Church on Sunday...Charnizay

Worth a second look...

Last weekend our son Paul and his partner Sally visited us for a few days from London. On the Saturday we took them on the Chambon walk we had done a few weeks ago. As we walked out of the village past the pottery we had to stop and admire the covering of wisteria over the house and workshop

On the top left of this picture you can see a detail that caught my eye that I had missed before...

It is an old couple on a bench.atop the chimney.


We all enjoyed the walk with the L'etang de la Forge taking on a different look from last time.

Sometimes you just have to stop...

On the D365 road out of Chambon 

Spoilt for choice?...

It is getting nearer the time (weekend) when the country has to decide who is going to take it forward...and at the local Mairies and Hotel de Villes we are presented with the candidates in a display of 'trust me,I'm the one' poses.

I have shown posters from both angles so as not to show any bias!

If you want a clue as to who is going to win check out this BBC article

Post box post...

Wasn't sure if the post box we saw in our walk around Descartes could be out-done but I was wrong....

How about this - spotted in front of premises in the village of Anché near L'Ile Bouchard.

Chateau du Bois d'Aix

 After our walk around Descartes and having spoken to Cathy at the 'Saint Marc chapel' we decided to drive up towards the Chateau du Bois d'Aix , which is actually on one of the 'walks', to have our first look 'in the flesh' of this chateau which had been spoken about and blogged about (Jean, I think) in the past. If you drive up Rue de Beauregard  on your left as you are leaving the village in the direction of Barrou you cannot fail to be impressed by this chateau which jumps out at you from the left-hand side of the road.

We were lucky in that the gardener saw me taking a picture of this private chateau from the roadside and after an exchange of pleasantries asked if we would like to drive up and have a closer look. The only stipulation being, that we replaced the chain over the entrance on the way back out.

The chateau is even more imposing from close up!

 This is the pool-house!

The view you see from the road is actually the back of the chateau -  not a bad looking back door,eh!

 Here is the front - the gardener said that the place has been renovated from 'top to bottom' and the current owner, when he does drop in, need do nothing else but put his feet up!

By Loire Valley standards this is a very 'modern chateau being built in !911 by an industrialist. There is not a lot of information on it but it was acquired by the state and sold off not so long ago. This auction site says it was the owner who did the renovation who sadly was forced to sell it - the 2,2 million asked for seems a fair price!

A walk around... Descartes

Descartes is a town in Southern Touraine that we would only normally visit on a Sunday for the market, but recently we had been invited to visit the local Rene Descartes museum (here) and seeing it without the market we thought we should return and walk around it for a better look.

There is a designated town walk which starts in front of the Mairie ...

                                                ...just by the statue of the great man himself.

                                 Rue de Commerce is quite a pretty street devoid of market stalls...

...and the market area itself takes on a whole new look.

Think this is the 'The house with the ballustrade' as described in their 'Discovery trail'

Half-timbered houses continue as you make your way down towards the bridge...

 ...'Le Pont de la Resistance'  

This bridge has always been an important crossing over the river Creuse forming part of the pilgrims route 'Santiago de Compostela' to Spain and as part of the old main route from Paris to Bordeaux. Jim McNeill has a a good article about the bridge  here... in his 'Social history of Touraine' blog.

The river Creuse is pretty impressive at this point and you should take a stroll onto the bridge for a look back towards the town's riverside park and beyond.

Here is the view the other way.

The park is just coming into bloom after its spring manicure ...we felt as if we were the first people to walk on the freshly raked paths - probably were - as there were no other footprints or maybe the attentive gardeners rake up after every visitor!!

Walking back into town looking towards the 'rose garden'

Spotted this 'pillar to post' feature on our walk.

The town throws up the usual mix of housing stock, like many towns and villages of the Loire Valley, perhaps highlighting the different social circumstances of their residents.

  

One of our favourite houses in the town is that of our friends Cathy and Steve. Its on your right as you enter the town from the Barrou side. It is actually featured in the 'trail' as well as the 'Saint Marc chapel'  which it was originally. It has also spent time as a cafe before being converted into the lovely house it is today,still retaining a few of its original features.

           There are a few 'marked' walks around the town's bordering countryside which we will seek out on future visits.