❝Our challenge, as you may recall, was to preserve and enhance the authentic historic details of the Maison de la Ferme. But to make it comfortable and chic!❞
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It was an ambitious undertaking from the start, testing his ingenuity and building skills, his command of matériel and men. It involved big, load-bearing structural repairs. It drew upon the arts of masonry and plumbing, electricity and carpentry.
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“A chaque âge ses plaisirs! » remarked Madame Francine, approvingly, looking out of her kitchen window as she watered her small forest of African violets. “Every age has its pleasures!”
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“C’est l’été!” exclaimed Madame Francine. “It’s the summer!” She wasn’t exactly complaining, but she was rather warm. She fanned herself with a torchon, a dish cloth from which she’d just shaken out vegetable peelings. Easter is coming to the Chateau, as everywhere in France, with sunny skies and warm temperatures.
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“I feel like Tom Sawyer,” said Henry, his blue eyes twinkling. His little cousins think painting the fence around the moat will be fun – and so is scrubbing the big iron gates of the Chateau.
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“Well, that’s la France,” reported our guardian, Monsieur Xavier.
Here in the peace of the Normandy countryside, we are “au confinement,” like the millions of our French compatriots. We share our fate with some of our family, including two little girls and their parents who are staying in the Farmhouse. We are the lucky ones, we know…
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The Chateau is quiet. Our guests stay home. And so must we.
Today was the last day for the open-air market in the village. It must close, like those in the nearby towns of Seés and l’Aigle. Our little Carrefour grocery stays open, as do the two boulangeries and the cave à cidre. And, of course, the pharmacy.
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"What do you think of this?" asked Madame Mireille, digging into a cardboard box. She pulled out a handful of "passementerie." Pompoms of rose-colored sink spilled over her fingers with the suppleness of a stream of water.
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“What’s Turgot doing here?” asked my husband, standing stock still in front of a portrait of a
cheerful-looking man in a thickly curled wig.
It was a sunny spring day, and we were visiting the Chateau de Courtomer. The edifice was
then on the market for the second time in its long history.
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Devastated…and reconstructed…
Looking at the statue of Marie Harel in the market square, we noticed that it had been donated by “Men and women making cheese in Van Wert, Ohio.”
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About an away from Courtomer, we crossed the bridge over the river Vie at Livarot and stopped for tea at Vimoutiers. Here in the square is a statue of Marie Harel -- credited with the invention of Camembert cheese.
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A couple of years ago, dear friends decided to move from Paris and take on a small Manoir in Pays d’Auge. This unique little region of Normandy is just an hour and a half from the Chateau.
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We took a little trip to visit friends who live near the coast of Normandy, in the Pays d'Auge. It's about an hour and a half from Chateau de Courtomer...and an entirely different experience from the "Pays Courtomerois."
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The gardener of Chateau de Courtomer.
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“Fruits de mer” to die for.
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Making music to celebrate the hunt is an ancient tradition.
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Elisabeth de Courtomer offers her expertise on how to plan the perfect destination wedding.
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Photos from the Courtomer schoolhouse, from Gilles who grew up in Courtomer.
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