Orne’s Hidden Treasures

This is the first in a series showcasing some of the less well-known landmarks and places of interest in the Orne region. With summer rapidly approaching, what better time to find out about these places than by taking some time away from the more popular, and crowded, tourist spots to discover what the Orne has to offer. My good friend, RP, introduces the series and the first of the Orne’s ‘hidden treasures’.

Whenever friends and family come to visit those of us lucky enough to live in the Orne region of Basse Normandie, it is only right that we should accompany them to, or point them in the direction of, the major attractions of our area. Most visitors wish to see Mont St Michel, the Bayeux Tapestry, the Normandy Beaches and the spa town of Bagnoles de l’Orne and quite rightly so, they are all world famous attractions. However, how much better to entertain your visitors with the treasures of the region which hardly anyone else has ever heard of, never mind visited.

One such ‘hiddentreasure’ is on our doorstep, at the small village of Menil Gondouin, four miles west of Putanges-Pont-Ecripin.

In 1873, three years after the destruction of the first building, Father Victor Paysant was appointed as Pastor to the unfinished church of St Vigor in Menil Gondouin. He immediately set about creating what he called, ‘L’Eglise vivante et parlante’ (a living, speaking church).  He wanted it to be , ‘a church that people want to visit and where they will feel happy’.

He began by painting an exterior wall with sayings from The Bible and elsewhere (I counted at least three languages, French, Latin and Arabic) and pictures of a lion, and a shepherd and his sheep. He then moved inside and let his imagination run riot. In between the paintings of various saints (Pierre, Paul, Germain, Barbe, Leonard, to name only a few) palm trees and exotic flowers adorn the walls in an amazing array of colours.

The pulpit, confessional and side altar are painted in claret and blue. The floor, from the front door to the altar, traces the family history of Jesus. Curiously, the pale blue ceiling is bare, except for one word in gold, ‘Alleluia’. Over the wall of the porch and bell tower are more saints and colourful flowers. A list of the places, including Rome and Jerusalem, the Pastor visited to gain inspiration, can be found on the inside of the main door. A painting of the great man, ‘Victor Paysant – 1841-1921- Cure de Menil Gondouin’, looks down from above the side door.

When he died in 1921, the authorities covered the paintings with a lime-wash and destroyed the statues the pastor had commisioned. That was that, until the early twenty-first century, when local people began to show an interest in restoring their ‘Painted Church’. The restoration is now complete and the church can be seen in all its original glory.

Is it art? I’ve no idea. I’ve no idea either why the church is not advertised more – although one local says that some people think it is blasphemous.

Is it a ‘Hidden Treasure’? Certainly.

Is it worth a visit? Yes!

So the next time family and friends come to visit – say you’ve got a surprise for them and take them to your local ‘Painted Church’.

                                                                                                          

                          The church is situated on the D15 -you can’t miss it.

Health Matters

Over the weekend, I read the BBC News reports about the ‘one stop clinics’ being advocated in the UK. As I understand it, these polyclinics will consist of a number of GPs, as well as health services, such as health nurses and physios. Amongst all the rhetoric from speakers, either supporting or opposing the proposed system, two claims leapt out at me. The first was about a patient’s relationship with their own GP. The second was a reference to continuity of care.

When we lived in England, we were registered with a general practice consisting of four doctors. Getting an appointment was never easy, and often several days after you called; unless you insisted and then you had to see whoever was available, rather than your own GP. I can’t remember the last time any member of my family saw the same doctor on two consecutive visits. And, often, it was a locum.

From conversations I’ve had, both in the UK and since moving to France, this doesn’t seem to be unusual, no matter what part of the country you live in. For my mother-in-law, in her nineties, who needs to see the doctor regularly, this was particularly upsetting.  

On several occasions in the past two or three years, she has had to be hospitalised. When she returned home after the last time, she received a visit from a nurse from the hospital on one day and on the following day from the practice nurse from the doctors’ surgery. Both had come to take blood for the same tests. Again, distressing for her. There seemed to be little or no communication between the hospital and the surgery. What a waste of resources. 

A regular relationship with a GP? I think not. Continuity of care? I wonder.

Since we’ve been in France we have registered with a doctor, recommended by our French neighbours, and highly thought of by other friends, both French and English. We have had no problems getting an appointment. He makes his own, no going through a receptionist. He doesn’t have one.

He sent H for xrays when he hurt his back recently. Made the appointment himself for that afternoon. We saw the duty doctor, picked up the xrays and went back to our own doctor. All within a few hours. And we were even able to go to the surgery on a holiday, so that his course of injections wouldn’t be interrupted. Can’t see that happening in the UK. It’s hard enough to get a home visit  and never your own doctor, but our doctor here in France will come out when he’s needed.

