An overnight temperature of around -4 degrees was the precursor for today as Sunday dawned cold and grey with a leaden sky. But as so often happens in this part of France by early afternoon a bright blue sky arrived and along with it our spirits lifted. In an effort to make the most of this unexpected filip to our day, Lesley and I decided to jump into the car and have a look at a nearby village right up on the border with the Charente.
There was still some leaf cover here despite being in the depths of winter
The tiny village of Fontaine lies in the Lizonne valley and on a quiet January Sunday nothing much stirred. For such a small hameau there were plenty of interesting architectural features to be noted. A very interestingly shaped house stood at a junction on the way down into the hameau. It reminded me of a French country version of the Flat Iron building in New York, although of course you do have to use a bit of imagination.
The Flat Iron building, Fontaine style
Just across the road from this building is one of those classic rural French bus shelters crafted from concrete and designed to keep the nation's schoolchildren dry (but not very warm) as they wait for the bus to arrive and haul them off to some school many kilometres down the road. Functional and pure in form I think these things are a delight, completely vandal-proof and highly practical. This one good for another 50 years if it escapes the eye of some over zealous official in the local commune. I guess this design of bus shelter dates from around the mid-fifties.
This particular shelter is one of the finest I've seen
The date on the foot of this cross intrigued me, carved whilst the Bastille was still standing
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