Chapter 2(of 8) Hol;iday 2005

The Sarthe has a very special place in Sile and my affections.
We worked there, in the little village of Cheffes sur Sarthe. In the early Seventies, and have had many holidays around the area and that of Le Loir and of La Loire since. If only it was a bit further south I think it would be our choice of place to buy a house.

This was the village pond at Bazougeres where l’Houzardiere was.
We went for a walk after supper and loved the colours of the night sky.

The Abbey church here is reported to have terrific 12th Century Frescoes but people in shorts (me) weren’t allowed in.
The Village church however had some terrific blue stained glass windows.
We just managed to get this photo before some lady sextons came in and bustled us out. Very old fashioned in Solesme.

While we were in the camp site in Roeze I took this photo of some water-lilies A La Manet.

It was only later when I blew it up that I discovered this Moorhen chick in hiding among them.

Malicorne, another of the “Petites Cities de Caractere” had a good, if a little too State of the Art Musee de Faience (Glazed Earthenware) Their fortunes as producers had fluctuated during the years and they had at one time gone in for making miniature furniture like the Chest of drawers here,

And even the odd Bidet, complete with rude message like this one.

I did manage to get to one “Foire de Brocante” while we were in the region, in Vallon-sur-Gee. Truth to tell it was much more of a “Vide Grenier” (Car boot sale) than a brocante. Never fear though, this did provide me with quite a few bargains. I found this Absinthe Glass in a stall which I paid €7 for. I had seen his brother in the Marche des Puces in Paris for sale for €100.

But these Champagne Tompettes (I think that is the word for these baseless glasses) were my prize buy. I had been wanting some for ages but they are quite rare. There is a great tradition of baseless glasses which have to be emptied before they can be put down. This was why tumblers were originally so-called to distinguish them from stemmed glasses with bases.
These ones with their original Moet stand were fine but he was looking for €25 for them. It involved quite a bit of barter (I even had to leave the stand and come back later) but I eventually beat him down to €10. He sold them,however, with good grace as he said he had to sell them to us as he could see that “comme moi et ma femme” we were romantics.

He is right though.
There is something very romantic about the Sarthe.
This is a photo I took very early one morning from one of its bridges.