Pottery in Castandet

Castandet is famous, in this area, for its pottery production in the 19th century. When walking the dogs on Wednesday morning I met Mme Gourdon who is a fount of local knowledge. She started telling me about the pottery and I arranged to go and see her and some of the local pottery, along with Nigel, in the afternoon. We spent more than a couple of hours there looking at pottery which are now family heirlooms. The great-grandfather of M. Gourdon was a potter and some of his pieces are still in good condition. We also found out quite a bit more of the local history. The name Castandet apparently comes from the word "chataigne" which means chestnut tree or chestnuts. At one time the area was heavily wooded with chestnut trees. There is a chateau in the part of the village where the church and school are sited. The chateau was built in the late 19th century and is supposed to be a small reproduction of Chenonceaux, in the Loire. It was built by an engineer who had worked on the Panama canal and he also had the church built opposite the gates of his chateau so that he and his family and guests could walk out of the gates and straight across into the church.
The pottery industry in Castandet started in the early 19th century and died out in the early 20th century with the advent of enamel and aluminium. In 1874 there were at least 40 potteries in the village. Some residents, who were too poor to have their own oven were able to use the one at the chateau in return for giving the cinders to the chateau for use on the land.There are strata of specific types of clay, in the area, that were ideal for the type of pottery made. The manufacture was of kitchen utensils, plates, bowls, wine pichets, pots for preserving and water pots which the women of the village carried on their heads to go to the fountain to collect water. Not many cooking utensils were made. A major production was of pots, like small plant pots glazed inside, which were used to collect the resin from the pine trees. A considerable industry in the forested area of Les Landes.
There were about 40 ovens in Castandet many of them in our hamlet of Perron. Most of them have fallen into ruin or been demolished.There are still the remains of 2 of them in the centre of Perron. Our house was called, in those days, Peluchon or Peluzon and there was an oven here at the entrance to the property. An archaeological study was done in the village in 2004 and many samples of the pottery, mainly broken, were found. It is only recently that the importance of this industry has been realised. Mme Gourdon remembers that back in the 1950s there was a local fete in Perron and one of the side shows was of a rope strung over the road from which were hung various old pots which at that time were thought to be little more than rubbish. The pots were filled with prizes or water and the participants were blindfolded and given a hammer with which to smash the pots! They then recieved a prize or a waterfall. What sacrilage.

The migration of the cranes.

Living here we are on the migratory route of the cranes. They fly south, from Sweden and Northern Scandinavia, in October/November, to Southern Spain although some now over-winter in Aquitaine. They do the return trip at the end of February/early March. It is said that when they fly South it is the start of winter and that when they return it is the end of winter. We saw the first ones last Friday, the 22nd February. They were flying very low and the noise they were making was very loud. Yesterday, several "squadrons" of them flew over in the late afternoon. The sky was blue and cloudless and they made amazing patterns in the sky. Each group was made up of over a 100 birds. The arrival of each group is preceded by the typical "honking" noise of the birds as they communicate with each other. Rambo was looking up in the sky trying to work out where the noise was coming from1

Garden in February.

Poule au Pot

This evening was hosted by the music school of Castandet. The invite said that it started "from 7pm". Being used to the vagueness of this and not wanting to be first to arrive we left it until 7.45 to arrive. Surprise, surprise hardly anyone there so we did a quick drive by and came back home for half an hour. When we returned there were plenty of people there and we were able to make a relatively unobtrusive entrance. People were crowded round the bar and we were hailed by Sophie who was talking to Christine and said that she had reserved a table for all of us from "quartier Perron". Also there were Alain, Dominique and another man who was introduced to us as Bernard. Once we had taken off our coats we were given an aperitif and started chatting with our neighbours. Bernard, who we had not met before, was very vocal to say the least. Alain was on his own, I asked him where his wife was and he said she didn't like eating or going out. Strange, he seemed quite sad. I have met her a couple of times and have to say she seemed very sociable. It appeared that there was no hope of food in the near future so I poured more water into my pastis and managed to grab a couple of the nibbles that were on the bar. I declined the offer of a second pastis but it went ignored and another one was pressed into my hand. Luckily it seems that ladies don't have more than 2 aperos so I managed to escape the third round but Nigel had a third one pressed into his hand. Finally, about 9.30, people started drifting to the tables. I was extremely pleased to be able to sit down due to discomfort of new shoes!
Let me describe "poule au pot" as it is quite something. The chickens are cooked, presumably in a big pot, along with beef and veal. Potatoes, carrots, leeks and cabbage are added at some point. The first course is soup which is basically the broth that the meat has been cooked in with some vermicelli added. It is extremely flavoursome. It is served in a huge tureen which is placed in the middle of the table. Then it is the turn of the chicken, vegetables and stuffing to arrive, served on a huge serving dish. This is placed in the middle of the table and everyone helps themselves. A large bowl of rice also arrives along with a dish of fresh tomato sauce. Alain told me that they allowed one chicken for 8 people. This doesn't seem a lot but the chickens must have been the sumo wrestlers of the chicken world going by the size of their thighs. Jean-Marc had provided 9 of the chickens and he and Alan had killed and prepared them the day before. No supermarket chickens in Castandet!! It seems that it is quite acceptable for ladies to place a hand over ones glass and refuse a top up whereas the men just top up each others glasses without asking! A great relief for me, it meant that I was able to drink plenty of water as well as wine.
Before the cheese and dessert we had live music from the music school. Bernard gave me a potted biography of the guitarist and leader of the ensemble. Apparently he (don't know his name) arrive in Castandet about 30 years ago. He was "a hippy" (according to Bernard) and was thought to be very strange at that time when this part of the world was not used to such people! It was a long time before he was accepted and he had a lot of problems initially. Now he seems to be very well integrated despite his long grey hair and pointed beard. I would say he is in his early sixties. I must find out more about him when I next see Bernard.
The ensemble consisted of the guitarist, Jean-Marc on clarinet, a trumpet, Pascale on a wind instrument, keyboard and percussion. The music varied from "My Way" to "Rock around the Clock" !! No vocals just the instruments it was vcry, very good!!!!!!
Then onto cheese and salad, followed by chocolate fondant (Nigel managed to get 2 of those!) and coffee. The guitarist then took to the stage again,accompanied only by the percussion this time, and played and sang several more items mainly in Spanish. A wonderful end to a wonderful evening which ended, for us, about 1.15.

