Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I do realise all this is superficial stuff, but I did have to force myself to look past the
general debris and lack of attention to presentation on a couple of occasions, especially
when it seemed that there might be a health risk involved.
The second feature that concerns living in the southern regions of France means there
is a lot more sunshine (with the possible exception of the property viewed here) than we
are used to in Britain. Older buildings, especially in the countryside, are designed to keep
the sun out. Windows tend to be fairly small and generally have external shutters. And this
particular house had a very dark interior, also not uncommon. The combination of old oak
beams, dark beige walls, sombre furniture, brown floor tiles and low ceilings, all tend to
make the rooms appear small and, yes,
dark
. On the other hand they can create a very cosy
ambience in winter.
Our eyes eventually became accustomed to the gloom and we stumbled towards the
salon
. Moving into the room in single file (which seemed the safest method) I was follow-
ing Jack who was deep in attempted over-the-shoulder conversation with
monsieur
. Fully
absorbed and glancing around I completely missed the objects positioned at thigh height.
Suddenly my hand gently brushed against something faintly furry and hard, which was
quite a shock. Recoiling in fear I involuntarily bolted forward directly into Jack who imme-
diately barged into poor
monsieur
.
Monsieur
stopped, turned around and looked quizzically
at Jack.
“
Oopla,
” he muttered with a raised eyebrow, and then carried on.
I had stifled a justifiable shriek by turning it into a gusty sneeze (much more appropri-
ate for the setting) and after a quick apology for my inadvertent trip, looked down.
There it was, a one-eyed stuffed fox sitting on a coffee table. A completely extraordin-
ary thing, it was half-bald and standing where a drinks coaster would normally be posi-
tioned. Moving further into the room, which seemed big enough to seat about thirty people,
we realised that
monsieur
had a keen interest in taxidermy.
Dead animals were positioned everywhere: on walls, windowsills, the backs of doors
and of course on tables. I could just about discern most of the species. For some, a couple
of feathers, two legs, a head and (sometimes) marble eyes were the only clues for me to
conclude that they must be birds.
Now
I had discovered the source of the unusual smell.
Monsieur
was terribly proud of his motley collection and explained that it had been much
admired by all visitors to the house. I couldn't help wondering if some of them were still
present because, frankly, we'd never have known.
As we continued our tour of the ground floor it became clear that the owners were not
enthusiastic advocates of the light bulb. It was desperately dingy and quite difficult to see
any detail at all. In retrospect, this was probably not such a bad thing but the sombre décor
certainly did nothing to improve things.
This was thanks mainly to the heavy dark oak furniture and in particular the nests of
tables (presumably used as stands for more stuffed animals). They looked more like cross-
