I had a really good night's sleep in the campsite at Montmorillon and, as per usual, I left the campsite early for my first stop of the day: Oradour-sur-Glane.
Oradour-sur-Glane was a village in the Haute-Vienne department of France that is now a monument to the people who used to live there. You see, it was occupied during World War 2 by Nazi soldiers, who, on 10th June 1944, massacred the entire village of 642 people, mostly inhabitants of the town but including 6 people who just happened to be cycling past. The story is particularly horrifying, with the men being separated from the women and children before being shot then set on fire. The women and children suffered an equally horrible fate, as the building they were held hostage in was set on fire. The whole town was then razed.
Many of the Nazi soldiers who took part in the massacre were killed in action several days later, including the leader. The town was rebuilt a little way from the original town which now stands as a ghost town, as a memorial to the people who died there. It wasn't spooky, but much the same vibes as I get in a cemetery - quiet contemplation, coupled with my sadness for what was a truly horrible part of history. We must never allow this sort of thing to ever happen and I hope that people who come here take heed of the warning. Including those people who were inappropriately taking selfies...
After a sombre morning, it was time to move on. However, my first stop was the new town of Oradour-sur-Glane to pick up lunch, a quiche, which I sat and ate in the van in the shade. I left history behind and drove for about 2 hours to my next stop - the gardens of the Manor d'Eyrignac in the Dordogne region.
This had been on my map the last time I had roadtripped around France, I just never got around to it. So this time I made a bee-line there. I say bee-line, but my GPS took me on some wild roads to get there... Instead of taking the main roads, she was obsessed with taking me down the little "Lieu-dit" roads, which are one lane, usually dirt or gravel (or bad asphalt) roads. I was aiming for the manor, which was on a C road, which didn't really help either - also small, mostly dirt, roads.
I got there eventually, parked up, and treated myself to a tart citron and a glass of wine in the cafe overlooking the garden. It was such a hot day that it was lovely sitting there enjoying my treats! I finished up and went into the front door to get tickets to the gardens.
The lady selling the tickets was so lovely - I stood there having a long conversation with her about the region, places nearby. Her English was excellent and she didn't seem too put out with using it which often happens with the French, she was just happy to chat. It was a great start to my exploring the gardens, which were absolutely lovely.
I had previously been to the Chateau de Marqueyssac, another garden nearby in the Dordogne which blew me away with all its weird and wacky shapes in the hedges. Eyrignac was not quite like this but a little more grown up - there were still tightly clipped hedges, but they were in more structural forms (rather than the organic forms of Marqueyssac), with a more formal setting. I think you'll agree, though, that it was beautiful...
I walked back to the camper, saying farewell to the lovely lady at the desk again, before heading off. There was still quite a bit of light left in the afternoon, as it was only 4pm, so I head to my next campsite for the night, checked in and parked up the camper. Then I walked to the village nearby, the incomparable Collonges-La-Rouge, which was so photogenic that I will cover it properly in the next post!