MaY MEMOIR: Ca va? Stories from Rural Life in Southern France: Chapter 2: The 600 Year Old House

Welcome to MaY MEMOIR!

Day 3 

For the entire month of May, I'll be sharing part of each chapter from my memoir, Ca va?  Stories from Rural Life in Southern France.

After a big bowl of coffee, Christophe and I step outside.  (Yes, a bowl.  In France, they drink bowls, not mugs of coffee.  It's something I’ve gotten used to, but I adjusted pretty easily since a bowl actually holds a lot more coffee than a mug.)  I’m still a bit dazed from the trip, but he wants to show me more of the house and garden.  Here is where I learn about the age of the house.

Chapter 2: The 600 Year Old House

We step outside after breakfast.  It is warm; the sun is climbing high, and the day is promising to be hot.  Christophe wants to show me the garden since I really didn’t see it last winter.  We pass through a small wooden gate and enter.  On either side in front of me are green wilting leaves; they arch low covering the flower bed.

“They’re irises”, Christophe says.  “They’re done blooming now, but in the spring there are hundreds of flowers.”

We continue down a path to a lower terrace; the garden extents out from the house and gives way to an unobstructed view of the mountains in front of us.  They tower up from plunging valleys and are covered by dense forest.  There are some rocky outcrops and winding footpaths that climb up the mountain and disappear at the crest. Far out, I faintly make out a few ruins.

“Were those houses?”  I ask.

“Yes”, says Christophe.

“Wow.  How old do you think those are?”  I ask.

“Two or three hundred years”, he says.  “But, they are not as old as this house.”

“What?”  I ask.  “How old is your house?”

 “Around 600 years old”, he responds

“You’re kidding me!”  I say in disbelief.

“No, really.  It was built in the Middle Ages when people were trying to avoid the Black Plague.”

Thinking back to how houses were made in that time, remember they were used to shelter livestock too.  Christophe’s house is no exception: the basement housed the sheep, goats, and donkeys and his living room was probably the hay loft!