Thursday 3 March 2016

Village life in France is alive and well....





Sometimes I travel to France on my own,
however when my husband comes too
we hire a car.
We like to be independent of the family
and potter about the countryside
discovering interesting little villages
along the way to peruse!

We stop for a coffee or a wine
so we can meet the locals and hear about
their life in a village in France!




This village is Thorigny sur Oreuse.
It consists of a few shops, the main one being
the corner shop which sold everything from cooking utensils,
grocery items, wine from the region, fruit and vegetables
haberdashery items like buttons, needles and cottons.
I preferred it to the supermarche in the nearby town.
No one was in a hurry and everyone
stopped for a chat with the owner.

The boulangerie is one of the most popular in the region.
There were also the usual trades people such as a
mechanic, plumber and electrician.
I saw the lawyer's sign in one window and
an architect's in another.
There is also a resident doctor.
 There is no butcher in the village
so sadly, the Supermarché wins out there.
The nearest pharmacie is about 10km away.

There is a primary school and maternal (kindergarten).
Older children attend high school in Sens
which is a 17 minute drive away on the school bus.




The small village community is well served.
With a population of 1510 at the last census in 2013,
and growing year by year, it’s good to see that
village life in la belle France is alive and well
in the 21st century!





This is the old lavage in Thorigny
it is where the ladies of the village would meet
to do their washing and catch up on local news.


I’m joining Tex for Good Fences
and
Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy & Jennifer for


Thank you ladies for hosting.


Many thanks everyone for visiting 
and leaving me a comment.

Take care and
be kind to one another

à bientôt


Shane







30 comments:

  1. It would be grand to potter around the countryside with someone who knows where they are going... Have fun!!

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  2. I could just imagine the laughter and the tears shared in that last photo of the lavage. It would have definitely been the place to exchange the gossip of the day. Thanks for the images of this village.

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  3. Oh France is so beautiful Thanks for taking us on your journey. I love villages far more then the big city. Except Paris I never get bored of that city. i absolutely love the lavage. It is such a gorgeous meeting place. I hope you enjoy many more trips. Au revoir :)

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  4. It's so great to read that small village life is alive and well in France. There's something so attractive about the self-sufficiency (mostly) and independence of the villages. Lovely photos, Shane.

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  5. How totally charming. I can't imagine doing wash there in such a lovely place and yet very hard work too. Thanks for sharing this lovely village.

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  6. Dear Shane,
    thank you for this wonderful post and pictures! I love such small towns, and I would love to live in such a beautiful place ... This place with the old lavage, Oh I had pictures in my head, when all the women met there, to do the washing and had a lot of lovely chats :O) Must have been wonderful ....
    Thank you for sharing, my dear friend!
    Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week,
    sending Love and hugs and blessings,
    Claudia xo

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  7. Thank you for another lovely visit. Our village was very similar, with the lavoir and a stone bread oven where the villagers once brought their bread to be cooked. One little shop, a Post office and a Drs surgery. enough for us all!

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  8. I surely wish I could potter around France specially the village. I can imagine the women meeting to epwash clothes a pnd chattering about all the village news. Lovely post with love Janice

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  9. Hello, it is wonderful to travel around seeing the sights and talking to the local people. Lovely photos from your trip! Have a happy day!

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  10. What a lovely little town to visit. How fortunate you are to have the opportunity to travel to such interesting places.

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  11. It is the similar village life that drew us to Greece - there is something very grounding about leaving the upheavals in the US and finding ourselves sipping coffee at an Oceanside taverna in a Greek village with nothing more to think about than the passing herd of goats or what time the fishing boats will return.

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  12. Thanks for sharing this quaint village with us. It is totally awesome. Great photos. Have a blessed day. Madeline

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  13. Shane, seeing these French village scenes and reading your commentary really does give me an idea of village life then and now. Gosh, I am glad that I don't have to do my laundry at the lavage, although I can imagine it as a meeting place. Nowadays, I hope that washing machines take care of the hard work, and that the village folks can meet elsewhere for their catching up!

    I am curious to know if children growing up in this village are able to remain there, or nearby, as they grow into adulthood.

    Those walls and gates are beautiful. xo

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  14. I so love the villages in France. We recently sold our place in Nice, (I have cancer), and I so MISSED our travels there. Why is live such a bitch. I LOVE your blog and pics - they mean so much to me. Living in London with no escape will never be the same. SOB.

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  15. What a charm, my dearest, sweetest Shane, I cannot resist ... beautiful, beautiful, beautiful !
    Thank you for sharing all the Beauty of these fabulous places,
    sending much dear love to you,
    with so sincere gratitude
    Dany

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  16. Thanks to your comment and my following it back here, I have joined Karla's art journal class. I am so excited. Thanks for having the button in your sidebar. My daddy is French so I, too, am in love with France. His name is Eugene Marseilles Hornet..and lived to 100 1/2...and that name is about as French as you can get. It is so exciting to learn your grandchildren are there so you have the excuse to go and go and go. I loved this series of pictures. They are all so pretty. Your last shot with the flowers boxes is so French. What a precious place. So glad you included the history of it. Take care, and please come back and see me again. Genie (Eugenia)

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  17. That sounds like a great way to tour the country. - I really like your 2nd shot of the fence pillar. It looks like very pleasant countryside there.

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  18. Sounds blissful and the way life was meant to be enjoyed! And isn't that the most idyllic name? Chantefeuille... love it and am enjoying the sound of it...so romantic!

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  19. I love the idea of the laviage -- laundry more fun with friends! It really sounds perfect, one of those almost too good to be true things! Just charming and lovely in every way!

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  20. I would love a place to go and chat with with the locals not sure about doing the washing there.
    Merle.........

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  21. it looks beautiful and sounds very quaint and friendly!

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  22. Dear Shane,

    your pictures are telling a story of the good old times. French people have got a special affinity to old things.They often live with the furnitures of their family over generations. That´s great, I think. My Paris friend Annemarie often says, that the French spend more money for food and wine than for anything else. That could be true.
    I love the movie "A good year". It shows a perfect picture of french lifestyle. The special atmosphere in the movie, that is good old France for me.
    Best wishes Barbara

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  23. i just noticed your fence on your bloglovin link that one is pretty to. very fancy. happy fencing. ( :

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  24. Lovely . . .
    Our favorite thing to do when we travel is to . . .
    venture off the main to the little villages and bergs . . .
    We have met wonderful people . . .
    Those travels gave us exactly what we were looking for . . .
    Real, Charm, Truth . . . wonderful . . .

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  25. That sure is a strong looking gate...

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  26. Dear Shane,

    Loved seeing the quaint little village and hearing more about your trip to France. That is what we enjoyed looking around the small villages and trying to practise our French and learning more of the history about the place.
    We are enjoying the cooler nights here and the rain was wonderful.
    Sending hugs and hope you have a lovely weekend
    Carolyn

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  27. Thank you for sharing this lovely village with us Shane! You always bring back such sweet and fond memories for me to go back to. My favorite was always these kind of villages to wander through.

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  28. i have always dreamt of going....today i enjoyed "being there", if only for a few minutes!!!! beautiful captures that really share the essence of being there!!!!

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  29. Enjoyed seeing these photos!

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  30. Nice series of photos.
    Stopping by from Good Fences and I'm glad I found you. This is my first visit.
    I hope you'll come share at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-walls-of-san-juan.html

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