theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
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
Thursday Doors: Poitiers (1)
Posted on May 3, 2018
The city of Poitiers is just over an hour’s drive north of here and is the administrative centre of the Vienne département. It is an old place – the English army defeated the French here in 1314 (having passed within just a few miles of Tranquility Base on their way up from Bordeaux).
This may explain why there isn’t a huge amount of the original town left. However, there are plenty of solid and worthy 19th century bâtiments in the centre – with, of course, their matching solid and worthy doors.
Such as these:
These two doors are neighbours:
Not all these examples are quite so grand:
And, to finish, a pair:
More from Poitiers next week.
Thursday Doors 3 May 2018
Thursday Doors: Encore Cahors (3)
Posted on April 26, 2018
The gift that keeps on giving…
Another selection of the myriad doors of the town of Cahors. I ended last week with the observation that the predominant colour of the doors was – not really surprisingly – brown. Like these:
Bored yet? How about a bit of white relief, as it were:
Or even some anarchic blue:
And finally something quite different. This shop-front – a former boulangerie – is quite readable:
There are still a fair few doors to come from Cahors (and I’m saving some of the best ’til last), but for the next couple of weeks we’ll be in the city of Poitiers.
Thursday Doors 26 April 2018
Thursday Doors: Encore Cahors (2)
Posted on April 19, 2018
Back to the town of Cahors yet again, for more doors from the medieval quarter, starting this week with a particularly shabby one:
Time to inject a little colour:
And some rather better cared-for examples. This one eases the transition from blues…
…to greens:
But there’s no getting away from the fact that brown is the prevailing colour:
Next week another selection from Cahors, then, by way of diversion, somewhere as yet unseen…
Thursday Doors 19 April 2018
Thursday Doors: Encore Cahors
Posted on April 12, 2018
After our little diversion to Rancon over the past two weeks, it’s time to dip back into the cornucopia of interesting doors from Cahors.
Last time we featured some of the doors from the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne, one of two principal landmarks of the town. The other is the Pont Valentré:
There must be literally hundreds of doors in the narrow streets of the medieval quarter, although they aren’t all original or neglected:
Finally for this week, and just for a change, how about an artfully rusted gate?
Thursday Doors 12 April 2018
Thursday Doors: Rancon revisited (2)
Posted on April 5, 2018
This week a second set of doors from a recent return visit to the village of Rancon.
Every village in France has to have at least one hairdressers (‘Coiffure’). It’s the law, or seems to be, and Rancon is no exception. I’d have to say, though, that the adjacent blue doors and shutters are rather more interesting…
…and continue round the corner:
But what we really want is some properly tatty doors:
This last one’s a bit of a mongrel:
Thursday Doors 5 April 2018
Thursday Doors: Rancon revisited (1)
Posted on March 29, 2018
As promised, we’re taking a short break from the cornucopia of doors from Cahors in order to revisit another place that’s featured on this blog before.
Almost two years ago, I posted some doors from the nearby (30 minutes by car) village of Rancon. Those images were taken during the annual medieval fair, when the place gets quite busy. However, a recent quiet and sunny Sunday morning proved to be much quieter, and the absence of the stalls of the artisan market opened up some vistas that hadn’t been obvious before.
Perhaps most notably is this doorway (or possibly gateway), which stands on its own around the back of the church. I could find nothing that gave any provenance for it, although it must surely once have been part of a grand edifice.
Speaking of the church, which is fortified and dates from the 17th century:
Rather less grand, but just as interesting, is this door at the side of the church…
…which is next to:
Finally, for this week, a couple of private houses, the first just by the mysterious gateway…
…and the second on the main street, which is where we’ll be concentrating next week.
Thursday Doors 29 March 2018
Thursday Doors: Return To Cahors (3)
Posted on March 22, 2018
A third instalment of doors from last month’s trip to Cahors. To start with, three doors featuring progressively more elaborate carving.
The first two are also examples of old doors juxtaposed with more modern ones:
These next two could be described as a ‘before and after’:
And finally a door that isn’t brown:
(There are plenty more doors to come from Cahors, but for the next couple of weeks, just for the sake of variety, I’ll be posting some samples from another more leisurely re-visit to a place that’s featured here before.)
Thursday Doors 22 March 2018
Weekly Photo Challenge: I’d Rather Be…
Posted on March 16, 2018
The latest WordPress weekly Photo Challenge is a particularly interesting – and difficult – one. We are asked to post an image illustrating what we would rather be doing.
It seems to me that one’s starting point is crucial here. It all rather depends on what I’m doing at the time the question is posed. I can think of lots of things I might (have to) be doing where watching paint dry would be a more acceptable alternative. Equally, there are a few things I would rather be doing than just about anything else.
Neither of these categories, however, really lend themselves to being pictured – and certainly not in the public domain.
The truth is, I would probably rather be taking photographs than anything else: this is, after all, my principal interest. And if I was being more specific, it would be taking photographs of interesting doors.
So this:
Thursday Doors: Return to Cahors (2)
Posted on March 15, 2018
This week, another selection of images from my recent doorscursion to the town of Cahors. Last week I mentioned that a notable feature was the elaborate carving to be seen on many doors, including this notable example.
Cahors has an impressive cathedral, with the comparatively unusual feature of two domes. It’s arguably more impressive inside than out, but it does have some well maintained doors:
Another feature of the doors of Cahors is that it is quite common to find an ancient door in the middle of a row of more modern frontages, as in the first image and also, more clearly,here:
Finally, another example of the juxtaposition of old and new(er):
Thursday Doors 15 March 2018
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