Thursday Doors: Le Dorat revisited

The petit cité de caractère (as it likes to style itself) of Le Dorat has featured in this thread before, albeit only once and that almost three years ago. A recent visit – for a specific purpose that will be revealed next week – yielded quite a few previously undiscovered doors of character, starting with this impressive ironwork on the door of a butcher’s shop:

Echoing this style is the door….er, next door:

Two doors for the price of one next, although the impressive stonework surround gives the edge to the one on the right:

And here’s another with an even more elaborate surround:

But before we get carried away with ideas of grandeur, here are a couple of doors that could be politely described as derelict:

Thursday Doors 4 July 2019

And the winner is….

Cee’s theme for her Fun Foto Challenge this week is ‘Smile’.

The nearby town of Le Dorat is hosting the World Sheep-shearing Championships next month and already the place is en fête in anticipation. An amusing feature of the preparations is the decoration of shop windows with paintings related to the theme, including this one.

As far as I know, the Mondial de Tonte, as it’s called, isn’t a sheep beauty competition, but the winner here is certainly smiling, even if the runners-up don’t look too happy.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Smile

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Shine

A few years ago, we happened to be in the Place Collégiale, in the town of Le Dorat, just as workmen were starting to mark out some parking bays with a lot of these metal discs. As they were brand new, they had a terrific shine on them, producing some very interesting reflections of the surrounding buildings.

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Shine

Reflections in a Volvo

Going back a few years, while we were still living in Abu Dhabi and our house here was being renovated, we would spend some of our summer holidays locally. We stayed in a Chambre d’Hôtes opposite the massive Collégiale church in Le Dorat.

Looking out of our window one afternoon, I saw this reflection in the roof of a car parked just below.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Cars, Trucks and Motorcycles

Sooner Watch Paint Dry

This little dog was tucked under its owner’s arm, not remotely interested in the horse-racing at the La Sagna Hippodrome, near Le Dorat.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Candid

Weekly Photo Challenge: Mirror

A pretty straightforward response to this week’s challenge subject of ‘Mirror’, but I like the way that (fortuitously) the reflected clouds blend with the actual clouds beyond, while the blue sky between the clouds in the mirror itself reflects the curve of the road.

This mirror is at a particularly awkward junction in the nearby town of Le Dorat, although the road was clear when I took the photograph: just as well, because I was probably standing in the middle of it at the time.

Mirror

And here’s another mirror image, also from Le Dorat and already published in another post, with clouds reflected in one of the metal discs that demarcate parking spaces in the main square:

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Mirror

Thursday Doors: Le Dorat

With a name like that, this town about thirtty minutes drive from here is surely crying out to be included in Thursday Doors.

Le Dorat is probably best known for its medieval church: the Collegiale, whose stonework is mightily impressive:

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…and not just on the outside:

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There remain some other relics of earlier times, including a good section of fortified wall, as well as this impressive towered main gate:

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Outside the old and very compact centre of the town, however, there are plenty of examples of more recent and typical rural architecture:

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Thursday Doors 11 August 2016

Weekly Photo Challenge: Victory

First past the post at the La Sagne hippodrome, near Le Dorat

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Victory

Weekly Photo Challenge: Beneath Your Feet

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”

 – Oscar Wilde

In nearby Le Dorat, some council workmen were marking out parking bays in the main square, using these shiny metal studs. In their pristine state, they provided some lovely reflections.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Beneath Your Feet