Favourite places: Fontevraud part 2

Dusk arrives: Cravant

For our late night guided tour, we set off at dusk for a leisurely drive to Fontevraud, with instructions to gather in the courtyard outside the Fontevraud side gate at around 9.30pm. Another couple, French, were there already, who like us had booked and paid in advance. The guide arrived next, followed by a German couple (French speaking) who had booked but not paid, and another French couple who had also reserved and not paid, but had a cheque book with them.

The Abbey: looking up

We and the first couple had been checked off the guide's list. He then asked if any of the others were M and Mme Dupont. No they weren't. The couple with the cheque book paid by cheque for their tickets. However, the German couple only had cash. The guide explained that he wasn't allowed to accept cash. So 'M and Mme Cheque Book' kindly agreed to exchange a cheque for cash, so that the Germans could pay for their tickets. Another couple turned up. Were they M and Mme Dupont? No they weren't. They were a Dutch couple (French speaking) who had similarly reserved, not paid, and also only had cash. So 'M and Mme Cheque Book' once again swapped cash for cheque. Another couple arrived. Were they..? No they weren't! And...only cash. So for the third time 'M and Mme Cheque Book' saved the day exchanging a cheque for cash. It was quite ridiculous but all handled in a good-humoured way. Then another couple arrived. Were they...? Yes they were! Everyone cheered! They looked bemused, hadn't paid, but of course being French, had brought their own cheque book! With everyone present and correct, and monetary problems resolved, we finally set off around 10.30pm, by now almost best buddies.

Inside the Abbey

The tour was fabulous. Pathways at Fontevraud are often unlit, cobbled and therefore uneven, so the tour was restricted to the Abbey, cloisters and refectory which are all part of the same area, and where it was easy underfoot. I can only find a daytime photo inside the Abbey at the moment. It's completely uncluttered and quite magnificent. The natural light is low level anyway. At night obviously it's dark, so candles are to used to bring light into the space. Size and acoustics makes it an ideal venue for concerts. The Plantagenet tombs are here. But if I remember correctly, the turbulent history of Fontevraud, means that the exact whereabouts of the bodies of Eleanor and Henry is not known (or has not been revealed).

This particular daytime visit was with friends from London, who were staying with us at Cravant for the first time.

Cloisters installation

From the Abbey there is a connecting staircase and also ramp access, straight into the cloisters: a quadrant with rooms off and at it's heart, an open-air grassed through-way, where a massive wooden installation is currently on display - a big dipper shape, which curves and undulates between roof and ground level, and so presents unique perspectives of Abbey architecture which would otherwise be impossible to see. Its been there for a year now, so the timber is acquiring a tempered look as the weather works away at it. Late at night it's unlit and closed to the public. So again, a daytime shot.

The cloisters were lit by candlelight, as were the side rooms and the refectory. It was all very atmospheric. We were already well acquainted with the daytime personality of Fontevraud and were able to gauge the general spartan lifestyle in which the nuns lived and worked. Winter time could only ever have been hard. This visit we met the night-time personality of Fontevraud. Dark, tortuous and full of shadows, our thoughts now centred on the prisoners. We began to get a sense of their existence - tough, uncompromising and one imagines, devoid of hope.  Stripped of the À Table dinner party paraphernalia, the refectory was laid-bare as the prison eating area, and provided an interesting juxaposition between a tasteless and frugal existence and our own memories of the tasteful and the sumptuous, just a month or so before.