Ive just spent the day removing the mud from between the stones of our house in Brittany. The mud stands in place of lime or cement mortar which were unavailable or unaffordable when the house was built.
The process gave ample time for reflection on what should be done when an old house is modernised.
Here in Brittany it is impossible to preserve a house in its original state if it is to be lived in. All the memories of those times mostly the memories have died with the people who lived then would be of bad weather, mud, cramped living space, the cold and privation. Today we can avoid these things but we risk losing the spirit of these old places.
Ironically one of the features that we, and others like us, proudly retain is the dated front door lintel. But our French neighbours tell us that many such dated artefacts were actually looted from the local manoirs at the time of the revolution.
The upper storey of old houses was always a grenier never lived in except by mice who feasted on whatever was stored there. These days the grenier becomes several bedrooms. They can boxed in as normal rooms or left open right up to the ridge 15 feet, which is...
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