Restoring the well – before & after

Finally, the well is finished!. Everything has dried up perfectly, and the well is ready to be taken back into use. To our great pleasure the river-stone top turned out really pretty (as you can see below).

Around Montpezat-de-Quercy

 

 

Many of the villages in southern France look like time has stopped. When you can think away the cars and the people on their cell phones, you can imagine how these villages looked like fifty years ago, or a hundred years ago, or even longer ago. Montpezat-de-Quercy is one of those typical villages with a long and rich history.

 

Besides the dreamy streets and French cafés Montpezat has a Collégiale (collegiate church) that was built by Cardinal Pierre des Prés (1288-1361) in 1337. One of the main features in this church are the amazingly detailed Flemish tapestries form the sixteenth century depicting the life of Saint Martin.

Restoring the well–part 2

The front of the well had a huge hole in it. It once began as a small crack but in time some of the stones have fallen out. Using metal rods we have been able to repair most of the hole.

Big parts of the top (old concrete) have been coming off. At first we wanted to cover the top with our chalk mixture, but in the end we decided to decorate it with river stones. This way we hoped to both restore it, and show that we have restored it. I know that sounds a little strange, but I hope the final pictures will show you what I mean.

Gardening in the small

Meanwhile back in Belgium, the “garden” is growing quite well.

Little green banana:

Things exploring new worlds, new civilisations, boldly going where no… ahem.

Tomato section:

With little nearly-red balls of fire!

And also some flowers:

Anything is possible with enough watering and singing and loving care!

Le Fournil de René

Yesterday our neighbour asked me to help out with making bread. Locally this is still done very traditionally. René gets up at six in the morning to prepare the dough, and around nine the furnace is lit and the bread is folded into the right shape.

The bread is laid out and covered to prevent them from drying out.

The fire is lit to heat the oven. Afterwards the burnt wood is pulled out and a piece of newspaper is inserted to measure the heat. If the newspaper goes brown the oven is at an ideal temperature. If it burns in any way the oven is too hot and you have to wait for it to cool down a little.

The bread is then flipped onto a small board using the folds in the fabric. From this board the bread is sled onto a larger board and placed into the oven.

Once the bread is brown and crusty they are taken out one by one.

And voila the end result! Amazing traditionally made bread by René.

Restoring the well – part 1

Our well has definitely known better days, and is in desperate need of restoring. As you can see on the before pictures above stones have been falling out and the old cement is crumbling. If we would leave it for a couple more years without a facelift, we wouldn't have a well any more.

Under the all seeing eye of the dog (aka the boss) we have taken out loose parts. We do this part by part, careful not to dislodge the general structure of the wall. The good stones we keep, the bad ones we throw. After cleaning out a hole we puzzle together a new one, using the old and new stones. The puzzles are stuck in using a mixture of 3 parts sand, one part chalk, and some water. This mixture is less rigid than cement and is thus more suitable for our old (and moving) buildings. Everything made of cement cracks and tears within a couple of years in this region.

We’ll keep you posted on the progress!

Mum and the dog on the tractor