.

The price ticket shows Label Rouge certification which ensures high standards of animal welfare, and specifically notes that the calf was raised with its mother.

Chicken gizzards (gésiers).

My local specialist offal butcher, who I buy from regularly at Loches market.

My offal butcher is always happy to offer cooking advice and information about each of the products he sells. For example, when I was dithering about which sort of liver to buy he commented that veal liver, which is twice the price of lamb, pork or yearling beef, is also sweeter than the others and therefore not to everyone's taste. He's given me a number of really delicious sounding recipes, including:

Pork Cheek Crumble with Parmesan
Lamb Liver, Heart and Kidney Kebabs
Grilled Skirt Steak with Sautéed Artichoke Hearts
Crispy Tripe on a Bed of Baby Salad Leaf
Crispy Honeyed Veal Sweetbreads with Preserved Lemon Zest
Fried Veal Heart with Ginger and Basil
Italian Style Beef Tongue
Calf's Head Filled Vegetable Spring Rolls
Indian Style Crumbed Beef Kidneys
Creamy Veal Sweetbreads and Linguine with Mushrooms
Thai Style Lambs Liver
Crunchy Mediterranean Style Pork Cheek
Slow Cooked Pork Cheek with Mint
Lambs Kidney Kebabs
Spiced Tripe with Prunes
Beef Skirt with Pesto and Baby Salad Leaves
Veal Brains in Lemon Butter
Fried Veal Heart with Ginger

Which one do your reckon I should start with?

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Art Market

Indigenous artists travel thousands of kilometres from their homes in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the islands off the northern coast of Australia to come to the biggest indigenous art fair in Australia, held annually in Canberra. Artists work in both contemporary and traditional styles and are producing paintings, sculptures, textiles, jewellery, pottery and home decor. There are demonstrations by some of the artists and performances (eg didgeridoo).

Proceeds go directly to the artists themselves, many of whom live in remote communities.

The fair is held in early December on the lawns next to the National Museum of Australia and AIATSIS building. There is some great stuff for sale. My photos are carefully taken from a distance because many Aboriginal people are not comfortable with having their photo taken, and many artists are not comfortable with having their work photographed. These pictures were taken when we went in 2017. 

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

Basque Cheese and Ham

The Basque country, straddling the French-Spanish border, is famous for a number of traditional foods, dishes or ingredients that come from both the mountains and the sea. In my opinion the two absolute must not miss/must eat at every opportunity foods from the area are the cheese and the ham. And I am fairly take it or leave it with ham and cheese in general -- neither food is what floats my boat normally.

 Aged Basque cheese served with black cherry jam in a restaurant in Saint Jean de Luz.

The cheese is made with ewes milk and there is an AOC called Ossau-Iraty. Then there are a bunch of cheeses with tricky to spell and pronounce Basque names. There are several local breeds of sheep in the mountains, with the red faced Manech being the one you will most commonly encounter.

Every restaurant offers a local cheese, served with black cherry jam, along with their dessert choices. The older, drier and saltier the cheese the better. I was interested to note that there wasn't much focus on whether the cheese was certified as AOC. You did sometimes get told which farm it had come from, and the Basque area is one of the top producers of farmhouse cheeses in France. As is so often the case, the AOC only matters to establish quality when it is sold outside its home area.

The tradition of making cheese in the Basque country may be the oldest in the world, and certainly dates back to prehistoric times.

 Kintoa ham and chorizo.

Basque, or Kintoa AOC ham is produced by salting and air drying the hind leg of the local breed of pig. The salt comes from Bearn, where it is produced in a centuries old method from a saline spring. The pigs are free range, raised at high altitude in pasture that includes patches of deciduous forest with hazelnut, oak, chestnut and beech. The stocking rate is between 25 and 35 pigs per hectare.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

The House of the Golden Goose

One of the most distinctive properties in Preuilly is the former home of Paule Richon, a 20th century artist who I have written about before. The reason the house is so memorable is because of the unique decorations on the shutters at the front.

La Maison des Marches (the building's 'official' name translates as the House of the Steps).

According to my friend Yvonne these were made by Jacques Walter, Paule's nephew and business partner. One of them has been restored recently and put back after a long absence (presumably at the metalwork conservator's workshop).

I would say by the colour of the newly restored metal that the birds and stars are beaten brass, not copper. Ironically, the monkey lurking up on the drainpipe, looks like it is copper, not brass. Frankly, I'm amazed that none of this metalwork has been stolen over the years.

 Birds and stars adorn the shutters.

I don't know who owns the house these days, but little by little it is being restored and it is nice to see that the decorative metal is being cherished. 

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos.