Times Gone By

The tiny picturesque village of Espenas celebrated its past by taking a step back in time. Although this lovely little farming community does not need to do a lot to transport you to another era, none the less, they went all out to educate the public about what life was like in days gone by.



Walking around the village, every house & field had some element of another generation.


From the wagon loads of hay to the vintage cars parked outside homes, you could not help but feel that you indeed had stepped back in time.


Craftsman in various styles of vintage dress demonstrated the way things once were done.


Can you see that the man in the photo below hand planing the board is wearing wooden shoes, the preferred footwear several generations ago.


My favorite was the old school room, complete with the old desks & the wonderful old posters that are now so popular in brocantes & antique shops here.


Everywhere you looked you saw something from the past. It was really quite amazing to think how many antiquated items the townspeople had preserved & obviously treasured.




Even the old boulangerie with its stone bread oven was reopened for the occasion. Bread was made completely from scratch the old fashion way. Unfortunately the proud baker insisted on putting his electric light in the photo so that I could better see his beautiful loaves of bread.


This took away from the authenticity a bit but other than that every aspect of the bread was created as it once had been right down to the bundles of sticks used to fire the oven.


Merci to the people of Espenas for a wonderful opportunity to stroll back to a time gone by.