October 2017 Picture of the Month

Guédelon. For the last quarter of a century, at Guédelon in Burgundy, it really has been possible to step back in time – nearly eight centuries in fact – and see a mediaeval castle being built using 13th century skills and techniques, and employing only those tools which would have been available at the time. Highlight of our recent French trip was a day spent at the castle site  where the château is nearing completion, but for another few years at least, the site will echo to the sounds of stone masons at work, cranes powered only by human treadmills, and the gentle sound of the horse-drawn ‘tombereaux’ or tumbrils moving the raw materials around. Photographs, sadly, can only show what the place looks like – the experience of being there and listening as well as observing is much more completely engaging.

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