theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Thursday Doors: Alençon
Posted on July 19, 2018
Only one door for your delectation this time. This is for various reasons, not the least of which is my own dumbness for thinking that Norm’s summer hiatus started this week rather than next.
However, I think it’s fair to say that it’s an absolute humdinger. This is the main entrance of the now abandoned, not-quite-derelict Hotel Grand Cerf (cerf = deer) in the town of Alençon, in Normandy.
They just don’t make them like this any more.
Thursday Doors 19 July 2018
Thursday Doors: Villandry
Posted on July 12, 2018
Adjacent to the mightily impressive Chateau de Villandry, in the Loire Valley, are the petrified caves (‘grottes’), which have been a local tourist attraction for many years (not recommended for claustrophobes though).
The current visitor centre is comparatively modern, but there remain a few vestiges from earlier years, including these various doors:
Thursday Doors 12 July 2018
Thursday Doors: Nouic (3)
Posted on July 5, 2018
A final instalment of doors from the neighbouring village of Nouic.
One can only hazard a guess as to the original purpose of the small building with the green door:
More double doors that have seen better days:
But don’t get the impression that all the doors in Nouic are falling apart:
Even if it does seem to be the exception rather than the rule:
Door of the week? This one, probably:
Thursday Doors 5 July 2018
Thursday Doors: Nouic Gates
Posted on June 28, 2018
As promised, this week a selection of gates from the nearby village of Nouic.
A little poignant, this first one. That car has been sitting behind those rusting gates since before we moved to this area almost six years ago.
Next, two nicely matched gates from another empty house – although this one has just been occupied again.
A similar, if rather plainer, gate from just along the road:
And finally, two rather grander sets of gates from the area around the church:
Thursday Doors 28 June 2018
Thursday Doors: Nouic (2)
Posted on June 21, 2018
Another selection of doors from just down the road in the village of Nouic. These first two examples illustrate how a little bit of TLC can rejuvenate a not so much tired as absolutely knackered old building:
And while the doors are coming in sets of two, here’s another example:
Yet another set of two for your delectation (if you count the little green one on the left):
But tat’s always better, isn’t it?
Although I think this is my favourite from this week’s selection – a set of former pigsties:
Next week, just for a change, how about some gates?
Thursday Doors 21 June 2018
Thursday Doors: Nouic
Posted on June 14, 2018
(We had no internet connection for five days last week, so I’m afraid you’ve had to wait a bit longer for your next dose of doors from the depths of the French countryside.)
The village – and commune – of Nouic could be described as ‘the next one along’ from our home base of Mézières-sur-Issoire, about a ten-minute drive in a generally southerly direction.
Even its greatest proponents would be hard-pressed to argue that, architecturally, there’s anything special about it (you could say the same for Mézières, in all honesty), but over the next couple of weeks or so, I can at least demonstrate that it’s got some interesting doors.
I read somewhere that the official distinction between a village and a hamlet is that the former has a church – which Nouic indeed does:
More informally, any self-respecting French village also has to have a hairdressers’, so that ticks another box. (Mézières has two. Just sayin’.)
In my personal opinion, however, this is the most striking building in Nouic:
Although most are much more prosaic, even if you can get two for the price of one in some cases:
More from Nouic next week.
Thursday Doors 14 June 2018
Thursday Doors: Encore Cahors (5)
Posted on May 31, 2018
And still they come….
Yet more from Cahors. When I first posted some doors from this medieval town, I commented on the carving that many of them displayed. Like these:
You can’t go wrong with a door-within-a-door…
Or just go full tatty:
There are still a few more doors to come from Cahors, but for the next few weeks we’ll be rather closer to home, at a new Thursday Doors destination.
Thursday Doors 31 May 2018
Thursday Doors: Encore Cahors (4)
Posted on May 24, 2018
The waiting is over….here’s another selection of the doors of Cahors, beginning with two gloriously tatty sets of double doors:
And another, in rather better condition (includes free reflection of author: you’re welcome).
And some single doors, in various stages of neglect:
More next week, then we’ll break off for a new destination.
Thursday Doors 24 May 2018
Thursday Doors: Eglise de St Pierre, Limoges
Posted on May 17, 2018
Now, I know you’re all desperate for another set of doors from Cahors – and you will get them soon. However, if only to heighten that delicious sense of anticipation, this week a one-off set of images from the church of St Pierre in the city of Limoges.
I came across this serendipitously, on our way to a quilting and photography exhibition in a building on the opposite side of the eponymous Place, but I thought it was worth pulling out my old iPhone and capturing this set of freshly-painted church doors:
Back to Cahors next week. Maybe.
Thursday Doors 17 May 2018
Thursday Doors: Poitiers (2)
Posted on May 10, 2018
This week, a second (and final – for now, at any rate) instalment of doors from the city of Poitiers.
I didn’t realise until I was putting this post together that all these images contain decorative ironwork of some description. There: a theme.
This first one is all about the ironwork:
And it features quite prominently here too:
Less obvious in these examples but still there if you care to look:
This door has been cut down to size at some point:
Finally, as blue doors always seem to be popular here:
Thursday Doors 10 May 2018
Top Posts & Pages
theonlyD800inthehameau 