The last stop on our Patrimoine weekend visits was to the 18th century,beautifully preserved 'relais de poste' in Les Omes, once a vital stop on the Paris to Bordeaux route. Built in 1752 and active until 1873, it still holds the echoes of galloping hooves, changing horses, and royal messengers. We had a look around the small museum, the former stables and riding school plus the historic courtyard where the horses would be refreshed / washed down.
The former riding school has a vaulted wooden ceiling.
The rise of the railway spelled the end for horse-drawn post houses. When the Paris/Bordeaux line opened in 1851, the days of relay stations were numbered. By May 31, 1873, the era of the poste aux chevaux officially came to a close.
* The coffee reference on the last post had a story behind it. As we were heading over to visit the 'La Bergerie' from the chateau opposite, we were all in need of a coffee/drink so decided to head down the street to find a bar or restaurant opened...no luck so it was decided to continue along the road in the direction of Chatellerault to Dangé-Saint-Romain where we parked up and asked some locals where we could get a coffee, only to be told there was nowhere open! So it was back in the car and on to Ingrandes where, guess what?, nowhere was open!! We actually had to drive all the way to Chatellerault (1/2 hour) before we found somewhere open, ah Saturday afternoon in France. Dennis had agreed to go all the way back to continue our visits in Les Ormes and as we walked into 'La Bergerie' we were offered a free coffee (and cake) now if only we had known! All part of the fun of a good day out!
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