Chateau de Taisne

Church of Saint Peter in Chains in Les Riceys

On Sunday we visited Chateau de Taisne in the beautiful little village of Les Riceys, which is about 20 minutes from where we live. The family still live in the chateau, so you cannot visit the interiors of the main building, but you can visit the 12th century Cellar and the Grande Cuisine, including the bread oven room. The really beautiful part of the visit though is taking in the view of the chateau from the gardens - and the gardens themselves, which are open to visitors. It’s wonderful to be able to visit a chateau that is still being enjoyed and used today.

In the centre of the extremely manicured box hedging they had grown a very colourful meadow, which was delightful. It felt like we had walked into a painting by Seurat, one of his bright, colourful, pointillist pieces.

They were hosting a gathering of artisans, who were producing some very high quality products. There were a few different wood workers, one making shingles for roof tiles, another carving a very large piece of oak into a twisted pillar, and another making large wooden garden games. There was also someone restoring, and producing, very beautiful guilded picture frames. Within the Chateau, in one of the cool stone rooms that was topped by a vaulted ceiling, there was a costumier, a basket maker, a lady recaning chairs and a lady potter.

I was particularly taken by the pottery by GG, who has a poterie at the ferme BELAIR, in Bouix (21330). We will go and visit her studio at some point, but whilst we were at the Chateau we decided to treat ourselves to one of the gorgeously shaped jugs she had created. The soft light made the pearlescence of the glaze glitter against the gentle brown and cream sheen of the fired clay - it now stands proudly on my jug cupboard.

We finished the day enjoying a chilled bottle of Pouilly Fuissé and some locally produced mozzarella, with a tomato salad, and with basil from the garden, accompanied by some charcuterie.

A very pleasant Sunday.