Normandy 2014: La Cordonnerie

In addition to a street number, most homes in France have a name. The one we're renting is called "La Cordonnerie", which means the shoe repair shop, and is located in the small village of Ceaucé, in Lower Normandy.

The house was built in 1894 and probably had a few incarnations, the second most recent being the shoe repair shop which is how many villagers remember the place. It is located perfectly, practically at the main street intersection of town! From the front door, you can take a photo of the corner bar with the church steeple in the background.

Saint and sinner view...

At the corner is a bakery, then a block down is another bakery. Looks like the essentials are looked after!

There is a little grocery store called the Proxi not even a block away, a pharmacy, a Tabac where you can buy newspapers and cigarettes, a butcher, a medical centre, etc. Right across is a clothing and lingerie store.

How such a little town can offer so much is quite surprising.

La Cordonnerie is quirky and I love quirky! It still has the large front windows where the shoes would have been displayed, and the door where customers would have entered the shop.

To the right of the customer door, with a different set of steps, is the door I presume the owners would have used as their private entrance. It is the current access door to our rental home. When you open that door, you face a long hallway that is parallel to the store, one that goes to the very back of the house where you turn left into the kitchen and dining area.

The red door leads to the backyard while the white door leads to the kitchen and dining area.

The kitchen has a 5-burner gas range to die for, a moveable island with granite top, but no dishwasher. Frankly, I much prefer to wash the few dishes we have by hand since I can then wash surfaces clean.

The door next to the fridge leads to a washroom and the laundry machine.

I have already bought my favourite laundry detergent: Persil!

In the opposite direction to the laundry room, it is a step down to the dining area where Karl is reading tourist brochures and finishing his breakfast.

There's a tall cupboard with all sorts of dishes, cups and glasses. It's a relatively basic rental, however, without a lot of frills that one finds in a house that is permanently lived in by the owners. My first order at the "Super marché" included various spices, cutting board, grater, plastic wrap, etc.

Right next to the table is a fireplace that has an electric heater inside.

The living room is again one step down, where I suspect the shoe store was located with its big display windows.

A bookcase and a corner leather couch, a TV with French and English channels - what more could one ask.

This door isn't being used, but leads to the long hallway.

To get to the 2nd floor, you must take the stairs found in that long hallway. They are narrow and winding and uneven, so a bit of a concern until you get used to them. They look a little challenging at night!

Upstairs are three rooms used as two bedrooms and an office.

Karl quickly adopted this room as his office

Guest room with twin beds. Such bright linens.

Guest room also has a mirrored closet and a fireplace with marble mantel.

We are staying in the master bedroom with an ensuite.

I love the way this wallpaper was put up around the window and on the closet door, with wide wooden slats painted white.

Ensuite has sink, toilet and shower.

One of the "quirky" things about the upstairs is that the lovely ensuite to the master is the only washroom available on that level and only accessible from within the master bedroom. I guess the folks in the other two bedrooms either go downstairs to use the other washroom, or traipse through the master. That might cause a privacy issue... Still, this is very typical of the concerns faced when renovating an older home.

Then there's the mysterious yellow door... a creaky door leading to the attic that can really get your imagination going, with ghosts and strange noises in the night... Oooo-weeee-uuuu... I love it!

To get to the back yard, you can go through the kitchen door access where these beautiful big windows bring in tons of light.

The slate pathway leads to a couple of storage sheds and the clothes line under an awning at the very back. We're looking forward to the end of the rain so we can enjoy this little oasis.