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