L i ving magazine
dec jan
2022
Joyeux Noël ! Business Directory
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Gorgeous Gifts Snowy getaways festive Recipes & much more!
~ Passionate about life in south west France ~
4 | living contents
26
16 36
Practical Advice
40
Your questions answered
38
Winter Reflections A call for climate action from us all as a New Year approaches...
30
39 5
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6
Snippets Local news from around the region
16
LIVING Christmas Market Glorious gifts and delightful decorations to inspire your festivities this year
22
Forever Green We investigate a mysterious character who is found in some of our most ancient abbeys, churches and cathedrals
26
It’s Snowtime! After a couple of missed ski seasons, we take our regular look at where best to enjoy a host of winter activities
30
Who’s Knocking? We take a closer look at the colourful world of les heurtoirs
33
Do you E-Bike? They’re being promoted everywhere, so we look at the rapidly expanding world of the e-bike
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Puzzle Break Our unique crossword by Mike Morris
40
Nikki Legon’s Cuisine As celebrations are back on the menu, Nikki offers some traditional favourites alongside some new ones
44
Old Vines Caro Feely explains the importance of vielles vignes
50
46
Living Property Pages A profile of Celles-sur-Belle in Deux-Sèvres
50
The Secret Garden Jessica Knipe visits a hidden treasure on the banks of the Charente in Rochefort
65
His Own Man The fascinating life of Claude Debussy
66
Pardon! Working hard with Emma-Jane Lee
Business Directory
55-64 The best local services and suppliers are waiting for your call!
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18 || living 20 22 living green green man man
The annual Green Man Festival, held in Wales
Église Notre-Dame, Courcôme (16)
Forever
We investigate a mysterious character
Green
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who is found in some of our most ancient
abbeys, churches and cathedrals
living living places green to visit man| 23 21
Église de l’Assomption, Le Chalard (87)
6th century Roman Green Man, Great Palace Mosaic Museum, Istanbul
O
nce seen, never forgotten... there is, after all, something distinctly unsettling when you first catch sight of a face peering back at you from among foliage apparently sprouting from his mouth. He might be sculpted from stone or finely carved from timber, but when he pops up again and again you start to wonder what exactly is going on. The Green Man seems originally to have been a symbol of fertility and our close relationship or ‘oneness’ with the land we work, and which in return nourishes us. While he and his brethren are found in historic locations far and wide (particularly in Europe and the UK) precisely where the Green Man first appeared is uncertain, but we do know that images of foliated or ‘leafy’ face masks were already being created during the Roman era. In fact, a fine 2nd century example
survives on a stone fragment among the collections of the gallo-Roman museum of Vesuna in Périgueux (24). What’s more, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region is also home to the earliest known representation of a Green Man disgorging vegetation, which you can see further north in the Église Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand in Poitiers (86). He’s seldom mentioned in documentation and is easily missed, but you’ll find him inscribed on the end of a time-worn 4th century marble sarcophagus lid displayed in the first southern bay of the nave. The tomb it once adorned is believed to have been that of Saint Abre, daughter of the bishop (born locally around 350AD) to
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18 | living green man
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Above Châtel, Portes du Soleil (74)
living skiing | 27
Dog sledding La Chapelle d’Abondance (74)
New to the French Alps: Moonbiking
It’s Snowtime! After a couple of missed ski seasons, at last we can return to the white stuff
PHOTO TOP RIGHT: © Moonbikes
W
hen winter skies are grey it’s nature’s way of telling you that you could instead be enjoying the sunshine somewhere high above the clouds. The worldfamous mountains of France are truly magnificent, and we have the great advantage of not needing to take a flight or a ferry to reach them. In fact, our own region is so big that depending where you’re based you could have a whole host of winter activities surprisingly close to home, so let’s remind ourselves what’s on offer and where to find it. These days you certainly don’t have to be a downhill skier to enjoy a mountain break. Away from the pistes most resorts have broadened their appeal to visitors by offering fun outdoor activities like snow shoeing,
dog sledding, ice climbing, mountain biking, Nordic (cross-country) skiing, boardercross, zip-wires, canyoning, snowmobiling, geocaching, ice skating, ice diving, paragliding and more. Alternatively, you could simply give yourself up to some pampering at a thermal spa resort or in ‘wellness’ centres which are now a feature of ski villages. After unwinding with a relaxing massage simply stroll to a hammam, sauna, hot tub or a pool-side lounger. As for dining, the advent of high-speed gondola lifts has enabled even non-skiers to enjoy lunch in a high-altitude mountain restaurant – while taking in the breathtaking scenery on a panoramic sun terrace, if the weather is fine. But if you’re drawn to après-ski night spots then you can now find a full-on upbeat party vibe
‘après-lunch’, too. Launched in Val d’Isère 30 years ago, La Folie Douce is now also present in snowy settings at big name Alpine resorts like Avoriaz, Alpe d’Huez, Les Arcs, Méribel, Saint-Gervais and Val Thorens. On a local note, before taking his gastronomy-meets-party-time concept to the mountains, group founder Luc Reversade ran a popular nightspot in Royan (17). If you’re looking forward to candlelit evenings in traditional village restaurants, some resorts add a whole new dimension to the experience by offering torchlit snowshoe walks to an authentic mountain chalet inaccessible by car. Your reward will be a warm welcome and fine fireside dining in a cosy, convivial setting you’ll never forget, before you round off the evening with a magical descent beneath