My mother-in-law, since her arrival in France, has had a couple of chest infections necessitating repeat visits so the doctor could monitor her progress. She cannot believe that she sees the same doctor each time. She had a number of tests done during these visits, (none of which would have been available in the English practice) all without leaving the surgery. And, again from talking to people over here, this doesn’t seem to be unusual.

I’m neither for nor against the polyclinics. No doubt the programme will go ahead in some form or other. I know the systems are different, but, when it comes to an ongoing relationship with your GP and continuity of care, give me France everytime..

St Valentine’s Day Post

When I first started thinking about today’s post, I thought I might write ’14 things you might not know about Valentine’s Day’. However, when I began researching on the net, I discovered that the same information was available everywhere. So, if you’re really interested you can look it up for yourself.

Tradition has it that St Valentine’s Day became a Christian festival when the Church appropriated an ancient Roman fertility celebration. Nothing unusual there. The first written Valentine is credited to Charles, Duke of Orléans who wrote letters to his wife while imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415. Well, why not? What else did he have to do?

Since the Middle Ages, the day has been associated with expressions of love; cards, flowers, chocolate, gifts on a grand or small scale. Early examples of Valentine’s Day cards were hand made, often very beautifully, and usually hand delivered. Manufactured cards didn’t appear until late in the 18th century. Cheap postage helped to encourage the sending of Valentine’s Day messages.

Today,  it is a commercial dream. Almost a billion Valentine cards are sent annually; 25% of all cards sent each year. Many millions of e-cards are also now sent. It is a busy day for florists worldwide, too. 75% of the people who buy flowers on this day are men. Why don’t men get more flowers? Sales of chocolate, especially heartshaped, explode. See the ‘Bonbon Breakfast’ post here for some great photos and paintings.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in many places around the world. However, there are cultural differences. In England and the USA, among others, the day is an opportunity for card and gift giving between friends as well as couples. In schools, children often make cards for parents or friends and may exchange gifts or candy. But in France, the day, Fêtes des Amoureux, is for couples only. Not for children or singles.

The tiny village of St Valentin in Indre, is the only place in France to be named for the saint associated with love and romance. For many years, this tiny village of only a few hundred inhabitants has played host to many thousands of visitors from all over the world who come to celebrate for four days around February 14. Engagements, weddings, anniversaries are all celebrated in ceremonies dedicated to St Valentine. Couples can walk in the Jardin des Amoureux, created in the late 1970s, dance and watch fireworks. There is a special date stamp used by the temporary post office set up in the village to send Valentine’s day messages, even from elsewhere in the world. None of this is so surprising. 

I was amused me, though,  to read about one of the events. On Saturday evening, there is ‘Speed dating’. Speed dating? I ask you? How far away from the romantic idea of  St Valentine’s Day can you get? Or, as Terry Wogan is wont to say, ‘Is it me?’

Photos worth a thousand words

I was browsing through the blogs I read when I came across mention of one entitled ‘Living the life in Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher’. Now, this blog is written by an American living in the Loire Valley, somewhat outside the region I like to cover in this blog. However, I always like to read about other’s experiences of living in France so I took a look and, scrolling down the list of ‘What I blog about’, I found a reference to Normandy. Aha, I thought, what would he be writing about. I was not surprised to see a familiar landmark in his first photo. No prizes for guessing it.  The writer admits to a fondness for this monument and several of his posts have great photos of the area. He also has photo essays of Dieppe and Rouen, which are very nice, too.

Why am I telling you this? You want to read about our part of Basse Normandie? Well, keep scrolling and you’ll find some wonderful photos of Domfront, Bagnole de l’Orne, the château at Carrouges and Sèes. I’m familiar with the first three, but for some reason, H and I have never made it to Sèes and these photos make me more than ever inclined to go. We were supposed to go there to sign for our house but the signing was postponed and we didn’t get there. I think I’ll book it in for a day out in the summer.

Anyway, I couldn’t have said it better myself so hop on over here and take a look.

Catering to the neighbours

My English friend, makes the tastiest jams and marmalades, many jars of which she very kindly gives away to friends and neighbours. My husband loves her apricot jam but my favourite is her tangy lemon marmalade. One day, she gave a pot of plum jam to her next-door, french neighbour, remarking as she did so that he seemed to be very fond of jam. He replied that he was and ate a lot of it. But, he confided, his most favourite was Rhubarb and Banana, something his mother used to make. She had never heard of this combination and asked him how it was made. After several attempts to get him to tell her how much rhubarb, how many bananas, etc. she gave up.