Neighbours - The Cast

As time goes on we are meeting more neighbours in Perron and seem to have given them nicknames to differentiate between them.

"The Ladies" live at the house above us. Madame Lespine and her daughter Cristel. Mme's husband died when he was 30 and she was left on her own to bring up her daughter Cristel. When Cristel was old enough to work they left here and went to live in Mont de Marsan keeping the house here for the future. When Cristel learned to drive they were able to come back here at weekends and over the years they renovated the house. Three years ago, when Cristel was 55, they came back here permanently. Cristel has never married. They are both charming.

Across the road from them we have Dominique - "diggerman", wife Christine and 2 children a boy aged 15 and a daughter aged 13.

Opposite us are Sophie, Phillippe - Phil the fireman - and 2 children, Anna just over a year and Thomas, 11.

At the back of them are Phillipes parents Alain - tractor man - and wife Christine.

The house below us is occupied by Doctor Anaethetist who, apparently, is not often seen. I have got as far as waving to him when he passes in the car but we have not yet met him.

Further down are Michel - Beret man- and his wife. Michel is the oldest person in Perron at 84 years old but he is still very active. He drives a tractor, cuts down trees and operates a chain saw. He and his wife have a huge vegetable garden opposite our front garden. He has been here all his life and owns a lot of the surrounding land which is now let out to other farmers.

Then there are Jean-Marc - quail man- and Pascale his wife who is president of the music school of Castandet. Jean-Marc is from another farming family in the village and he breeds quail, ducks and farms a large area of land around the village.

Finally there is Bernard - mole man- who tells me he lives in the house with the pointed roof, down the road on the left. As most houses have pointed rooves I am at a bit of a loss as to which one! He is apparently very good at trapping moles and has promised to come and take care of our moles in return for a whiskey!

Friday in the Gers

Today we went over to the Gers, our adjoining departement (county) to visit my horse Tarry who has been living over there for several years now with Letty. Letty lives near Marciac which is famous for its jazz festival each July. We had lunch on a barge moored on the lake there. A very good lunch in a nice setting. Then off to see Tarry who looks extremely well. Letty has looked after him very well and rides him every other day unless it is too hot and too many flies. He has a donkey for company and they get on extremely well. It was good to see him looking so fit and happy and it brought back memories of him as a foal when I lived in Dalwood.

Saturday Surprise

Our neighbou, Alain, came over in the morning to ask if we would like some venison. He hunts regularly and he had shot a chevreuil (roe deer) earlier in the week. We were only too happy to say yes and he said to go round in the early evening to pick it up.
In the afternoon I had my first tournament at the bridge club. It was specially for beginners and the 4 of us from our group played 15 hands. I have to say that I didn't play well and was bottom of our group! Enjoyable if somewhat nerveracking.
Once home I went over to Alains and he gave me a leg and shoulder of venison as well as 6 chops and a couple of kilos of stewing meat. Added to which he also gave me his grandmothers recipe for "civet" a sort of stew involving lots of red wine and some Armagnac! Oh and a dozen eggs as well.

The Day After

Next day I went for a walk with the dogs and met a lady in the village, she turned out to be the mother of Jean-Marc who we met last night. I was a good hour talking to her or should I say she talked and I listened! Very interesting as she has lived here all her life and knows such a lot about our part of the village. Castandet is split into the areas, our area which is known as Quartier Perron, the main area with the mairie and the village hall which is Rondeboeuf and the area of the church and the school known as Quartier de l'eglise. Mme Gourdon told me that at one time there were almost 500 inhabitants in Perron and 3 bistros, now there are about 50 inhabitants. Until the 1950s it was very rural and a system near to feudalism existed with the land being owned by 3 families and the people who worked the land having to give a tenth of their harvest to the owners of the land. A lot of the land was down to vines as we are in the area known as Bas Armagnac famous, of course, for its production on Armagnac. Unfortunately this was not profitable as the Armagnac has to be stored for a minimum of ten years. Most of the vines were uprooted and the land is now mainly down to maize which feeds the free range ducks and chickens or goes to the vegetable canning factory in nearby Grenade. Many of the villages in the area are twinned with villages in Alsace. At the beginning of the war the whole populations of villages fled their homes and became refugees in this area. Castandet is twinned with Hombourg and the ties between the villages are still strong. There is an exchage of villagers every 2 years and this year it is the turn of the Alsaciennes to visit here. The highlight of their stay here is a choucroute evening in the village hall, choucroute being an Alsacienne dish of frankfurter style sausage and sauerkraut. The Alsaciennes have bought the old presbytery in the village, half of which is rented out and the other half available for anyone from Hombourg who wants to stay here. They also contributed the major amount for the large extension to the village hall. As Mme Gourdon said "They have the money, we have the sun!" I look forward to meeting her again and finding out more about the history of the village.