Another day of history at Nieul-sur-l’Autize

The village of Nieul-sur-l’Autise is steeped in history, and they certainly make the most of it when putting on events. Last year we witnessed the spectacular Village de Lumière, an occasion that we hope will be repeated this year, and recently we visited the Fete de la Meuniere, celebrating rural village life from the turn of the century.

The main village square was scattered with stalls selling traditional products, giving demonstrations of traditional rural activities, musicians, food and drink opportunities… and everyone was in traditional dress. The historic village really transported us back and wecould easily imagine what life was like in Nieul at that time.

Nathalie grew up in Nieul, where her father was the village baker, so she was naturally involved in the event. We made out way through the village to the water mill at the centre of the village, where, upstairs, we found Nathalie and the boys demonstrating lace-making.

Luckily it was time for them to have a break, so we all went off to explore the village together. Thierry, as a modern-day farmer, explained that, although the machinery may now be a lot more modern, most of the farming methods on display were still used today.

There was a traditional “wedding” taking place, which ended up in the wedding party enjoying a folk dance, with the customary “dance of the brioche” as the centre-piece. This involves the happy couple holding a huge circular brioche loaf at arms-length while the rest dance around them.

After the wedding Nathalie returned to her lace-making duties, so Thierry and the boys joined us as we explored the rest of the village.

One of the highlights had to be a boat trip along the Autise river. It was a beautiful hot day and so a relaxing ride along the river under the dappled shade of the trees was very much welcome.

Flitting over the surface of the water were a mutitude of blue dragonflies.

“Qu’est-ce que ça en français?” we asked Thierry.

“C’est un libellule,” he explained.

Lisa then spent the the rest of the day trying, and mainly failing, to say Thierry’s tongue-twister “Nous avons vu les belles libellules bleu”… highly amusing

As part of our initiation into the traditions of la Vendée, Thierry insisted we try mijet, a kind of cold soup made from bread, red wine and sugar. Well as you know, I’m always one to try new things, so I was willing to give it a go. To be honest, it wasn’t the best meal I’ve ever tasted, but it certainly beat my bush-tucker trial from last year! Lisa wasn’t impressed, but I managed to get through half of it, which I felt was a reasonable effort considering

After taking in the rest of the stalls and activities around the village (including a great steam engine from Lincoln!), we headed for the village boulangerie where they were baking a fresh batch. Here we met Nathalie’s mum, who was also helping with the event and looked tres jolie in her traditional costume.

As we awaited our bread, Nathalie and Thierry headed off for the meal that was being served. We decided not to stay, but enjoyed eating our freshly-baked bread in the car on the way home.

It had been another lovely day and so good to see everyone from the village getting completely involved. This village spirit is something that was certainly lacking when we lived in Englqnd, with more energy being put into one-upmanship and forming the right cliques than actually coming together and enjoying a community celebration.

Here in Foussais we have this same feeling of community, and at recent events we have certainly started to feel that now we are an integral part of the proceedings rather than invited guests. Just what we wanted from our new life in France.