In our village, which is officially un hameau (a hamlet), there are nine houses. Our house is one of three that are located at the end of a paved road and on the edge of the Renaudière vineyard, which has a dirt road running through it. Two of these three houses date back, I think, to the 18th century and have been extensively remodeled over the past 50 years. Our house was built in the late 1960s and is the one with the darker brown roof. We've lived here for almost 20 years now. In the last photo that's Walt looking out of one of our back windows.
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I just saw a report on Télématin, the French morning show, about the energy crisis and its effect on two of the châteaux in our region. One of them is the Château de Cheverny, which is privately owned and open to the public. Its owners will pay 62 thousand euros over the coming year for heat and lights. The utility bill at the nearby government-owned Château de Chambord will double over the same period, climbing to 215 thousand euros. The people faced with those bills are looking for ways to keep costs down. More modest light displays for the end-of-year holidays? Installation of solar panels? Burning more wood in the buildings' big fireplaces?
Solar is starting to make more sense for us all.
ReplyDeleteThat's for sure. And wind power.
DeleteI love to see pictures of your hamlet, thank you. I hope these large chateaux can come up with a workable solution.
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
Me too. As Mary said below, admission prices are bound to go up. Chateaus like Chambord and Cheverny stand on a lot of land, part of which could be given over the solar panel "farms".
DeleteI still haven't visited those chateaux; a good guess admission prices will go up.
ReplyDeleteYour hamlet is more historic than I realised. Nice photo with Walt.
Hi Mary, six of the nine houses in the hamlet date back to the 18th or 19th century, I believe. Three others were built in the 1960s and early 1970s while the older houses were being renovated.
DeleteThe place name Renaudière for our "hamlet" appears on French maps dating back as far as 1820, so I assume members of the Renaud family lived here earlier than that.
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