The Story Behind A Door: What’s with the feathers?

Thanks to the Thursday Doors weekly challenge hosted by Norm, I’m always on the lookout for the unusual when it comes to those moving structures that allow or bar access or egress to an enclosed space (don’t you just love Wikipedia?). This one seems to be particularly suitable for the latest WordPress Discover challenge.

At first glance, this doorway in Loches is nice enough, without being anything out of the ordinary…

Feathers

…but who stuck all these pigeon feathers in the doorframe? And, more to the point, why? Who knows the story behind this particular door?

Feathers-2

Discover Challenges – Door

Thursday Doors: Chaniers

Just outside the town of Chaniers, in the Charente region, is a distillery where they make Pineau Charentes (a fortified wine: a sort of French equivalent of sherry and very delicious) housed in a 16th century chateau. I particularly liked the irony of this very old, weatherbeaten and characterful door, with multiple bolts, locks and latches, being situated next to an open gate that you could, quite literally, drive a bus through.

Chaniers-2

And here’s another redundant door a little further along the same wall:

Chaniers

Thursday Doors 23 June 2016

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

The dramatic curve of the entrance to the Manarat Al Saadiyat exhibition centre on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi seems like a suitable entry for this week’s Photo Challenge.

Curve

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

Thursday Doors: Port d’Enveaux

The only way to see this colourful door and shutters is to be cruising down the Charente river near Port d’Enveaux. Which, as it happens, I was last week.

Port L'Evaux-3

Hence the two slightly different angles as we sailed sedately past:

Port L'Evaux-4

It doesn’t look like it gets used much currently, but whoever painted it obviously knew their way around the colour wheel.

Thursday Doors 16 June 2016

Thursday Doors: Loches

The town of Loches, in central France (not far from Chédigny) was, in medieval times, the seat of the kings of France and there are many interesting – some long-neglected – doors in and around the old citadel that dominates the moderrn townscape.

Loches

At the base of the citadel is this door, that obviously hasn’t been used in a very long time:

Loches-2

And nor has this one, which comes from a time when disabled access was not something anyone thought about:

Loches-4

For sumptuousness of decor, though, the main door of the Collégiale church is impressive:

Loches-3

Thursday Doors 9 June 2016

 

Thursday Doors: Chedigny en fleur

More doors from Chédigny this week and, as promised, this time with added flowers (particularly roses), for which the village is justly famous.

In this first image is apparently the oldest rose bush in the village, over a hundred years old. And you’ve got to love the purple paintwork.

Ched-2

Here are another two doors featuring Chédigny’s signature roses:

And finally, not roses but some pretty impressive wisteria:

Ched

Thursday Doors 2 June 2016

Thursday Doors: Chedigny

The little village of Chédigny, in the central Indre-et-Loire département, is widely held to be one of the loveliest in France, and is particularly noted for its flowers, which line the streets and can be found on or outside pretty much every house. Of course, every house has at least one porte and on a recent visit I took enough photographs for at least a couple of door-themed posts.

I’ll save the best flower-surrounded examples for another time (respecting the old adage that you should ‘always leave them wanting more’), but to whet the appetite, here are a few of the plainer – although still interesting in their different ways – examples.

The only thing to say about this first one is that it seems to have been overtaken by events, as half of it is below the current pavement level. If it opens outwards, then someone’s in trouble.

Chedigny-2

By contrast, here are two doors with more elevated aspects, both of which you would step out through at your peril:

Chedigny-3

Chedigny-4

And finally the austere simplicity of the side door of the village church:

Chedigny

Thursday Doors 26 May 2016

Thursday Doors: Delage

As far as I know, there’s no rule that says Thursday Doors have to be on a building…

So here are the doors of a Delage vintage car, taken at a fête des fleurs in Magnac-Laval earlier this year:

Delage

Thursday Doors 19 May 2016

Thursday Doors: Chez Philippe

Chez Philippe is what’s known in France as a ‘Lieu-dit‘ (literally, ‘a place called..’). This appelation is usually given to a group of buildings not big enough to constitute a village, or even a hamlet. This one is in the neighbouring commune of Nouic and consists mainly of an alpaca farm run by an English couple. It also has many interesting doors, including the only one I’ve ever seen with a window-box:

 

 

Thursday Doors 12 May 2016

Thursday Doors: Oradour-sur-Glane

There is a story behind this week’s post for Thursday Doors and it’s not a pleasant one. This was taken in Oradour-sur-Glane. It’s about twenty miles from here and in June 1944 over 600 of its residents were massacred by a detachment of SS troops, as a ‘reprisal’. The site is now a national monument and has deliberately been left exactly as it was. A grim reminder, indeed, but also a very powerful one.

Oradour

Thursday Doors 5 May 2016