Who knew?

On our first walk back in Touraine yesterday we walked around the public gardens in Descartes then along the 'Voie Verte' towards the papermill. At the end where it stops and reverts back to railway line we decided to continue along to see where it ends. Unfortunately it ends with a fence and a locked gate so we had to do an about turn and head back! 

We had never really ventured down the little streets around the papermill as they really do not have much of an appeal but yesterday as we were there we decided to do it and see where they lead..

There was a history board on one of the single story houses which explained why they were here. They were built in the late 19th century as a 'workers' village' in identical rows much like miners' cottages for the workers from the mill. Not exactly the prettiest of locations but definitely handy for work! The smarter two story houses on rue Charles Vigreux were built for the 'white collar' employees, to maintain a class divide I suppose! What a sad environment to live in but perhaps at the time there were financial advantages and like miners' villages they probably had a strong community spirit.