The Chestnut Fair

On Saturday we went about an hour East into the Cantal to visit an annual fair celebrating all things chestnut. This fair, at Morjou, is held over a weekend at the end of October and attracts about 20,000 people. We like these events in France because they really epitomise the vibrant community spirit of rural life. All ages support the running of the fair. They are all keen to keep alive their local traditions, customs and music. Having parked in a field, we walked up a long street lined with stalls selling chestnuts, chestnut jam, chestnut wine ect, cooking chestnut cakes and crepes, or ornaments, furniture and implements made from chestnut wood.

At the same time we were being passed by various musical groups playing strange looking instruments and wearing outragious costumes. We ended up in the local museum, the Maison de Chataignes ( the Chestnut House) which gave an explanation of the history, usage, types of chestnut trees ect. although this did tax our french a bit. All in all it was nice to immerse in the happy atmosphere, sampling the chestnut paties, drinking freshly pressed apple juice and eating freshly roasted chestnuts!

The only hiccup of the day occurred when we got home and I tried to download the photos we had taken on to the computer. I became a little confused (nothing to do with my Pastis, the national aniseed drink!) and deleted them from the camera before I had saved them to the computer. Sue was not best pleased. The fact that it was a mistake was not taken as an excuse, although my invitation for her to do it in future was dismissed with contempt. We'll just have to go again next year!