Looming over the town of MonTrichard (the T is sounded) is the impressive donjon which has dominated the countryside for miles around for the last thousand years. We assumed ‘donjon’ meant dungeon, a prison down in the bowels of the earth but no, the French use dungeon too. Donjon means the exact opposite, architecturally speaking. It’s what we call a Keep, a large tower built in fortified residences, a place of last resort should the rest of the castle fall.
Oct 14, 2018 by scribbling4bread
Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. Dr. Johnson
Oct 6, 2018 by scribbling4bread
The best part of writing a book is the research. It takes you on a journey of discovery to places you would never have heard of and therefore would never have seen. A good case in point is Romorantin in France. Researching for Leonardo da Vinci: The Amboise Connection I found out that once […]
Sep 2, 2018 by scribbling4bread
Château Candé is one of the unexpected delights of the Loire Valley, especially for English tourists because this is where they lost their King to love. This is where Edward VIII married Wallis Simpson, the woman for whom he gave up everything, his Crown, his country, his family, his very identity of who he was […]
Jun 24, 2018 by scribbling4bread
Just down the road from Amboise Station, next door to Aldi, is a fine old factory with fine old gates. In the forecourt are fine old machines which, when built, were things of engineering beauty, with age are works of art.
Jul 16, 2017 by scribbling4bread
In March 2017, the journalist Ian Birrell wrote a piece for the ‘i’ newspaper: Why We Must Shut the Zoo Gates. It’s his view, he’s entitled, but one he might change if he went to Beauval Zoo in France, a beautiful seventy acre park for animals which humans are allowed to share. Mr Birrell asked […]
Jul 5, 2017 by scribbling4bread
The Gare de Tours is quite simply wonderful. It was built between 1896 and 1898 during what is now known nostalgically as La Belle Époque, a time of peace and prosperity when France was the cultural centre of the world.
May 6, 2017 by scribbling4bread
The Loire Valley has many common or garden châteaux but Loches is a Royal Château which means it was owned and lived in by French Royalty. One of the most important, historically speaking, in France, it still has the feel of what it was, a mighty fortress.
Apr 9, 2017 by scribbling4bread
Off to The Smoke via Liverpool Street Station to visit Two Temple Place to see an art exhibition on The Bloomsbury Group. Having spent time at Charleston, one of their many homes, we know quite a bit about them.
Dec 14, 2016 by scribbling4bread
Christmas in Amboise is, unfortunately, getting more like Christmas in the UK but there are a few merciful respites. Decorated Christmas trees and Father Christmases do begin to pop up in December but on the whole, things are much more low key. There is no spending frenzy. The French do not go into debt. […]
Nov 10, 2018 by scribbling4bread
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