The Village of Coutarnoux and the surrounding area
Le Verger is a former Burgundian farm in the village of Coutarnoux (population 160). It consists of two farmhouses, La Maison Bleue (which has blue shutters) and La Vieille Maison which has a dressed stone façade (indicating that at one time the farm was wealthy) and the nearby bread house where bread was once baked for everyone who lived on the farm. It also has two barns (one now transformed into a seminar room) and outhouses which were used for sheep, horses and pigs. At one time the farm would have been entirely self supporting, making its own wine and cheese, growing its own vegetables and crops and husbanding livestock. In the cellar below La Maison Bleue there are old wine casks and in one of the barns there is a huge wooden vat in which grapes were once pressed. The upstairs bedrooms were originally attics used for storing grain and drying herbs.
As you look round the buildings at Le Verger you will find that quite a few have dates carved into the stone. The earliest is 1775. The oval shaped windows in the house and in the wall of one of the barns are called ‘oeil de boeuf' (ox eye). A stone sink was often positioned below them and they let in sufficient light but not rain.
The stone wall that runs along the back of the orchard garden at Le Verger is the ancient village wall that dates from the time when Coutarnoux was a fortified village (to defend against bandits in the period of the 100 Years War).
Coutarnoux is surrounded by beautiful rolling countryside offering forest walks with glimpses of roe deer, birds of prey and, if you are lucky, wild boar. The local area has several limestone quarries (there is a quarry museum at nearby Massangis) and you will notice that stone was used in quite humble farm buildings instead of wood (for example as lintels in the sheep outhouses and for the pump outside the bread house) because it was cheap and easily available. Stone from the Coutarnoux quarry was used for the nave at the abbey church at Vézelay because it was so white.
In the past, people in Coutarnoux were farm workers, quarry workers and foresters. Today about 60 houses are second homes owned mostly by Parisians. Local people are farmers or they commute to work in nearby Avallon.
There was once an abbey at Coutarnoux and some of its carvings are now incorporated into a barn wall. Coutarnoux has a beautiful stone wash house.
You will find many other fine examples of Burgundian wash houses in local villages. You will also see La Maison des Goix, the tax collector's house, which dates from the 15th century
The church opposite Le Verger has the surviving figures from a 15th century stone Calvary. During the revolution of 1789 it was destroyed, apart from several figures including Moses and Elias, that were hidden by the mayor of the time in his house. These figures, which would have been carved by the stonemasons of the village, were recently rediscovered and reinstated.
There are no shops or cafes in Coutarnoux but both are a ten minute drive away in the pretty village of L'Isle sur Serein where there is a tabac, a Casino (grocery store), a florist, a chemist, a post office, two hairdressers, two bakers and a bank with a cash point. There is also a bar (which has free internet access).
The Sully tree
The ancient lime tree outside the door of the Coutarnoux village church opposite the courtyard of Le Verger is a 'Sully tree' and 400 years old. The Duc de Sully (1569 -1641) was the First Minister in the government of Henri IV and he decreed that a tree should be planted outside every church in France. Together the king and Sully gave France 20 years of much-needed peace. Following the Wars of Religion, the Edict of Nantes guaranteed religious tolerance.
According to the website of Terry Brown who has researched Sully trees:
‘The Duke of Sully was passionate about tree-planting and he started the tradition of planting poplars alongside roads - an image which, for many, typifies France. He also planted trees for commemorative purposes. Nearly all have died but some lime trees still remain. No definitive list of them exists.
Some sources claim that Sully ordered every community to plant a tree in their town or village. That may be so, but there is evidence that some were planted for specific reasons which were sometimes very local - for example the passage of Henri 1V or industrial success.A small mystery is the siting of these trees. All the ones I have found, except the elm in the Deaf-Mute Institute in Paris, are in tiny villages or hamlets. Why is that? Is it just that only those in out-of-the-way places survived or did Sully pick out small communities for some reason.'
The surrounding area
There are a many places of interest a 20 - 40 minute drive from Coutarnoux. These include:
The market town of Avallon with its old quarter, cobbled streets, Romanesque cathedral and spectacular rampart views across the valley of the Cousin. - The exquisite hilltop abbey church of Vézelay, which is one of the two French starting points for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostella in Northern Spain.
- The château d'Epoisses (visited by Madame de Sévigné) with its double fortifications has beautiful interiors dating from the 12th-14th century. Epoisses is also the home of the famous cheese which is washed in marc de Bourgogne.
The château de Bazoches, constructed around 1180 was the place from which the kings Philippe Auguste and Richard Coeur de Lion departed for the third crusade. In the 17th century it was the home of the great military architect, the Maréchal de Vauban.- Perched on a hill overlooking the valley of the Serein is the picturesque village of Montréal with its stone houses dating from the 14th-16th century. In the hilltop church of Notre Dame there are exquisite wood carvings from the 16th century.
- The prehistoric Grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure is a major site, even more ancient than the better known caves of Lascaux. It has wonderful formations of stalagmites and stalactites and prehistoric cave paintings of animals.
Further afield
Fontenay Abbey, the château de Tanlay, the château de Meaulnes, the château de Bussy-Rabutin and the battlefield of Alésia amongst many other places of interest are a one - two hour drive from Coutarnoux.
Wine tasting
The Burgundy region is the true heartland of France and some of the greatest wines are grown here. Coutarnoux is less than an hour's drive from the winegrowing villages of Chablis, Irancy and St Cyr les Colons. A tour of this area taking in some dégustations is one of the expeditions arranged for participants.