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32 | living architecture Le Dorat’sdisplayed war surrounding them with decorative having his skills with memorial takes the escutcheon plates (plaques d’écusson) skillfully sculpted stonework, might form of a lanterne of increasing the size and complexity. then add an heurtoir styled around Elsewhere, however, social the tools of his trade, although the standing wasn’t the sole motivation. square and compass could equally A mariner might opt for a nautical denote a freemason. theme such as ropework, the head Most of these fanciful designs of Neptune, a leaping fish or two, were created by casting either brass, or perhaps a mermaid. For animal bronze or, more commonly, iron, a lovers the sources of inspiration process which obviously lent itself to were even more plentiful, so we mass production. Spared the need to come across a whole bestiary of commission a sculptor to produce a bulls, horses, lions (particularly one-off design from which a casting popular) and stags, not forgetting mould could be made, stylised less cuddly bats and snakes. An heurtoirs became widely available, aesthete, on the other hand, might and today we see them everywhere (although the doorbell was something decide to express his or her artistic of a breakthrough, since a late visitor awareness in an altogether subtler, more understated design based more no longer needed to wake the entire household). Centuries later our old on classical notions of proportion friends the heurtoirs are still with and elegance, although some us, earlier examples having become clearly weren’t averse to adding the occasional reclining angel or cherub. highly prized traditional features, which not only fulfil their allotted In coastal areas we sometimes find scallop shells, while the more widely task but might also offer insight into the lives of those who originally travelled might opt for an exotic commissioned them. fruit such as a pineapple. A mason,
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living e-bikes | 33 35
Do you
E-Bike? They’re being promoted everywhere, so we look at the rapidly expanding world of the e-bike
Try winterised E-Mountain Bikes in Val d’Isère with Oxygène Ski School Photo: © Haibike
O
ur relationship with a bike is for many of us a lifelong love affair which began in childhood. Despite the arrival of motorcycles and mopeds, the bike has stood the test of time and is currently selling in numbers not seen for decades. The revival began with the rediscovery of fresh air pursuits and the steady rise of outdoor activity holidays. Then the Covid pandemic prompted many who weren’t working from home to shun public transport and instead cycle to work. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, came the realisation that getting out of the car and onto a bike brings big environmental benefits, a sentiment which prompted the government to offer some interesting financial incentives for the purchase of an electrically-assisted bike – see our factfile for details. E-bikes have really taken off, and by now there are probably as many types on the market as reasons you might want one, so we’ll look at what they do and the advantages you might gain from riding one. For starters, an e-bike can reach 25km/h (the legal maximum) with far less effort than a vélo classique, particularly when you have hills to tackle or face strong headwinds. Variable powered assistance allows you to ride at a constant speed without breaking into a sweat, carry luggage, attach a child’s seat, tow a small trailer, or simply dismount and walk beside it.
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50 | living gardens
Begonia obliqua
garden visit
The Secret Garden On the banks of the Charente in Rochefort, a realm of beauty awaits any visitor curious enough to go looking for it... WORDS: Jessica Knipe Begonia masoniana, also known as the Iron Cross Begonia
Begonia obliqua
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living gardens | 51
F
Begonia grandis
ar from the traditional image of a professional greenhouse, the Conservatoire du Bégonia offers a glimpse of a tropical world devoted to just one species. It all started in 1688 when, after postings in Brest, Toulon and Martinique, Louis XIV’s intendant, Michel Bégon, was sent to work in Rochefort, a naval port favoured by a King who was still reeling from La Rochelle’s Protestant rebellions. Back then Rochefort was a new town, and Bégon got straight to work creating architectural structures which are still visible today. In fact, the epitaph on his tombstone in the Église Saint-Louis reads: “He found a town of wood, he left a town of stone”.
While in charge of the French Royal Navy, Bégon ordered a series of expeditions to the French Antilles to study its herbs, foods and medicines, sending with them his trusted friend Charles Plumier, a priest and expert botanist whom he had met while working in Marseille. Plumier returned with books full of pictures and descriptions of plants, six of which he had decided to name ‘bégonia’, in honour of his patron and benefactor. Plumier came across the bégonia in Haïti, and while he can’t claim to have discovered a plant which had obviously existed for thousands of years, he was the first to introduce it to a European audience.
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Begonia boliviensis
In naming it after Bégon, he was also the first botanist to bestow a plant with a human patronym. Until then plants received names which described their anatomy in a purely scientific fashion, but once Plumier had set the trend for honouring a person there was no turning back. The fuchsia? Named for German botanist Leonhart Fuchs. The magnolia? French botanist Pierre Magnol. Plumier even had one named after himself, the plumeria – better known today as frangipani. The other innovation Plumier introduced was to follow Pasteur’s lead and classify plants according to their sexuality. He demonstrated that begonias are monoecious plants,
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