4 September
Went to the town of Hauterives where we had an absolutely delightful lunch with the Moulins (even tried frogs legs but agree that eating chicken gives the same taste and you can eat more chicken more quickly).

and then walked through the village to experience ‘Facteur Cheval’. Ferdinand Cheval (1836-1924) was a postman who built his dream ‘Le Palais Idéal’.

It is an amazing and imaginary castle which he built himself, stone by stone. He believed that there were geniuses in all levels of society and set out to prove it. He believed that will power could triumph over all manner of physical and mental difficulties, and also achieve a more perfect understanding of the nature of things and the nature itself. From the first to the last stone took some 93,000 hours. He included images of most things that existed in his lifetime – Adam, Eve, the 2 main religions in the world, serpents, animals, the tree of life etc. No plan existed but he built each section as he dreamed it and it all came together in the end. He passed away and joined the Eastern and Western fairies. His tomb at the village cemetery is simular to his palace and took just 8 years to build.