A couple Châteaux

I have a wonderful detailed map of the area we are living. It shows almost every building, the names of the individual farms, etc.  I have discovered a few inaccuracies, but mostly the map is spot on.

I noticed it indicated a château not far out of town. During the middle ages, this part of France, and most of Europe was agricultural land owned by the king and managed by barons, counts, knights, etc who provided goods and services to the nobility.  The kings had very large châteaux, the other nobles, smaller ones. Normandy is dotted with large and smaller estates, country houses, villas, châteaux, whatever they should be called. Though I've done some research I haven't found much information about these places. I don't know how old they are.  I will continue to try to find out what I can.

I noticed a château indicated on my map just at the edge of town, so headed out one day to see if I could find it. It is in the middle of an apple orchard, where they were harvesting apples that day.

 

A couple weeks later, I was looking for someplace to walk again and discovered another château on the map, so I went in that direction and found a second one. Both of these had gates that were open, but were not sign-posted.  Anyway I took the open gate as an invitation and walked in.

 

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The gate at this place was a beautiful wooden one.

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And here's a view of the garden inside the gate.  For more pictures of both these châteaux, you need to go to my web page here.

 

I think these are some of the prettiest pictures I've posted of Normandy, so do check them out, then come back and let me know what you thought.  :-)

Comments

Julie said…
I love hearing about your adventures in France, and seeing your wonderful photos. It's great armchair traveling! Those chateaux are really beautiful! Keep us posted if you find out more about them.
November 9, 2011 at 8:08 AM
Cécile said…
Julie, thanks for the kind words. Come visit me in Normandy. I'm so sorry I won't be here when you come to Duluth.
November 9, 2011 at 12:46 PM
Forestwoodfolkart said…
Thanks for posting some beautiful photos. Incredible that you can just find these amazing places just walking around your area. I have never really been that interested in visiting France, thus far, but seeing these pictures does whet my appetite somewhat. Well done, very interesting blog and can't wait to read about the next discovery.
November 12, 2011 at 8:06 PM
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