One of the lesser-known regions in Bordeaux is an area called Blaye, on the other side of the Gironde River from Bordeaux. Our Bordeaux apartment hosts live in Blaye during the summer. She and her husband invited us over for lunch and sightseeing, an opportunity too good to pass up.
About Blaye
Blaye is a small town sitting at the southern tip of Europe’s largest estuary, the Gironde, formed by the confluences of the nearby Dordogne and Garonne rivers. It’s a historical and powerful settlement from medieval times. The mighty Citadel of Blaye and its military fortifications sit majestically over this strategic intersection.
Getting to Their House
Getting to our hosts’ house was a little difficult. Our first attempt routed us to the town hall in St. Savin, the closest village. Our second attempt worked fine. We were under the impression this was our hosts’ full-time home because they were renting their flat in Bordeaux to us. But they only lived in Blaye during the spring and summer. They run their summer home as Chambres d’hotes. They spent the winter in their apartment in town, where we happened to be staying as we wrote these notes.
She said her visitors had changed over the years. Originally, guests would come and go during the day or early evening. She serves breakfast and dinner. Dinner is always a long evening of food, wine, and talk. Sometimes, it’s too much for the guests, who skip dinner. These days, some guests think about their accommodation as a hotel, arriving late in the day or early in the evening, which can be difficult for our hostess. She misses the socializing and clearly she is super gregarious. They close up in the fall since the guests don’t come when the weather turns.
How Our Host Came to Be There
Our hostess first came to Blaye 40 years ago with her first husband, a horticulturalist. They purchased a plot of land with 20 acres and set up a farm to grow and sell heather. The farm originally had 3 buildings: a modest bunk house, a small separate kitchen, and a 10,000-square-foot barn. All of the buildings were in bad shape and covered in vegetation.
Calcium had leached from the limestone walls so they were covered with a thick layer of calcium. The loft in the bunkhouse was used for storing grains and so it had no windows. There was a set of rooms on the backside of the house containing barrels for winemaking.
The kitchen building had a large woodfired oven used for baking and cooking. There was a small area for dining and other food prep. Next to it was a root cellar, but it had been converted at some time to a workshop with a bench and organized tool storage. What remained of the barn was mostly walls and some wooden headers. The condition of the property promised lots of work to restore.
Restoring the House
Our hostess set about restoring the ruin of the bunkhouse as a place to live. During that time she worked in Bordeaux and did the restoration on the side, so it took her 5 years to complete. Meanwhile, her first husband set up the Heather nursery.
The first task was to clean the calcium from the walls. It turned out they found beautiful limestone walls in the bunkhouse turned main building. She added windows to the loft and turned it into a kid’s sleeping and social area. The downstairs was renovated to create three guest bedrooms and a master for herself. She created an inviting main and dining room for socializing.
The one major addition was a sizable, dine-in kitchen and she converted the fireplace to have dual openings. The stones for the kitchen walls came from the old barn walls. The work was expensive and time-consuming, but at least knowledgeable masons were around 40 years ago. Today, she says there are very few masons left, which would make the job much more difficult now. The loft has some beautiful, centuries-old woodwork that uses large dowels for securing things, no nails. The original building is believed to date from 1832. She also added a pool.
Changes Over Time
Then, her husband died in a car accident. Sometime after that, she had all of the heather removed and just left grass and trees. Eventually, she remarried. I asked if they rent out their land to farmers. Our host said no because the farmer renting the land would then have the right to prevent a sale of the land because it was needed to support the farm. So, the land is fallow.
The restored house and separate kitchen are one of only three historic farm complexes still existing in the area. The local historical society wants to designate it as such, but our host has resisted. She knows it will add restrictions on how she can manage her home and business.
Authentic Country Lunch
Our hosts prepared a wonderful lunch for us. The first course was melon, sausage, homemade wild boar terrine, sliced tomatoes, homemade cornbread, and white wine. As we were eating, we assumed this was lunch because it was substantial, but then more food came. The second course was a wine-braised pigeon that her neighbor had shot along with roasted potatoes and peas, a traditional side dish with pigeons. This was served with local red wine and followed by a course of salad and a selection of cheeses. Finally, we had some tarte tatin that we had brought. They added some local sweet wine for that, too. All of this over the course of about 3 hours. It was quite the experience and a real treat.
Touring the Citadel in Blaye
After lunch, our hostess swapped her lunch hat for a tour guide baton. We hopped in their runabout van and headed for the Citadel of Blaye.
Le Citadelle de Blaye had been set up by Vauban in the 18th century at the behest of Louis XIV to defend the wealthy port of Bordeaux upriver from the English navy. The Citadel was placed on the right bank as part of a trio of installations involved in the defensive system. On the left bank was Fort Medoc. Because canon range at the time was too limited to cover the breadth of the Gironde River, a third fort was created on an artificial island in the middle of the river. Together, these forts could span the river and defend against any ships. They never failed. Today, only the Citadel remains intact. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
About the Citadel
The Citadel itself has a star-shaped perimeter, which was common from the era. It is surrounded on land by a dry moat. Although the English did lay siege to the Citadel once, the fort never fell. Today, the moat hosts a popular horse jumping competition every year. During WW2, long-range guns were placed by the Germans to protect the submarine pen located upstream in Bordeaux.
Originally, only the army was housed inside the Citadel and some houses still remain. You can tell the rank of their inhabitants by the number of windows on the house. Enlisted men had one window and officers had two. There is a castle within the Citadel that predated the construction of the Fort. Today, there are shops and restaurants inside the fort. You can even camp fairly cheaply. There is also a church that was used as a convent for a time. There are great views to be had. You can even see one of France’s nuclear power plants in the distance.
Other Blaye Notables
We drove back to our hosts’ house along the river. We saw really nice summer houses that have been fixed up by the bourgeois over time. There are also a number of fishing huts on stilts over the river. The owners simply lower nets into the river from the huts and collect their quarry. The river has sturgeon, eels, and lamprey. We were told that the lamprey is an expensive local delicacy but they also said don’t bother, they don’t taste very good. Then we got to see the point where the Garonne and Dordogne rivers converge to form the Gironde. Finally, we passed a 12th-century church on our way back, but we were too beat to go in.
Besides the river and historic Citadel, the Blaye area is a lesser-known wine region. Our hostess served local wine with lunch and even gave us three bottles to take with us. What a treat.
All in all, it was a fascinating look into the local history and a wonderful meal. We won’t forget it.
Would you visit your host’s home if invited?
1 comment
Glad to see you guys are having fun in France. What an experience. Yes I want to visit a hosts home. This is why we travel! Wine braised pigeon? That is local!