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My environnement
Our county
Some close-by remarkable villages.
I'm living in France in a small village located at the edge of the " Black Perigord" .
It is a hilly area sparsely inhabited, mostly covered with shrivelled oaks - due to a karstic soil - and pastures.
Agriculture here consists mainly, besides pasture, in apple and walnut tree orchards and of course geese and ducks breeding.
Not to forget truffle harvesting, and we've got an overview of everything related about the well-known Perigord gastronomy.
Another aspect of this remarkable area is the wealth of its cultural and natural assets : France flowered villages (Collonges la Rouge, Turenne, Curemonte, Carrenac, Ayen...), so many castles (Hautefort, Castelnaud, Beynac, Milandes, Val...), ungorgettable caves (Lascaux, Fage, Padirac, Tourtoirac, Proumeyssac...) and round the world famous sites (Lascaux, Les Eyzies, Rocamadour...).
Our hamlet
Our hamlet through the seasons
Our village, practically on the 45th parallel, is located on the north slope of an east-west oriented valley, which implies a very good amount of sunshine. This, plus the fact that the bottom of this valley is a lake acting as a thermic regulator, explain that we enjoy a mediterranean type climate. Around here, most gardens include : rosebay, lavander, Florence's cypress, camelia... even if some of these plants are not endemic.
Our village, being at the crossroad of three counties : Correze, Dordogne and Lot, is within an hour drive of the Perigord most famous sites.
Our home
Our home through the seasons...
Our home includes three parts:
- The oldest dates back to 1836, with sandstone walls a meter thick, with an oak framework, and surprisingly a tiled roof though most roofs in this area are covered with local slates. This part contains a large living room on the first floor and bedrooms on the second floor.
- The second part, in line with the first, dates back to 1888. There too, thick sandstone walls, oak framework. It is now a very large kitchen, an attic bedroom and also a splendid vaulted cellar used as a potter's workshop.
- The third part is quite different in that way that it was built in the twentieth century. With a rather contemporary design, it fits the south-east corner of the ancient building.
But this house most outstanding feature is its breathtaking view of the lake in its green valley.
The lake du Causse
The lake du Causse through the seasons
Let's focus for a while on this lake.
It is fed by the river Couze (20 km), a small tributary of the Vezere river, being itself a tributary
of the Dordogne river which, after merging with the Garonne river makes the Gironde.
Born 30 years ago by the construction of an earth dam, this lake is 3 km long and is dedicated mostly to leisure:
fishing, swiming, boating, especially rowing boat. A nautic base offers year round rowing activities and organises
local and national championships.
In 2009, for the first time, the world university rowing boat championchip was held there.
There's also two nice sand beaches, well appreciated by tourists in summer.
To keep this lake in its natural green environment, the whole area surrounding the lake is protected,
preventing the construction of any building (besides the nautic base and an old water mill now used as a tourist office).
Our garden
Our terraced garden
Our home being on a slope, the surrounding garden is, as in Babylone, build on terrasses.
Each terrasse is bordered by a stoned wall, where many wild flowers grow and bloom all year round:
Valeriane, Alysse, Lobelia, Dentelaire...
Terrasses are linked together by small irregular stoned stairways, and hold flowerbeds
and green patches of grass planted by blooming schrubs.
In our garden, I counted more than 140 variety of flowering plants.
Many trees can also be found: fruit trees (fig, wallnut, cherry, peach...)
flower trees (albizia, lagerstroemia, magnolia, mimosa, tamaris...)
or else (Korean maple, olive tree, palm tree...)
and vines (glycine, clematitis, passiflora...).
But, I can assure you, its not a botanical garden!
The garden washtub
The ecological aspects
Our home different ecological aspects
Back to our home, it appeals to more than one way.
First of all, its old style and its proximity to the lake give our home a positive charm.
And then, several renovation efforts have made it comfortable and pleasant, without forgotting the ecological aspects:
solar water heater, biomass and air pump heating, rainwater recovery, photo-voltaic outdoor lighting,
organic waste composting.
My hobby
My hobby
I am a potter!
Today, it's not a trendy occupation.
Potter: this word slightly outdated and archaic reminds us of a time when potters would make useful articles: dishes, pots...and so on.
Today, it's quite different. Potters are still making dishes, but in factories! The potter I'm refering to, the one I'm identifying to is the art potter. No mass production, no speedy production, but only Art.
I make contemporary pieces, often unusual and colorful, but always unique.
My imagination must always be alert, on the lookout for new ideas and forms.
When I make a bottle for instance, it might be quite different from a regular bottle, both in its forms, its colors or its proportions.
Besides, each bottle is different, hence the incessant effort of creativity.
The theme of my works, be it a bottle, a teapot or a bamboo, varies so much that the result is sometimes very distant from the original concept.
Thus, a teapot may well swing around an unstable position, or a vase be split down to its base!
It does not mean that my items are unusable, but rather that their utility side gives way to the artistic aspect.
In my view, the eye is clearly treated in a privileged way!
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