postcards from a french inn: Once upon a time... the house before the B&B

Once upon a time, in a little village known as Charmeneuil within the township of Le Thou on the west coast of France, there was a big house built around 1850 by Veronique's great, great... grandfather Jean Bouyer. Today she represents the fifth generation living in the house. What follows is the story of a region, a village, a house, and a family - a story we are continuing to discover...

The Big House or Maison de Maitre built around 1850

Veronique's sister readies the tractor in 1950s.

Veronique's mother Colette pictured
on the right and some of her children.

Leopold, Veronique's great grandfather,
striking a very French pose.

The first mention of Charmeneuil dates back to 1475 when Guillaume des Chaulmes, the seigneur or 'lord' of Charmeneuil declared his allegiance to the suzerain or 'overlord' above him and delineating the boundaries of his lands - landmarks that Veronique can recognize even today. Nothing more, before or much after that date, regarding the fief of Charmeneuil can be found in the records. The next mention, a mere 300 years later, is about the paroise or 'parish' of St. Pierre du Thou en Aunis, renamed the Commune de Le Thou by the revolutionaries after 1789. It would take ten years for the town to have its first mayor and he would not be elected by the people but rather appointed by the New Republic. He was to be picked from among the best local men of substance and wealth. In post-revolutionary France, perhaps not all men were so equal.

Le Thou in 1910. The houses are still standing today in the center of town

A view from the front door in simpler times.

Much of today's stone house in Charmeneuil had been built sometime after the railroad arrived in the 1850s. Jean Bouyer, a man of wealth, farmed and cultivated grapes for use in both table and fortified wines. Nearby distilleries also enjoyed a measure of success in producing brandy, eau de vie, and the AOC designated local plonk, Pineau des Charentes (a sweet, strong mix of eau de vie and freshly pressed juice from any number of grape varietals). In fact, as more land converted to the production of grapes, the mid 1800s brought tremendous prosperity to the region and ushered in something of a golden age. The new railroad network arrived in 1857, linking Le Thou and other nearby communities to both coastal cities and the interior. Subsistence farmers and their new found wealth soon became known as the bourgoise des bouchons or, loosely translated, the 'gentry of the wine corks.' Substantial houses known as Maison de Maitre similar to ours were built, sometimes by "investors" who lived elsewhere, and still can be found throughout the region. Itinerant or resident farm workers brought in the harvests and tended the lands in the owners' absence.

Veronique's father Joseph reaping the wheat harvest in the early 1960s.

Joseph atop a precarious load of hay.

By mid-19th century, military officials and politicians had determined a coastal line connecting La Rochelle to the naval shipyards of Rochefort was too vulnerable to attack and would be better served by a rail junction some 20 kilometres inland with separate lines branching out towards each city. This exact spot of the new train station happened to be located within the fiefdom of Charmeneuil. Originally named La Gare de Charmeneuil, the nearby and larger town of Aigrefeuille took ownership of the station and renamed it after their own town. But enter Jean Bouyer, by then the mayor of the township of Le Thou which including Charmeneuil, who in August of 1890 boarded a train carrying the French President Sardi Carnot en route to La Rochelle on an official trip. Jean requested and was granted an audience with the President and in a moment of civic pride, pled his case that the station be named after Le Thou. The victory proved to be only half realized in that the station came to be called La Gare d'Aigrefeuille-Le Thou.

*As a footnote, with the introduction of the go-fast trains or TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse), most of the smaller stations across France closed including Aigrefeuille-Le Thou. The remains of that station, a large locomotive roundhouse and maintenance yard are still visible today. In a final note, there has been talk of reopening the old station for local service to La Rochelle - one that would allow bikes on board and at the same time reducing traffic congestion. However, it will be a few more years before our guests can take advantage of this service.

A sportive and young Joseph

and his buddies on tour

A dashing Joseph Deplanne

The above mentioned golden age for local farmers collapsed with the arrival of the phylloxera epidemic beginning in the 1860s and quickly brought the French wine industry to its knees. The disease may have originated in North American but English botanists accidentally imported the insects that ravaged the vines and nearly halted wine production. Up to that point, our region was covered with vineyards almost to the exclusion of all else. But phylloxera and its devastating impact on the local economy served to highlight the inherent dangers in any unsustainable monoculture. In a strange twist of fate, the remedy for phylloxera also came from North America as French wine growers eventually grafted resistant American root stock to their vines and the plague was contained. Thereafter, the agricultural economy of Le Thou and the department of Charente Maritime became more diversified with an emphasis on dairy and grain production. One happy result of this dramatic change exists today as the butter from the nearby Surgeres co-operative dairy (founded in 1888) can be found the world over - Veronique came across it once in a small grocery store while visiting New Orleans. With a slightly higher fat content than American butters, it is sought internationally by discriminating chefs and consumers.

Colette with part of the herd. The water trough is today used for flowers and plants

Back at the family farm, Jean Bouyer's son Leopold was born, raised and lived in the house. He became something of a village grandee or notable with horses for both town & country. Said to have produced fine brandy but awful wine, Leopold married and fought in WW I. Their daughter Jeanne married a local dandy named Rene and moved to the adjacent commune of Cire where Veronique's mother Colette was born in 1930. Leopold also was elected mayor of the village but left office after WW II never to return. In the following years the house was occupied by tenants who worked in the fields until Colette and Joseph Deplanne married and moved to Charmeneuil in 1953. The house and farmland were a wedding gift from Leopold to his favorite and only grandchild, Colette.

A portrait of Leopold circa 1920.

Rene and Leopold's daughter Jeanne in 1926

Colette as a young women just after the war

And so came to pass the 'salad days', the happy times, for Joseph and Colette. The young Deplannes raised seven children, expanded the house and enjoyed success operating the farm. Following a by now well established family tradition, Joseph was also elected mayor of Le Thou and served 2 terms before retiring and handing over the reigns of government to our friends Bernard Marchand and later the current mayor Christian Brunier. We will be living in Charmeneuil year round soon and one wonders if Veronique will feel the draw of political service? If not mayor, perhaps assistant mayor like her mother after Joseph passed away? But given her obligations at the b&b, as well as her seemingly endless projects, there is probably not enough time in the day for Veronique to assume any additional responsibilities. But in the meantime, subsequent posts will begin to highlight life in Charmeneuil and in the big house.