If you see this, you have found us ! Maison Porte del Marty and French Mode !
Si vous voyez ceci, vous nous avez trouvés! Maison Porte del Marty et French Mode
Archive for July 2012
Living directly across the road from St Peter’s / St Pierre-ès-Lien our local Lalinde church we share the pulse of the
community with christening /baptêmes, weddings / mariage and of course funerals / funérailles. The bells peel out the occasion with a surprising variation of tones and rhythm. France shares the issue of declining church attendance, but from our perspective, the moral and christian values of the community are still very intact and the church still plays a very important part of life of our local community. The Dordogne has long been one of the many pathways (The Way to St James) to Santiago de Compostella on the NE coast of Spain to the Church that houses the remains of St James, one of the disciples of Jesus. Millions of people have made their pilgrimage since the beginning of the 9th Century when the tomb was discovered and today many 1000’s of people still walk the trail, the most common trail beginning at St Jean Pied de Port on the French side of the Pyrennes mountain range which stadles France and Spain. Our surrounding villages of Cadouin, Tremolat and Paunat have large and magnificent old churchs / abbys that housed and welcomed the weary traveller. It’s only in the 1930’s that Cadouin gave up their claim to having the death shroud of Jesus Christ in their possession, Cadouin ( and many other villages throughout the 
Christan world ) had claimed the ownership of the shroud which brought many devotees and
donations to their church. The Turin Shroud presently held by the Vatican appears to be the only shroud with some written history being mentioned in the initiation of some of the Knight Templars in the 11th and 12th century. Spring and Summer is wedding time in France, probably based on rural tradition, we often have 2 or 3 weddings on a Saturday. In France, the only legal marriage is performed by the Mayor’s Office ( Le Mairie ), a church wedding has no legal standing, but is still a desire of many young couples after they are married at the Mairie. One of the delightful traditions is for the wedding party and their guests to drive around the area and village with their cars decorated, horns blaring and make a general racket. One car will be heavily decorated with old brooms, tin cans, perhaps a couple of stuffed ” guys” and a wide variety of other memorabilia, the enclosed photos will give you some idea ! Our weddings range from a simple arrival on an ox and cart, to full limousine service with morning suits and high fashion. For foreigners to get married in France, it takes a fair amount of preparation. Notarised and translated documents including your parents wedding and birth certificates are compulsory and must be registered with the Bureau du Maire well before any wedding. If anyone reading our blog is considering this, look under AngloInfo Dordogne ( Google it ) and they have an area on their website which spells out the minimum requirements, it would certainly be a memorable occasion to be married in France !
After a fair bit of graft and with some help from good friends Pieter and Andrea, this beautiful room is finished, it’s the biggest room in our house with a wonderful high ceiling and massive fireplace. We have painted it in a soft blue/grey limewas
h, the plaster work was in bad shape and Pieter, our dear friend from Holland helped me rebuild the damaged walls and ceilings. 2 years ago Pieter’s wife Jet helped Cheri with our Chambre 2 – Marie Antionette. 
Andrea our lovely Scottish friend from LeBugue made the fabulous curtains and we have furnished the room simply, but with nice pieces of furniture. With wide views over the river and the church this room will be a hit with our guests. This end of the house is the oldest part of the existing structure, and sits over a cobbled cellar that runs parallel to Porte del Marty, the stone bastide gate on our property which was the main entrance from the river.
I have since found the remains of a Roman floor in our cellar which was underneath an existing cobbled area. The original building on our property was built in Roman times then rebuilt around the 4th or 5th century by a family line of Chevaliers who ran the village of Diolindum ,which became LaLinda in Occitane then more laterly Lalinde in French. When the new bastide town was built in Lalinde in the 1200’s there was only the cellar, main walls and a shell remaining of the original Chevaliers structure. As most records were lost during the 2 x 100 year wars in our area, there is little documented information left. Our local Mairie ( Mayors Office ) has some documents covering one of our Chevaliers ruling on a property matter in the 7th century plus details of the remains of the building when the bastide walls were built around our house. The first church of Lalinde was built during the Chevaliers time and was part of our property, in this time the church was as much a place of refuge and a meeting hall.
