Remembrance Day in Grandmont

The lovely Grandmont Gites - my domicile for two weeks. Gotta love it - beats my Portugal disaster.

Settled in at my house.  I have done a little bit of exploring and have taken the horse Marmalade for a couple of rides.  Ideally I have to take her out when the horses are in their stalls otherwise, as the group are pretty bonded, they make quite the racket whilst she is gone.  So that sort of limits my riding opportunities to morning or later afternoon.  Not a worry.  The morning is nice but cooler.  However, it looks like the sun will be coming out for this week so I might save my rides for the afternoon.  I must try little Benji the pony too.

Benji checks me out whilst Freddie is about to go for another nibble. Marmalade is in the background

So today is Remembrance Day.  I am not sure what the French do for it but I know they take it very seriously.  They do not wear poppies though.  When I arrived on Tuesday at the airport in Bergerac, the man at the passport counter asked me about my poppy and what it was for.  So I told him and he was surprised because they do not wear a poppy for Remembrance Day.  Just Britain, Canada and the States I guess.

Monty the Donkey - with his big head - checks me out.

Anyway, today is a day I remember my Dad especially as Remembrance Day was always very important for him.  He was too young to fight in WWII but he did fight in the “Lost Boy’s War” in Malaysia afterwards and was always a very proud defender of his country.  But I digress.

My cutie paootie Dad

So I have had some opportunity to do a little investigation in the more immediate vicinity of my house sit.  To get to Grandmont you drive the windy road from Ambazac and past Saint-Sylvestre through the Monts d’Ambazac.  Grandmont is a small little village where the houses, all built with beautiful granite stone, force the path of the road as opposed to vice versa.  The main site here is the tiny little chapel.  This chapel was built from the remains of parts of the abbey that used to be the centre of the area.  Nobility, kings and popes came here to pray with the monks.

The ancient little chapel in Grandmonts little square - also the starting point for all the trails in the area

I have a lovely booklet with the entire history of the Grandmont Abbey and will not try to write it all down here, but for now I will say in short order that it’s history began with the birth of Stephen around 1046 and the end of the abbey came about on the eve of the French Revolution.  It was the birth place of a great religious  “in orbe terrarium valde famosus” order known as the Order of Grandmont.

The houses encroach on the very narrow street in the little village. Oscar leads the way

But for now, I shall end at that with more history to follow.  I have horses whinnying and knocking at their stall doors wanting breakfast and to be let out to run.  Stay tuned ….

Looking at the village of Grandmont from the backdoor of the house