03 July 2016

Fortified

Yesterday afternoon, I drove with our friend Peter Hertzmann, who's here for a long-planned weekend visit, over to the village of Lassay-sur-Croisne, near Romorantin, and spent a couple of hours at the Château du Moulin. It made me think of our friend Cheryl, who passed away at the end of the week, because we went there with her in 2003. Our first visit to Le Moulin was with Cheryl's cousin and friend Sue, in 2000 — 16 years ago already!


Peter and I took the guided tour of the inside of the château, as we had done with Sue and then Cheryl in 2001 and 2003. The tour was much more professionally done that it was back then, and the guide was very informed and informative. The château is no longer occupied by its owner, a woman who was something like 93 when she died in 2010. Before her death, knowing that somebody actually lived in the château made the tours feel like you might be invading somebody's privacy — but it was her choice to open her "house" up to the public. Now it feels more like a tourist attraction than a residence.


The Château du Moulin was built over the last quarter of the 15th century, and in a sort of faux medieval style. At that time, the French Renaissance was gaining steam, some of the grandest Loire Valley châteaux were being built. The new style was to build grand, more comfortable residences than fortified military structures. The guide said the Moulin never saw warfare but was mainly a fancy residence in a forest. It was "moated" and sort of semi-fortified for protection from bandits and highwaymen — and because the man who had it built liked the old style of architecture.

10 comments:

  1. I'm sure these beautiful photos were taken with the old-new. They are much crisper than those we took several years ago. It seems you turned around the moat, as we did then.

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    1. According to Wikipedia, it is still inhabited.

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    2. It is still owned by the same family, and the late resident's grandchildren stay there from time to time, the guide said. And yes, we had an hour to wander around the gardens, see the strawberry "museum", and stroll all around the perimeter of the moat.

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  2. How did they fare in the recent floods? Romo was one of the worst affected places but I don't know how widespread around there it was.

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    1. The subject of the recent flooding didn't come up, and I saw no signs of damage. The woman who sold us our tickets did say that some of the oldest apple and pear trees on the property, dating back as far as the late 19th century, died over the winter because of the excessively damp weather.

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  3. What an impressive place. What is the chateau used for? Just tours and an occasional stay by the owners?

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  4. So wonderful and amazing and I am grateful there are people in the world with the care and money to maintain and keep these amazing places that we will not see again. Once they fall into ruin and are gone, they are truly gone.
    I am a lover of architecture and "old things" so this is My Kinda Thing :)

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  5. I'm glad the weather is cooperating now. What a handsome chateau. I love the curved parts of the roof and all the chimneys.

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  6. It will be fun to see what you and Peter H. Cook during his visit :)
    Thanks for sharing these photos!

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  7. Nice...I like the smaller chateaux. They more "personal" and don't seem overwhelming, like say, Chambord.

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