However, she did eventually find a local recipe and has very kindly allowed me to share it here. I haven’t tried to make it yet but I’ve got rhubarb growing in the garden so I plan to make the jam, along with pies and fools, when we can pick it.

Rhubarb and Banana Jam

1 kg trimmed rhubarb

1 kg sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 large ripe bananas

1 tsp butter

Slice the rhubarb finely and place in a large plastic bowl. Add the sugar and lemon juice. Stir and leave for 3 hours for juice to form. Transfer to a preserving pan and bring slowly to boiling point, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Boil gently for 30 minutes or until thick. Slice the banana and add to the jam. Boil for a further 5 minutes. Add the butter and skim off any froth into a small bowl, (yum). Pour the jam into sterilised jars and cover. Makes about 3 jars.

My mother always used to make delicious Rhubarb and Ginger Jam, sweet but with the hint of a bite. My friend says a little ginger or mixed spice added to the fruit would work well here, too.

She was amazed by the amount of juice that was created. She also told me that she found it hard to believe that you could actually taste the two flavours but she assures me you really can.

 Her recommendation: Give it to your French neighbour, he/she will be thrilled. 

Food shopping in France

Food shopping in France is easy. It isn’t necessary to look for English products. Though you will find a ‘selection’ in most of the larger supermarkets. The French do most things just as well and some things even better. Any recipe you treasure from your own cookbooks, or because your mother or your grandmother made it, can be cooked in a ‘French’ kitchen. I do it every day.

Many of my husband’s favourite foods are those originally made for him many years ago by his grandmother. Fortunately, my grandmother and my mother had many similar recipes. I can usually make something for him that, if not exactly the same, is very similar, and he tells me, (lovely man that he is) often better than he had as a child. And apart from one or two very specific ingredients, I can get everything I want from my local French supermarket or market.

Much of the food we buy here is seasonal; much more than in the UK, unless you buy solely from farmers’ markets. So we have the joy of waiting for something to arrive fresh in the markets. It’s so nice to go to the market one morning to find something special has arrived, such as asparagus and to know that you will soon enjoy the fabulous taste of freshly-picked, tender stalks, lightly char-grilled and drizzled with butter. To have it for a short time only, rather than to be able to get it all year round, makes it all the more wonderful.

Easter is not so far away and I imagine that there have been Hot Cross Buns in the UK shops for ages, in some shops they never seem to go away! The latest copy of a UK food magazine, that I couldn’t bear to give up when we came to France, has recipes for them, as well as other seasonal treats unknown on this side of La Manche. They are not something the French make, though my French neighbours were very complimentary about the ones I served them last year, so we‘ve not seen any here.

When I did a trial baking, using a new recipe, last year (and OK, I admit to buying them in the UK) the aroma as they were cooking was fantastic. And they tasted great. My husband ate two before they were even cool! They were very much something he could take or leave in the UK, so it was quite a compliment. Now, I just need to remember exactly where I put the recipe last year… When I do, I’ll put it up on the ‘Recipes’ page of my Orne Kitchen diary.

Crêpes or Pancakes – This is the week for them

Flamed with Grand Marnier or sprinkled with sugar and lemon, few can resist the soft, melt-in-the-mouth texture of a perfectly made crêpe or pancake. And this is the week to indulge. Saturday (2 February) is the French celebration of La Chandeleur and on Tuesday (5 February) it’s Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday in Britain. Both days are steeped in traditions and superstition.

La Chandeleur, (Candlemass) with its lighting of candles, began as a way to encourage a good harvest and to drive away evil spirits after the long dark days of winter. To be able to carry your candle home without it going out was seen as especially lucky. Today, the French eat crêpes, the shape and colour of the sun. Superstition says that if you hold a gold coin in your left hand while flipping your crêpe successfully with your right, you will have prosperity and good fortune for the coming year.

Shrove Tuesday, from the old word ’shrive’ meaning to confess, was the day when people in the Middle Ages confessed their sins before the season of Lent. Over the years it became a day of celebration as well as penitence, as it was the last chance to indulge in eating those foods that were forbidden in Lent; fat, butter and eggs.

 Whether you enjoy them as crêpes or pancakes, today there are as wide a variety of fillings as you can imagine. Among the recipes in this fortnight’s  Vie Practique Gourmand (No. 129) can be found sweet fillings of pears and chocolate, orange sorbet and apples and strawberries, while suggestions for savoury crêpes include mushrooms, smoked salmon and curried chicken. Basic crêpe and pancake recipes can be found here .

Lemon cheese and chocolate spread are popular pancake fillings in the UK. But for the traditionalist, what can beat sprinkled sugar and lemon juice?