Lassay les Châteaux

Last month I went to visit my mum in France. She lives just outside a small town called Lassay les Châteaux. It does indeed have sever­al ruined castles. It’s on the Pays de la Loire /​ Normandy border, and most of the houses in town are old stone cottages. She considered buying one, but it was too damp. When people are think­ing of France being cosmo­pol­it­an and chic, they are not think­ing of rural Normandy. It’s a lot like Derby­shire, but without the moun­tains. The local cuisine is heavy on tripe, bacon and sour cream, served with teacups full of cider (there are two rival triper­ies in anoth­er nearby town). While I was there, I mostly ate my own weight in brioche and sour cream, and sat in the sun read­ing a book about the post-war polit­ic­al history of Europe. I took quite a lot of photos on film, so I’ll wait until I have those developed before writ­ing more.

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