Monday 4 March 2013

The well trained plant

Recently we drove down to a village called Chalais not far from Belarbre in the departement next door - Indre. We went to see the church as we'd read it was worth visiting.

A well trained climber!
While in Chalais, a tiny village with a small green round the church, we spotted this simple but effective method of getting your trailing plants to do what you want: tie a rock to the shoot or branch you want to cascade over the wall and let gravity do the rest!
Chalais church
Sadly the church was shut -- recently we've been caught out by this a few times. Our village church is always open, so we've not really got the mind-set that churches might be closed. However, as it has now happened a couple of times we are more aware of the possibility of it occuring. Unfortunately, it can be impossible to find out in advance whether a particular church is open or shut so going on a visit remains a gamble!


14 comments:

the fly in the web said...

Jules showed me that trick when I was first in France....and in those days churches were generally open, before the wave of thefts took place.

Tim said...

Nice idea... we've a 'gage that needs to be pulled down a bit... just need to find the right sized boulders though!!
And church closed... excuse for further visit!

Susan said...

I've seen it done with fruit trees a bit -- must remember it as a technique!

Is visiting the mairie an option, to see if you can get the key to a church? I know a couple of chapels you can get the key for at the nearest tourist office.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@fly - clever isn't it

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Tim - we'll go back. Our information is there are some worthwhile wall paintings to be seen,

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Susan - the place was so small it didn't have a maire that we noticed--though to be honest we didn't look ultra hard. [Probably part of a village house]
However, definitely an option to try a next time if open. :-)

Diane said...

I hate it when churches are shut but I do find quite a few open never the less.
Thanks for passing on the stone idea. Have a great week Diane

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Diane - you're welcome.

On balance we find more open than closed but it is such a shame that some people find they need to lock theirs.

Craig said...

The idea with the rocks is quite clever isn't it? I've never seen that before!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Craig - neither had we and it's so simple! :-)

The Broad said...

What a good idea -- and it doesn't cost anything, either!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Broad - nope and there's no shortage of rocks either! :-)

Perpetua said...

The genius of simplicity. :-) What a good idea.

Our little village church is always open too, despite being a post-war rebuild unlikely to attract tourists. It's such a shame when these iconic buildings aren't accessible.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Perpetua - a shame isn't it that some churches have to be locked to protect themselves.