Troglodyte Farms (June 4)

Not far from the great chateaux and country houses, the peasants of the area, from the Middle Ages until the last century, lived in houses they dug out of the tufa hillsides and had self-sufficent lives.  I visited a site in the Goupillieres Valley that's open to the public.  The current owner inherited the land from his father in 1984 and since then has worked to resurrect the farms and dwellings as they would have been when they were used by the peasants.  There are live animals

 vegetable gardens

 old implements, and

 dwellings with some of the furnishings.

Each dwelling had a bread oven, not just for the staple bread, but also for warmth and for drying vegetables and fruit.

These are the pick marks as the peasants created more space for themselves.  The rock was used for the grand houses above ground.

Some heritage breeds are here - the Black Hen of Touraine

 The grey rabbit of Touraine.

Touraine geese.

There are torches available so you can explore part of the peasants' refuge. They created a sophisticated series of rooms and tunnels that would keep them safe and where they could pick off assailants.

 Believe it or not, this hole in the ground...

 was their grain silo.

They mixed buckwheat with millet (a finer grain) so as to keep air out and avoid fermentation.  They plugged the cavity with a stone and covered it with a layer of clay.  Even if they were under attack and their fields destroyed,  they still had food hidden under ground and could start their lives anew.