18 March 2011

MORE CHÂTEAU PICTURES

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You can wander around the courtyard and admire the buildings, the trees and the flowers to your heart’s content, for free.

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There are peaceful and shady places to sit to admire château or watch the world go by.  Actually, not much does go by, making it very peaceful indeed.

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The new building above, and part of the old building, below, house the new museum.  There is a charge to enter and it is well worth the cost.

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The view over the village from the château wall is spectacular.

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It’s 4.5°C here in Derbyshire today -  spring has not quite got going yet. Our daffodils are still waiting for a bit of warmth to open them up.  Knowing that it is warmer and brighter in our little corner of France helps.  I think.

I could say “roll on summer” but we have spring in Le Grand-Pressigny to look forward to first.  I just can’t wait !!

14 March 2011

LE CHÂTEAU

Last July I had a long weekend in Le Grand-Pressigny with my friend Barbara.  She was keen to have a look round the château and I realised that although it is literally on our doorstep we tend to take it for granted and this was only the second time I had stepped within its walls.  Of course we usually do a circuit around the outside at least twice a day with Lulu.

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We often lean over the drawbridge and see this view when walking with Lulu.  You can just see the new part which has been built beyond the tower.

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New and old blending together – the donjon standing next to the new museum.  It’s nice to remember that it was a hot day in July when I took these photos, in fact I can almost feel the heat………..not long now !!

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In the courtyard we spotted something that definitely was not open last time I visited the château myself– an entrance and some stairs descending below ground.  It just had to be done !!

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Once we got to the bottom of the steps we found ourselves inside the base of the round bit of the château wall on Rue des Ramparts. There were slits in the wall where we could peer out over the village.  To think that I walked past these slits every day and it had never occurred to me there could be someone inside, looking out. !!

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I wondered how different the view might have been when the slits were being used for their main purpose – presumably watching for unwelcome visitors – hundreds of years ago.  Apart from the obvious, such as there being no washing lines or TV aerials.

It was certainly cool in there, a brief respite from the heat of the day.

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Turning around, our way back up to the courtyard was through this entrance.

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And then back up the steps to the outdoors.  All very nicely restored.

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This view is looking back towards the drawbridge at the other end of the château from the first picture.

When we were chez nous in January I noticed some work going on in the grounds around this part of the château.  It will be interesting to see what has been done next time we visit.

5 March 2011

A MISSING MASTERPIECE

When on a long weekend chez nous in July 2009 with my friend Jackie we visited the village of Le Louroux and in the old mill there was an art exhibition.

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I spotted a painting by the local artist Veronique Duprès and went back a couple of days later to buy it as a present for Nick. It’s at the bottom right of the photo. It is of a stretch of the Loire river.

He really liked the painting but not the frame, which he thought looked as though it was bought from an vide-grenier. It probably was, but I thought its shabbiness had a certain charm. Anyway, it hung in our room in Le Grand-Pressigny for a while then we brought it back home to the UK and last week took it to be re-framed.


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We are very pleased with the result. The picture shop made a lovely job of it and the frame really enhances the picture, we think.

When we went to collect the picture the man in the shop had a surprise for us.  Having dismantled the original picture, guess what !!

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Underneath there was another painting. We rather like it. So the man in the shop cleaned up the old frame for us and put the original picture back in. There is some damage to the bottom of it but we like the colours and the style. It is unsigned so I have no idea who painted it.


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We have decided to call the picture "blue lady" – she looks slightly wistful or even sad, I think.