Posted on July 30, 2021
A sheep shearer shows off his skills at a village display in nearby Saint-Martial-sur-Isop.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: People at work
Category: Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, Sheep, sheep-shearing
Posted on March 30, 2020
Stained glass again this week, and another window from the old church in the nearby village of Saint Martial sur Isop. The image also gives a good idea of the thickness of the walls.

Monday Window 30 March 2020
Category: Windows Tagged: #MondayWindow, Church, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, Stained Glass
Posted on October 14, 2019
I’ve just heard about the #MondayWindow challenge that’s being hosted by Ludwig Keck.
Here is my initial contribution – a stained glass window high up on the wall of the old church in the nearby village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop.

Category: Windows Tagged: #MondayWindow, Church, Monday Window, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, Stained Glass, Windows
Posted on May 8, 2019
Frank’s theme for his Tuesday Photo Challenge this week is ‘wheel’.
Here in rural France, old cartwheels that are way past their sell-by date are a common sight. This one was spotted in the nearby village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, during the ‘Wool Festival’, which accounts for the natty headgear.

Tuesday Photo Challenge: Wheel
Category: Uncategorized Tagged: Cartwheels, fpj-photo-challenge, France, Rural, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, Wheels
Posted on December 21, 2017
As this will be the last instalment of Thursday Doors in 2017, with Norm taking a well-earned festive break until 11 January, it seemed like an appropriate time to review some of my personal favourites that have been posted here over the last twelve months.
With the exception of my ‘official’ Door of the Year these are in no particular order of preference and are just placed chronologically. A full ranking of the 300 or so doors that I’ve put up here in 2017 wouldn’t be possible but would be pointless.
This first one – a striking and well-cared for door in the town of Saint Junien – appeared last February. You could hardly miss that mustard-yellow paint.

By way of contrast, in March I started posting doors from the town of Confolens. This was one of the first I came across on my initial excursion and it’s hardly been bettered.

Both Confolens and Saint Junien are about a 30 minute drive from here at Tranquility Base, but this third door, from June, is much closer – a mere ten minutes away in the village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop. It’s irresistibly bijou

It’s not just France that has interesting doors. This elaborate example, originally posted in July, can be found in Rodney Street, Liverpool:

In September I made another visit to the national monument of Oradour-sur-Glane, where this door can be found in the church:

However, this is my personal choice for Door of the Year 2017. Posted in October it’s to be found in the medieval village of Saint Cirq Lapopie and I’ve never seen anything like it as an example of making the door fit the hole:

Thursday Doors 21 December 2017
Category: Doors Tagged: Confolens, Doors, Liverpool, Oradour-sur-Glane, Saint Cirq Lapopie, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, St Junien, Thursday Doors
Posted on December 8, 2017
This model house, in the architectural style typical of the Alsace region of eastern France, stands outside the village hall in nearby Saint-Martial-sur-Isop.
This part of France lay just outside the area of direct German occupation during World War II, but the town of Seltz, on the Rhine in Alsace, was one of the first to be ‘annexed’. The plaque commemorates the refugees from Seltz who were given shelter in this locality after they fled the Nazis in 1939.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Houses
Category: Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, Houses, Model houses, Refugees, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop
Posted on August 4, 2017
This little-used track runs off the ‘main’ road between here and the nearby village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop. It probably leads to an isolated farmhouse, but who knows?

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Paths
Category: Black & White Tagged: Black & White, Cee's Black & White Photo Challenge, France, Haute Vienne, mysterious, Path, Rural, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop
Posted on July 6, 2017
As promised last week, here is a final collection of images from the conjoined villages of Saint-Barbant and Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, focussing – just for a change – on gates.
Or rather, in this case, gateposts:

An unusually long and well cared-for example:

And it’s nice to see that the cemetery is looked after:

But oh dear…



Next week, something rather different: a restored Cistercian Abbey.
Thursday Doors 6 July 2017
Category: Doors Tagged: Doors, Gatepost, Gates, Saint Barbant, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, Thursday Doors
Posted on June 29, 2017
This will be the final set of doors from the nearby village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, although we haven’t quite seen the last of what it has to offer…
Last week we faded out to grey and now we’re picking up where we left off. The legend over the larger door reads ‘Vins en gros’ and the date 1895, so this used to be the premises of a wholesale wine merchant.

It wouldn’t be a village if it didn’t have a church and this one, although quite small, is very interesting. The original building is believed to date back to the Carolingian period (987-1268), although what’s visible today is 12th century (with subsequent renovations and additions).


And finally, as regards doors, some houses in rather better condition than some of the ones we’ve seen:



Next week, before moving on elsewhere, some of the gates to be seen in Saint-Martial and Saint-Barbant.
Thursday Doors 29 June 2017
Category: Doors Tagged: Church, Doors, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, Thursday Doors
Posted on June 27, 2017
Answering the theme of ‘steps’ this week is this dramatic-looking staircase to be found in the twelfth-century church in the nearby village of Saint-Martial-sur-Isop.
Although the ceiling has obviously been renovated, this steep and winding set of stairs leading up to the roof looks, if not original then pretty old. Not surprisingly, it isn’t open to the public.

More responses to Frank’s latest challenge can be found here: Tuesday Photo Challenge: Steps
Category: Composition Tagged: Architecture, Church, fpj-photo-challenge, France, Haute Vienne, Rural, Saint-Martial-sur-Isop, Staircase, Steps