Photos from Chateauneuf

24/9/2018


Couldn't attach these before.

Chateauneuf is an old sleepy town, many buildings needing maintenance, a number of houses empty.
French inheritance law may be styming efforts to sell - all beneficiaries have to agree - so some houses appear to be simply abandoned. This is common to every village, town we've seen along the Charente,  as well as in the Dordogne. Such a pity, the shutters unpainted, some de roofed, vegetation covered.
The flight to the cities, mechanised farming? The distillery we visited has several acres devoted to red wine production (most grapes are for their cognac), and the harvest was to take place the next day- now a one day affair, with the machine harvester.

And from rural France to northern England,  country Australia - the same picture. I'll stop before depression sets in!

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