Our Boulangerie

by Matt

I am finishing this post as Grace and I sit at the little table and chairs in her third floor room looking over the church in the middle of our village, while we practice her piano note flashcards, and the church bells just rang eleven times (11 o'clock).  Scharman is downstairs doing violin drills with Emmeline, and we are preparing for a late morning trip to the park on the island (in the Cher river that runs through our village) and a big lunch at the Olsons.

I thought it might be fun to write about where we are staying while here in St. Aignan-sur-Cher (St. Aignan on the Cher [river]).

Our little bakery:

Our townhouse is just the same as any other three-hundred year old bakery (boulangerie) in the center of a small French village that has been converted into a gite' (jee-t)(vacation house), with its beamed ceilings and bricked-up flour chute from the top floor and remnants of the pulley system used to hoist flour bags from the street to the third floor, but since we might have one or two unique features I thought it was worth a tour.

George at the front door.

We are staying in a three story "townhouse" on the market square (ville centre) in St. Aignan, France.  We enter from the side door into the living room with windows on two sides looking out onto the Square.

Living Room:

The living room furniture is not new and is covered and the far wall is a book shelf filled with books in English.  There is a television, but its many channels are only in French.  Anthon asked for "a show" the first day and we turned to a French children's cooking show, after about 5 minutes (they were making something from chocolate) he lost interest. He has not asked for a show since.

Kitchen:

Off the living room, and separated by a wide wooden countertop, is our kitchen, complete with most everything you need; just miniature. The fridge is small, and without a freezer (I don't think ice and freezers are part of life here (as there was no ice in drinks on the French airline from the US)). We have a microwave, small sink, miniature oven, full size dishwasher, table and six chairs and sufficient counter space. Fortunately, we have racks to hold up to 12 wine bottles, but no wine.  However, when the six available glasses are used, the kids have enjoyed resorting to the many available wine glasses.  We have lots of plates, cutlery, utensils, and a drawer full of knives.  During our initial tour of the kitchen with our landlord she emphasized the two coffee pots, and cupboard filled with coffee and tea; George tapped my leg and pulled me down to whisper--"we don't drink that do we."  And without partaking of coffee or wine we will miss-out on some of the more notable aspects of this region.  Each meal we gather at the table to share our breads, cheeses, meats, fruits, yogurts, chocolates, vegetables, and desserts.

Second Floor:

We proceed upstairs via a twisting narrow wooden stairway where you can see and feel the years of use in the worn steps.  The second floor hosts a full bathroom, a bedroom for the boys, a bedroom for the parents, and a new clothes washer carefully tucked into a hall closet.

Boys' room

The boys room has three single beds and a fireplace.  It has two sets of windows that start about one foot off the floor and reach to the ceiling.  Lift the handle in the middle of the windows and they unlatch from the wall and you can swing them open and feel the breeze come through the room and look over the market square (and fortunately several horizontal bars two feet high on the bottom of these windows insure our little guys don't lean too far out to inspect the new surroundings below).

The master bedroom has a queen bed and a fireplace, a narrow hanging closet where the hangers hang at an angle to allow the doors to close, a sitting area and three sets of large windows.  Like the boys' room, the windows reach to the ceiling and once unlatched they swing open.  This morning we watched and listened to the pigeons walking along the rooftop across the street and heard the church bells ring on the hour and half-hour.  

View from the parents' room

As with the downstairs, we have tara cotta tile throughout the second floor (and third floor) that is worn, cracked in places, replaced in places, and generally looks hundreds of years old.  Also, like the downstairs we have a beamed ceiling through our bedroom.

The second floor bathroom opens to the hallway between the boys' and parents' room.  It is complete with a loo, sink and open shower/bath; all redone and new within the past 3-4 years.

Each of the doors (on this floor and throughout the house) locks with a key (the large skeleton keys that hardly fit in your pocket), and all the keys are in the locks of their respective doors, at least they were until George went around and "collected" all the keys. Fortunately, we were able to return and rematch each key to its correct lock.

As I look at the short hallway between the bathroom and the bedrooms I notice that there is a small step into our room; each door is cut to fit its respective opening, and each is wedged between timbers and stone with some plaster affixed to smooth over the transitions.  The floors throughout the second floor (and the entire house) rise and fall slightly as if the house has settled for hundreds of years and the floors (and walls and ceilings) have moved in concert, and cracked or compressed, and been patched and repaired as needed. If you get a quiet moment to just sit and look around, you can imagine the activity of the bakers hundreds of years ago as they worked to create the wonderful breads of this region.

Third Floor:

On the second floor, at the intersection of the several doors leading to the wash closet, bedrooms, bathroom, and ironing closet, there is another door, a door to the third floor. Open this door and the narrow winding staircase continues to the top floor of the townhouse.

As you rise this final staircase surrounded by stone block walls, you emerge into the giant third floor room that once housed sacks of flour for the boulangerie.  Here this 700 sq ft room is the girls bedroom.  Timbers criss-cross part of the room and remnants of the pulley system remain next to the giant window where the bakers hauled in the flour from the street three stories below.  The oversized window is the jewel of the townhouse providing the picturesque view of the ancient church at the center of town, and the girls enjoy a small sitting area in front of their view of the church towers (which they can also see from their bed).

Finally, the girls also benefit from their own private full bathroom.  Often this spacious third floor is an escape for the children where they read their stories, compose their plays, and perform their reenactments.  The girls have imposed a "knock and announce" obligation on their brothers before they enter the girls domain, and it is fun to listen to the boys knock on the door at the foot of the stairwell and announce their name and intentions.

We are loving being in the center of the village, and retiring to our little bakery each night after a long day of exploring the tastes, sights, smells and calmness of the French countryside.