Guédelon

Steph has had in mind a particular French landmark as a place to bring his students on a field trip for a while now, so while we've got some time on our hands and the weather's been so gorgeous, Steph, his mother and I hopped in the car yesterday and drove for two hours to the Bourgogne region to check it out.



Guédelon is the site of a medieval castle in the midst of being built. Not renovated - built from scratch. Masterminded by the archaeologist and castle renovator Michel Guyot, the castle of Guédelon broke ground in 1997 and is projected to continue for another twenty years before it is finished. The workers are using techniques used in the thirteenth century (or as close as can be determined) and are supported by artisans such as...

the blacksmiths


the carpenters


the rope makers


and those you wouldn't think of as being integral but certainly are, including the potters


the basket makers


and the weavers


and you better believe I got all excited about all the yarn lying around that cottage! The weaver came out and did a demonstration of carding and spinning wool by hand and inside there were dyed skeins hung to dry. It was all I could do not to snatch one, so I contented myself with snatching photos instead.

In any case, it is truly a fascinating place! I can't wait to go back in ten years and even twenty years to see how everything has changed!

More photos can be seen in my flickr set "Guédelon 2007".