We visited dear friends today. We exchanged with them 18 years ago! And, whenever we are in the Charente, we always get together. So, we've seen them several times but today was even extra special because two of their three children were there with their children. The little ones are the ages of our granddaughters. The weather was perfect and while the 5 grandchildren napped, the adults had one of those 6 course meals! (Odile, even remembered that I'm a vegetarian!)
At some point, we were discussing the age of their home and Odile pulled out a huge book (one of those huge cocktail table books) of all the "Chateaus in the Charente". The page with their chateau was tabbed so she could open to it and we could look at the history of their home as well as a sketch of what it had looked like. (see photo) Their oldest granddaughter, who is eight, wanted to know what had happened to the 2 towers shown in the drawing.
The original chateau was constructed in the early 1100's. Like so many others, it suffered during the religious wars and the French Revolution. Our friends took it over some 25 years ago, You can see that the original door (still there) was replaced by a more "modern" sized one that taller people could enter and exit without hitting their head!
The original stables have been converted into a huge kitchen and play area for the children on the first floor and then, above stairs, are four gigantic bedrooms. Each couple has their own bedroom and the grandchildren sleep together in one bedroom.
And, they have added a quite large pool with a great security system. Each gate locks automatically and only the adults have the code.
