About 40 years ago I was helping a couple of ex-Parisians leave their beautiful old farmhouse next door to us, and move down to the mountainous area of the Cevennes in the South. It all proved a bit disastrous, but it was their choice, and I was happy to assist them.
We unloaded all their beautiful antique furniture and belongings into a mountainside crumbling stone barn, and very reluctantly said Au revoir, knowing that it was probably Adieu.
I'll never forget watching those two vulnerable ladies standing and waving at us as we left. It's hard to imagine what happened after we'd gone. As much as we'd tried to persuade them to find a hotel, their Zen leanings over-ruled all. I pictured them sitting cross-legged, chanting 'oooom', and wearing saffron robes, as they looked out over the stunning mountainous landscape. We really felt as if we had 'abandoned' them; but they were reasonably wealthy, and they did own a car.
On the way down, not long before we'd reached their new 'home', I kept noticing short bits of hollowed-out tree trunks on stone walls, these were invariably covered with a large slab of stone. I was informed that they were an ancient form of Bee Hive. They looked so beautiful, and natural, in those bleak mountainous surroundings that I was in awe of the ingenuity.
Just recently an advert appeared in my MSN news-feed page advertising brand new versions of these hives.
Carved in a slightly more chic decorative 21st C style than their older cousins, and having a more modern interior, they are bound to be popular again. I can see people taking-up Bee Keeping just to have a few of these in their orchard. They cost about 550 Euros each.
A propos my two ex-neighbours, I later learned that they had 'divorced'. Jeannine had headed further south to the Riviera, and Odette had died in a Parisian Hospital.
Before heading off on their Zen adventure, these two lovely ladies had given me all sorts of 'treasures' as part of their 'downsizing'. Amongst which were a lovely Biot Olive pot, a Trunk (below, complete with Odette's father's original address in Paris), and all sorts of exotic wooden spoons from their world travels; all of which I still have.
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I have no idea what prompted their bizarre move to a ruined mountainside stone barn, but it really wasn't advisable. I missed them after they'd gone, and I quite expect they regretted their move as well.
I would love that wooden trunk .. provided it has no woodworm!
ReplyDeleteSuch a bold move for the two ladies. A shame they didn't keep in touch after they moved away.
Their old home next door is a really beautiful traditional farmhouse, with all the outbuildings you could imagine. I really don't know why they sold. No woodworm in the trunk!
DeleteWhy couldn't they be contented with the farmhouse close to you? Perhaps they were escaping the heavy metal music that you used to blast out through your horn speakers every morning. Good job you have calmed down since then and are now more likely to listen to BBC Radio 4 or soothing monastic singing. Sometimes people just want more than they have instead of learning to be contented with their lot.
ReplyDeleteBizarrely, I think their life next door was just too luxurious for them. I think they were looking for a more simple Zen way of life. They would have been better-off going to live in the foothills of the Himalayas; although they would have had to find someone else to do their removal.
DeleteThe Zen lifestyle overtook their hopes and desires. I've known people to read a book, become enthralled and make big changes...like selling a home to live on a sailboat.
ReplyDeleteYou do wonder how your friends/neighbors managed living in a relic of a home. It could not have been easy.
They can't have lived there; it was a ruin with hardly any roof. They must have rented somewhere else whilst the conversion work was being done. I wonder if it did ever get done! Maybe that's why they 'divorced'.
DeleteWhat a sad story.
ReplyDeleteThere is no accounting for the "eccentricities" that visit us in later life! Perhaps the view from the crumbling ruin was their vision of Paradise and the nearest thing to Zen perfection? Goodness knows why they took all their furniture though - two or three flat packs from Ikea would have been more in keeping with the Zen philosophy that less is more. On the other hand, maybe they were scammed by some unscupulous Estate Agent into selling their beautiful home and moving to the ruin?
After all these years, we still have no idea what went through their minds. I think they must simply have wanted to 'ESCAPE'. Which they did!
DeleteSometimes people think a change of venue will help a troubled relationship, it seldom does. My father and grandfather were beekeepers, the shift to removable frame (boxy) hives was in large part to allow for inspection for disease 100 or so years ago.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a return to old fashioned style hives at the moment. I've also seen some of those woven rush, bell-shaped, hives for sale. Beautiful.
DeleteThe beehives are lovely. I've never seen anything like them. I'm wondering if there's some sort of rustic version here. I shall ask my honey lady on Friday at the market
ReplyDeleteThey're very inventive. I remember when I first saw them, I was amazed. I'm sure all cultures have their own method of producing honey. Let me know!
DeleteI'm fascinated with those beehives as well, are they actually producing honey, because to me they look like they might be solitary bee 'hotels'? Or do the slabs lift off the top to reveal the combs? Whatever they are, they look wonderful, I'd love to have one like that!
ReplyDelete