Sarliac sur L'Isle War Memorial.Chauzanaud is really just a cluster of 10 or 15 stone buildings (homes and barns) on either side of the single lane road, in the middle of the French countryside.
This is the house across the road at the end of our driveway (looking out)
Barn type building at the turn into our driveway (on the right)
This is the house across the road at the end of our driveway (looking out)
Barn type building at the turn into our driveway (on the right)The villa is really one end of a long stone 2 story building. The other end is a two bedroom villa.
Our villa is on the end to the right of the chimney.
Looking up to the main house
There is least another building on the property which is in the process of being renovated we presume to make another villa for let.
On the end of this building (in the photo above the wall on the right) is a huge brick oven that must open into the villa/house. Beyond you can see the pool which has an electric operated floating cover. A pretty well maintained garden of roses, shrubs, vines, fruit trees and hedges surrounds the buildings. All in all a pretty idyllic setting.
The property is own by Alison Stone and her husband. Alison is a Professor in the Dept of History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh. Her speciality is French Iluminated Manuscripts (hence her presence in France). They spend their summer holidays in Chauzanaud.
Outside our front door is a small patio area overlooking the garden and pool.
Welcome to our villa this is the front door.
The walls of our villa are stone which are rendered in places. The walls average about 18 inches thick.
Kitchen window
The bathroom window is shaped like an arrow slit that you might expect to see in a castle or fort wall; very odd. The floor and ceiling beams are exposed. The building has to be at least 300 years old. The beams are roughly sawed and shaped.
Kitchen (note exposed beams)
The exposed timber work is joined with mortise and tenon joints fixed with 1 inch diameter wooden pegs. This type of construction has to be very old.
Bedroom up stairs in the attic
In places the joints have been braced with steel straps (like the one in the photo). But not the one above the bed (not shown here) which worries Jenelle a lot.
The bedroom is up stairs in the attic. The exposed beams are about 4 feet above the floor which means a lot of careful ducking and weaving as you move around the room; especially in the dark.
There a some pretty steeps stairs going up to the bedroom. Going up is a bit scary.
Coming down is terrifying...
Coming down half asleep in the middle of the night requires great caution and a strong bladder.
The bathroom / laundry is down stairs.
There is a small and basic dining and lounge area attached to the kitchen.
We hurried over to Perigueux early on Saturday morning in time to catch the market. And oh what a catch.
We unpacked our haul on the kitchen table at the villa when we arrived.
The purchases included 1 roasted duck, 1 roasted quail, a small piece of roast pork, 12 small roast potatoes, 4 assorted cans of foie gras, 2 white peaches, 4flat peaches, 2 nectarines, 1 rockmelon, 1 large punnet of strawberries, 2 lettuce, 4 tomatoes, 1 garlic, 2 eschallot onions, 1 spanish onion, 1 long spanish type onion, 1 cornish pastie filled with duck, foie gras and ???, 2 large pieces of slice, one peach and one chocolate/raspberry, 1 large punnet of cherry tomatoes, 1 cucumber, 1 bag of fresh shelled walnuts, 1 semi mature goats cheese , 1 round loaf of bread and half pizza crust type bread topped with caramelized sugar and aniseed. Cost..just under A$100. Experience...priceless.
Here's the foie gras.
Our villa is on the end to the right of the chimney.The main house is in front of our of the villas.
Looking up to the main houseThere is least another building on the property which is in the process of being renovated we presume to make another villa for let.
On the end of this building (in the photo above the wall on the right) is a huge brick oven that must open into the villa/house. Beyond you can see the pool which has an electric operated floating cover. A pretty well maintained garden of roses, shrubs, vines, fruit trees and hedges surrounds the buildings. All in all a pretty idyllic setting.The property is own by Alison Stone and her husband. Alison is a Professor in the Dept of History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh. Her speciality is French Iluminated Manuscripts (hence her presence in France). They spend their summer holidays in Chauzanaud.
Outside our front door is a small patio area overlooking the garden and pool.
Welcome to our villa this is the front door.
The walls of our villa are stone which are rendered in places. The walls average about 18 inches thick.
Kitchen window
Kitchen (note exposed beams)The exposed timber work is joined with mortise and tenon joints fixed with 1 inch diameter wooden pegs. This type of construction has to be very old.
Bedroom up stairs in the atticIn places the joints have been braced with steel straps (like the one in the photo). But not the one above the bed (not shown here) which worries Jenelle a lot.
The bedroom is up stairs in the attic. The exposed beams are about 4 feet above the floor which means a lot of careful ducking and weaving as you move around the room; especially in the dark.
There a some pretty steeps stairs going up to the bedroom. Going up is a bit scary.
Coming down is terrifying...
Coming down half asleep in the middle of the night requires great caution and a strong bladder.The bathroom / laundry is down stairs.
There is a small and basic dining and lounge area attached to the kitchen.
We hurried over to Perigueux early on Saturday morning in time to catch the market. And oh what a catch.
We unpacked our haul on the kitchen table at the villa when we arrived.
The purchases included 1 roasted duck, 1 roasted quail, a small piece of roast pork, 12 small roast potatoes, 4 assorted cans of foie gras, 2 white peaches, 4flat peaches, 2 nectarines, 1 rockmelon, 1 large punnet of strawberries, 2 lettuce, 4 tomatoes, 1 garlic, 2 eschallot onions, 1 spanish onion, 1 long spanish type onion, 1 cornish pastie filled with duck, foie gras and ???, 2 large pieces of slice, one peach and one chocolate/raspberry, 1 large punnet of cherry tomatoes, 1 cucumber, 1 bag of fresh shelled walnuts, 1 semi mature goats cheese , 1 round loaf of bread and half pizza crust type bread topped with caramelized sugar and aniseed. Cost..just under A$100. Experience...priceless.
Here's the foie gras.Get the can opener and slice the bread. Jenelle's new motto "You only die once". "Live for today". Bon appetit!!
