| I've just spent the day removing the mud | | | | with plasterboard on the inside, and |
| from between the stones of our house in | | | | "point" them on the outside so that the |
| Brittany. The mud stands in place of | | | | whole house looks like a wedding cake. |
| lime or cement mortar which were | | | | We've avoided the wedding cake |
| unavailable or unaffordable when the | | | | appearance on the outside - leaving the |
| house was built. | | | | "belles pierres" to speak for |
| The process gave ample time for | | | | themselves. On the inside we try to |
| reflection on what should be done when | | | | preserve some of the unevenness of the |
| an old house is modernised. | | | | walls and leave party walls with |
| Here in Brittany it is impossible to | | | | adjoining houses as they are - the rest |
| preserve a house in its original state | | | | covered in plasterboard that follows the |
| if it is to be lived in. All the | | | | contours of the walls. |
| memories of those times - mostly the | | | | The rooves were nearly always slated in |
| memories have died with the people who | | | | Brittany, but the old slates have almost |
| lived then - would be of bad weather, | | | | disappeared. They were of poor quality |
| mud, cramped living space, the cold and | | | | for the most part, but even the smallest |
| privation. Today we can avoid these | | | | were used (near the ridge of the roof). |
| things but we risk losing the spirit of | | | | Like nearly everybody else we replace |
| these old places. | | | | with Spanish slates. French slates from |
| Ironically one of the features that we, | | | | the Monts d'Arree or Trelaze in Anjou |
| and others like us, proudly retain is | | | | are only for the very rich. |
| the dated front door lintel. But our | | | | As far as the floors are concerned we |
| French neighbours tell us that many such | | | | capitulate to modern practice, so tiled |
| dated artefacts were actually looted | | | | concrete replaces "terre battue" |
| from the local manoirs at the time of | | | | (=beaten earth) which was the |
| the revolution. | | | | traditional floor material. This lives |
| The upper storey of old houses was | | | | on, by the way, in dances called "pile |
| always a grenier - never lived in except | | | | menu" which originally accompanied the |
| by mice who feasted on whatever was | | | | actual process of consolidating the |
| stored there. These days the grenier | | | | "terre". |
| becomes several bedrooms. They can boxed | | | | So it is with water, gas, electricity |
| in as normal rooms or left open right up | | | | and telephone: we have them all but we |
| to the ridge - 15 feet, which is what we | | | | often think about the last farming |
| have done in part. | | | | family which lived here. All four |
| Next the walls would be as rough as the | | | | daughters "bettered themselves" and the |
| stone that made them, but possibly lime | | | | only remaining sign of farming is a |
| washed indoors every spring to control | | | | plough and a harrow at the bottom of our |
| the population of bed bugs which spent | | | | garden.. |
| part of their life in the walls. | | | | How can you reasonably honour such |
| Nowadays we insulate them and cover them | | | | people who lived such hard lives ? |