The gîte near Mortagne

The gîte rural is located at a place called La Bouée, on the territory of the commune (township) of Coulimer and eight kilometers south of the town called Mortagne-au-Perche. Le Perche is the name of the old province. It's the lower edge of Normandy, squeezed in just above the Loire Valley and the Beauce wheat-growing region southwest of Paris. It's three hours north of Saint-Aignan.

La Bouée, near Mortagne-au-Perche

La Bouée is about a mile off the main road, the D931, from Mortagne to Mamers, and a few miles south of a village called Parfondeval ("By the Valley Bottom"). You turn off onto a narrow paved lane, go about a mile, and then turn left onto a gravel path. It goes up for a few hundred meters through a "tunnel" of overhanging tree limbs and you arrive at the house. It is nearly totally isolated. There's one other house on the lane, out near the main road. It's a big farm. There are two other houses at the end of the paved lane, but they're far enough away to remain unseen.

A view of the house and barn from down on the road.
Walt built a fire in the fireplace Wednesday afternoon.

I wondered about the name La Bouée. A bouée is a buoy — what's called a "sea buoy" on the North Carolina coast, where I grew up. It's a kind of floating channel marker that helps ship captains navigate dangerous waters, find their way into port, and avoid sandbars and reefs. Why would a place out in the middle of farm and horse country be called "The Buoy"?

Marie and Callie walking down the road toward daylight

The woman who owns and operates the house called La Bouée as a gîte rural — a furnished vacation rental, we would call it, or, in British, a self-catering holiday accommodation — gave me an answer. The house was home to several hermits, or monks, 200 or 300 years ago. It had a connection with an abbey —in French, une abbaye, pronounced [ah-bay-EE]. It's not far, phonetically, from l'abbaye [lah-bay-EE] to la bouée [lah-boo-AY], and the local pronunciation ended up changing the name in an unexpected way. That's what she said.

Another view of the road out

The house is isolated, so you have to drive everywhere (except for walks with the dog). The big town, Mortagne (pop. 5,000), is five miles north, with shops, restaurants, cafés, and supermarkets. The village of Coulimer is three miles west, but there's no bakery there, only a little grocery store. When we tried to buy bread in the store, we were told there was none available. We could see half a baguette on the bread shelf, but it must have already been spoken for. North, at Parfondeval, we saw no shops at all.

The barn as you arrive at La Bouée

The house itself is an old stone farmhouse with two large bedrooms, a small kitchen, a decent-size living/dining room, and a bathroom downstairs. A third bedroom (smaller) and second bathroom (more modern) are upstairs. The kitchen is well equipped, and there is plenty of hot water. There are three fireplaces in the house, and we used the big one in the living room. There's an old stone barn right next to the house. This year, the whole property is surrounded by fields of tall corn.

The barn at La Bouée, right out the living room door

We enjoyed it, despite the fact that there was no internet connection or cell phone signal. That took some getting used to. It was very quiet. Staying there for a few days made us realize how much we have come to depend on being able to look up everything, from words to maps to tourist information, on the web. We had to go to the tourist office in Mortagne to get a wifi connection and an internet fix.

The old house named La Bouée

I'm back in Saint-Aignan now. And BTW, my family in N.C. is fine as far as I know. I talked to my mother yesterday at about noon her time. She said there was a lot of wind and rain, but nothing terrifying. The worst problem was that the electricity had gone off so she couldn't make coffee or cook — or use AC or heat or look at blogs. It's a big pain when the power is off. I'll call again in a few hours and get an update.