Albert Camus wrote about suburbs of an industrial city, which for him is the expression of a heartless society which destroys the human spirit:
“Such a spectacle is the condemnation of the civilization which gave birth to it. A world where there is no longer room for joy, for active leisure, is a world that must die. No person can live outside of beauty. It can survive for a while and that’s it. And this Europe which offers one of its most constant faces here is constantly moving away from beauty. This is why she convulses herself and this is why she will die if peace for her does not mean a return to beauty and her place returned to love. ”
RETURN TO BEAUTY
For a weekend with friends or a family vacation, renting a small country chateau, a manor house or a manor is to rediscover shared beauty. In the castle and its park, you will be immersed in beauty: beauty of the paintings painted on the wall, lace curtains, beauty of the park covered with dew in the morning … And if you leave the property, you can discover the wonders of the countryside surrounding the castle: picturesque villages, Romanesque churches, wild landscapes …
Renting a castle in the countryside is also a cultural act, and few people are aware of it: it is helping to revive forgotten territories that are dying, when they are treasures of natural or architectural beauty. It is spending a holiday that respects the logic of sustainable development in our countryside.
A life together is to return to love
“Together, that’s all !” This slogan, which is not ours, suits us well. A castle is a space that has been developed for hundreds of years around “warm” communities. Babies, children, parents, grandparents, united in a community of destinies, with their sometimes stormy moments of life. A warm community is not a community of permanent consensus. With common spaces designed for common uses, many of which have unfortunately disappeared with the rationalization of modern apartments and the breakdown of extended families.
In a chateau of around 1000 m2, you also have a place for yourself: not everyone can live with everyone all the time. But there are enough common spaces for the communities of interest to flourish: children’s laughter and games, simple pleasures found, a wheelbarrow pushed into the vegetable patch with mom, a cabin built with dad, a frog spied in her pond with her sister, bouquets designed with grandma. And in the evening, in a rediscovered sky, new constellations to discover together. They are the simple wonders of childhood when we knew how to marvel without the help of ipads, and communicate without being tied to our cellphones.
