My name is Jean-Baptiste, born in 1740 on the lands of the Grateloup estate. It is here that I grew up and have worked all my life.
Our home consists of only two rooms, located in the lowest building of this farmstead. One of the rooms houses the bread oven, which my mother tends to with great care. That’s where we prepare the dough and bake the bread for the week. The other room is where we live: we take our meals there, we sleep there, and on long winter evenings we gather around the large fireplace, still standing today. You can see that the two ends of the house were added later, roofed with curved canal tiles, whereas the original part of the house is covered with flat tiles.
Directly opposite stands what used to be the cowshed. That’s where I lead the cows twice a day, morning and evening, for milking. Above it, in the lofts, we store the hay, brought up by hand during the fine weather, to feed the livestock when the pastures are bare.
Perpendicular to these two buildings is another, lower structure, with exposed beams. These are the pigsties. The animals are kept sheltered there; the building is sturdy, well made, and convenient for caring for and feeding them.
Finally, at the end of the courtyard, stands the dovecote. It allows us to catch pigeons, which we give to the family who live at the Château de Grateloup. These birds are easy to catch or could be trained as carrier pigeons.