Crowns and Shells – Couronnes et Coquilles

This beautiful freize with F for François I beneath a crown above a row of scallop shells underneath is on the Renaissance wing of Blois Castle. Cette belle frise avec le F de François Ier surmontée d’une couronne au-dessus d’une rangée de coquilles saint jacques se trouve sur l’aile Renaissance de château de Blois.

La Caravelle

This beautiful insignia in Saint Dyé sur Loire  is a caravel (the house is named La Caravelle), a small, highly manoeuverable sailing ship developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese to explore along the West African coast and the Atlantic Ocean. A gently sloping bow and single stern castle were prominent features and it generally had several masts with …

Saint Laurent's Wall – Le mur de saint Laurent

I’m not exactly sure what this wall in Saint Laurent Nouan represents but it appears to have the arms of different towns called Saint Laurent. Je ne suis pas sūre à quoi correspond ce mur à Saint Laurent Nouan mais il semble porter les écussons de différentes villes qui s’appellent Saint Laurent.

Opus Spicatum

This is a typical blind wall in Sologne called opus spicatum, literally “spiked work”, consisting of bricks in a herringbone bone between and half-timbering. Unfortunately, many of the brick kilns in the area have now disappeared. Voici un mur aveugle solognot typique dit opus spicatum, c’est-à-dire, un appareil en épi et des briques en remplissage sur une maison à pans …

Mullion No More – Plus de meneau

You may remember a post about mullion windows recently in which I explained that, for tax reasons, people removed the mullions and transoms from the windows to pay less tax. This window on Hôtel de Villebresme in Blois would seem to be an excellent example. Vous vous rappelez peut-être d’un post concernant les fenêtres à meneaux dans …

Evening Primrose – Onagre

We arrived in the garden of our little house one morning to discover this beautiful yellow flower that we didn’t remember from the year before and certainly hadn’t planted ourselves. It turns out to be Oenothera biennis or Evening Primrose, also called Sun Drop – and it is a biennial which means it only blooms …

First anniversary: Royal Stripes – Premier anniversaire: Rayures royales

I’ve actually overstepped the first anniversary of Blois Daily Photo which was  25th July. I can’t say I’ve never missed a day – in fact I’ve missed about ten – but it’s been a challenge finding a daily photo when I don’t live in Blois permanently and I try to respect the seasons. It started …