A Perfect Week of Retirement for Mark | Daily Life in France | Ep 60

How can you go wrong with a week that includes massive metal sculptures, cycling adventures, and a pretty chateau to peek at in a nearby village.

LINKS
(1) King Arthur & the Round Table sculptures — https://destination-broceliande.com/en/offers/les-nouveaux-chevaliers-de-la-table-ronde-neant-sur-yvel-en-3519277/
(2) Château des Forges de Lanoué — https://monumentum.fr/monument-historique/pa56000065/forges-de-lanouee-chateau-des-forges-de-lanouee
Background:
“The industrial origin of the site dates back to 1756. The forges worked until 1864. In 1837, a tan mill was created and, in 1857, a canal junction between the river and the canal from Nantes to Brest was built. In 1932, a hydroelectric plant was built, accompanied by the keeper’s house. It is the transformation of an industrial site into an agricultural and landscaped area around the former house of the master of forges built in the 1760s, and transformed into a 19th century neo-Louis XIII castle. A first magnification in depth and length was made in the 1850s, to which two symmetrical lateral pavilions were added at the end of the century. Inside, the reception rooms and dining rooms are distributed around a central hall in which a wooden staircase is placed. The old kitchen in the basement has retained its organization. In 1888, the landscape architect Killian designed a garden project that was not completed. In the 1887s, he built the farm at the entrance to the estate. From 1908, the courtyard preceding the house was framed by two buildings: the “ambulance” (social and medical service) and the “small house” which contained the offices on both sides of which the working-class dwellings were aligned. A garden on the embroidery of boxwood was created to give work to the workers who had remained unemployed. The whole is completed by a large pool bordered by a nymphaeae. The old blast furnace serves as a water tank. The chapel was enlarged in 1895 and took a Latin cross plan. The small four-sided bell tower on a quadrangular base was replaced by an arrow in the 1990s. The city consists of small identical houses, grouped by two adjoining units.”
Unfortunately, the chateau is now listed online as permanently closed.

BOCAGE definition:
In English, bocage refers to a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture, with fields and winding country lanes sunken between narrow low ridges and banks surmounted by tall thick hedgerows that break the wind but also limit visibility.

TIMELINE
00:00:11 King Arthir & Round Table sculpture in Neant-sur-Yvel
00:01:52 Bashing through a stretch of bocage
00:03:08 Beginning to zip through the countryside including ‘barn diving’ along the way
00:04:40 Entering outskirts of Les Forges de Lanoue
00:05:55 Riding through the tiny village of Les Forges de Lanoue
00:06:28 About to discover a surprise behind the old church
00:06:47 The Chateau Des Forges de Lanoue is revealed through a small gated opening in thick hedges
00:07:37 Mark gives a short explanation of the chateau and what the village was best known for
00:09:01 OUTRO

Would you enjoy a village life in France? Mainly for over-50s & over-60s, our lifestyle channel includes normal daily events, cycling with Mark, painting and artistic endeavours with both Deborah and Mark, visits to historic French villages-towns-landmarks, and our own adventures in renovating a centuries-old house. We’ll share our version of retirement and a balanced lifestyle.

After moving permanently to France from Australia in 2016, American-born Deborah and British-born Mark now enjoy a low-stress and happy life in beautiful northern France.

We’re young-at-heart artists and artisans, designers, photographers. Deborah has a background in writing, editing, journalism, and psychology. Mark spent decades in the building trades, so we’re serial renovators of run-down houses in the USA, Australia, and now France.

We have lots of plans for the upcoming months and years, so why not join us!

OUR CHANNELS
A Village Life in France — https://www.youtube.com/@AVillageLifeinFrance
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All words and images, both video and photographic, are strictly copyright protected and are @Deborah Harmes — @Mark Harmes — @A Village Life in France
All rights reserved.

MUSIC — Copies of individual licenses for each song used are on file.
Good Morning Cafe Jazz @sleepvolume
Gypsy Jazz Guitar @William King — williamkingproduction@gmail.com
Middle Ages 147373 @AudioLibraryEN
Always Remember 185195 @AudioLibraryEN

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[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Wow. Who knew Britney had bage like uh Normandy does? That was cool. Hard riding, but cool. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] There you go. That is the shadow at Leforge, which was the whole town. Well, it’s named Leforge because they they had forges. They had forges because uh the Napoleonic Wars Napoleon built the Nons breast canal because of the English were blockading breast and it was a way of getting to nons inland without fear of being uh shot or attacked or have their stuff taken away. So this town used to make armaments for the Napoleonic Wars. I’m assuming cannonballs and stuff like that, but they had their own canal built so that they can access the Norn’s breast canal, move on from there. So, I’m assuming it would have been a very prosperous place in the day, very active. And the forest that I just came through, I’m sure that supplied the forges with plenty of wood. So oodles of history. So now to now to go out and have a good ride before the rain comes in and just absolutely swamps us. Not saying it’s apocalyptic rain, but it’s been heavy. [Music]