Jenelle found an interesting brochure called “La route des Laviors”, the washhouse trail. According to the tourist information there are 18 villages on the trail each with it's own unique Lavoir and all within about 20km of our cottage. That's different we thought and off we went for a drive.
We soon discover that some of these village are as about as small as a village can be to be classed as a village. The smallest villages have no shops. Like Grandrieux where we are currently and Beurizot where we stayed last week. After a very close examination we have come to the conclusion that these villages are actually clusters of farmsteads. Each farmstead being its own walled compound which includes the main house, presumably workers accommodation, sheds for equipment, hay sheds, barns for cattle and large open quadrangle. In the village there maybe half a dozen or ten of these compounds plus other private homes, sometimes the Maire (town hall), a war memorial, but always a church. It is not a village without a church.
Our first stop is in our neighbouring village of Resigny, which is fairly large.
The Washhouse...
In the middle ages washhouses were few and far between. People just didn't wash their clothes. They barely washed themselves. As time went on people became more aware of the importance of hygiene and clothes washing became more common and more frequent. But the washhouses were owned by the local Lord or Barron and the people had to pay to use the washhouses.After the French Revolution, administrative districts called Communes were established. These communes (are like our local councils except covering a very small area) began to build more washhouses as a public service.
In the early 19th century women would wash there white linen during the big washes of Spring and Autumn. By the late 19th century this was taking place every month rather than twice per year. By the early 20th century women were visiting the washhouses once per week. In the 60s and 70s the washhouses were abandoned in favour of the modern washing machine.
The washhouses were a women's world; a bit like CWA in the laundry. Because the washhouses had such an important role in the culture and the community, over many centuries, in the 90s the local communes decided to restore and preserve them. We may have been the only people to actually take the time to travel the washhouses trial.
The Maire....
War Memorial...
Old building with timber structure filled in with mud....
New house (which is very rare)...
Church dominating the main street...
Next stop Brunehamel, a big village. So big in fact that we could not find the washhouse even with an address. The French just don't do signs. Tourist information and advertising signs are almost non existent. There is never signs toward Public toilets. Even Real Estate signs are small, bland and factual; zero promotion. But Brunehamel is still worth the visit if just to see a typical country village church and it's church yard cemetery.Maire...
Buildings around here often have one end wall completely tiled. Don't know why....
Our host's house is a typical example....
Due to the lack of natural local stone, most buildings are built of brick....
Church and church yard cemetery.....
Typical grave with decorations and loved ones personal inscription of dedication to the departed....
On to Dohis, which is one of the small villages with a big church. In fact there is a tourist trail for the local churches because they are actually fortified churches. They were fortified to provide a sanctuary for the locals in times of trouble....
This is the fortified church at Archon that we visited a few villages later...
The washhouse....
Village house....
There a lot of corrugated iron sheds in this area. This shed would be right at home in Australia....
The road to our next stop Panfondeval is very minor. The villages are only a few kilometres apart and except for the narrow strip of bitumen we keep thinking we are on a farm road. This back lane approach takes us to see things we would otherwise miss.Like getting up close and personal with the cows...
Hay shed stacked to the rafters...
The council mowing the roadside. In one place there was one man on the mower and another 4 directing traffic, for a country road...
Huge fields of artichokes that must yield tens of thousands of artichoke. Who eats that many artichokes....
Apples and other fruit tree orchards that seem never to get harvested. The trees are fully loaded, there is fruit on the ground everywhere and still no one bothers....
The sugar beet harvest has just started and there are massive piles of harvested sugar beets appearing beside the road, ready to be taken to the mill....
Wonderful old sheds like this one in Grandrieux.....
And many villages seem to have nuclear fallout shelters on the border of the village....
In Parfondeval we find the washhouse, tick it off the list and move on...Washhouse...
Typical neglected village house. Most villages have quite a few of these buildings...
But you can't always judge a book by its cover as you they say. The split system air conditioner on the apparently old shed is a dead give away that the inside is much more modern....
At first glance we thought this was a church until the farmer drove his tractor into it. This is the entrance to one the farmsteads in the village...
Here is another farmstead compound entry in another village. Very flash these must be the rich farmers. Most compound gates are just solid wood or tin.....
As we drive around the villages we start to notice more and more roofs in sheds and homes have pigeon lofts. Obviously no problem with bird lice here. We figure the pigeons are for pies...
In the next village Dolignon we find the two washhouses...
and a haunted house....
The village of Morgny-en-Thierache wins the award for the most neoclassical designed washhouse...
While Vigneux Hocquet's village washhouse wins the prize for the best scenic location. We had to walk about 200m down a steep gravel pathway to find this washhouse. The water runs out of a spring in the side of the hill behind the washhouse, flows though and continues on as a picturesque little stream...
Chaourse however wins the best of the best competion hands down. It has got everything; style, setting, functionality. It just makes you want to get out your dirty clothes and do some washing. This was the only washhouse where there was any action; a local was washing his girl's car using water from the washhouse spring.
By the way almost all the washhouses have a running natural spring. The water is constantly flowing. Who knows how many million litres of water goes down the drain per year.Some of the runner ups include the washhouse at
Magny....
and Montloue
Grandrieux our local village has two washhouses. One is very run down but the other is quite respectable....
It is the village of Chery-les-Rozoy that wins the wooden spoon. The building looks ok from the exterior, but the inside is very delapiated and all the windows are broken. The village folk at Chery-les-Rozoy will need to lift their game...
Although Archon runs a close second last...
By now the sun is setting....
and the moon is rising....
time to call it a day.
