Leaderboard

There was a chateau by the beach in Bouisseville, near Oran, Algeria, where we lived in 1969-70, where an old French lady had lived on her own since Independence. My wife called to see her one day and found she lived in spartan conditions in just one room in the huge building.

I thought I'd relate my experience of visiting a chateau near us where we walkers were invited by the chatelaine herself. What happened was, we inadvertently trespassed on her land during one of our walks. She came out to remonstrate with us, only to stay on chatting and gave us a date to return and see the place properly. I think the poor woman was simply lonely. The day we went, she had old photos and the original plans of the buildings all mounted on boards and set up in a display to show us. She told us all about her life there and how her husband was not born a baron but was made one by "érection"! Not knowing that in French the word could also mean simply elevated to that position, I wondered how anyone arrived other than by erection. She had an elderly mother in a wheelchair and both acted like proper ladies, wearing pearl necklaces and old ladies' dresses and we were a group of walkers decked out in walking gear and led around like school children being shown things to dispel our ignorance. But what a sorry state the chateau appeared to me and looked, at at close range, nothing like the imposing pile we see silhouetted against the sky every time we walk the countryside around that village. I remember going home after my walk and feeling how much more comfortable and liver-friendly my own little house was by comparison. OTOH, I have stayed in 2 magnificent chateaux in 2 different départements that were run as hotels, and everything from food to grounds, furnishings, bedrooms etc were luxurious and wonderful to be in.