Journey to the Château, Ep. 318 – In this episode, Patrick and Stuart take advantage of the low water levels to be able to explore their 12th century château cave for the first time. The underground vaulted cave is from a structure that had previously stood on the site of their current 17th century French château. They find some unusual things and make some interesting discoveries.
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Music:
Into the Woods, by Second Light
License purchased from Artlist
Saturn, by Alon Peretz
License purchased from Artlist
At Last, by Stanley Gurvich
License purchased from Artlist
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Visit the Château de Colombe website and online store now live at:
https://www.chateaudecolombe.com/
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Join Patrick and Stuart on their journey to find a neglected, forgotten, or crumbling château or castle in their escape to rural France, and then continue to follow them as they show how to renovate a chateau with its restoration, rénovation, decoration, and furnishing. Along the way, they will also create and share videos on their preparation for having gîtes for guests, and an event venue in their chateau (wedding, birthday, anniversary, organization or club meetings, retreats, etc.).
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Address:
Château de Colombe
5 Route du Château
Saint-Baudel 18160 France
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45 Comments
Great video guys 👍🏼
Wow who knew you were such a good fisherman 😱🤣 wow I am soooo jealous you have a cave!!! You’re right it would make such a great event space !! With a beautiful looking well in the room!!! Will be very interesting to watch its evolution! ❤ to you both!! Oh and BTW that water would be waist high on me 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Love the shots of the hollyhocks. My favourite flowers
Interesting. As you walked out I noticed how worn the steps were which suggests it was used extensively over a very long time. It might be interesting to visit some working caves in the area to find out more. ❤
As the water level seems to be of a constant height, ie, not going above c80cms above the floor level. Could you pump the level out & build a retaining wall around the well. To above the natural water level of the cave. You could continue to pump water to a water container outside to facilitate watering plants? Just a thought.
Hi Patrick and Stewart! Fascinating video of the cave. How fantastic to have a second water source to use in your garden! We’re back in Australia where it’s very very wintery and very very cold! So thinking very fondly of you both and your beautiful chateau and our time there. Hugs to you both. Lois xx
What a fabulous exploration. Great source of water for your beautiful gardens. Glad the salamanders were rescued. 😍😘
This is an extract from a book on caves in the north of France ( book title "Les caves de Douai" )
…..Aucun texte ne mentionne ces niches, et leur rôle précis est assez obscur. N’ayant pas de fonction structurelle dans la cohésion du mur, leur présence est liée à d’autres impératifs ; une première hypothèse est de voir dans ces niches des sortes de tablettes destinées à poser la source d’éclairage nécessaire dans ces caves obscures, lampes à huile ou chandelles, ou de servir de lieu de rangement particulier. Cependant, l’absence totale de trace de gond ou d’accroche de tablettes écarte l’hypothèse d’armoires murales, et si ces niches sont destinées à servir de support d’éclairage, comment expliquer alors que plus des deux tiers des caves recensées en soient dépourvues, pourtant tout aussi sombres….
Do you not think that the “well “ might in fact be self regulating ie spring fed and it merely needs cleaning out ??
Les escaliers de la cave sont usés ils devaient y descendre très souvent. Pour chercher du vin peut être 🍷ou de la viande séchée ,?
Awesome I would have an air mattress and float around 😅😂
Great video, 🌺🌸🌺
Thanks you for saving the salamanders. All life is precious. Love the cave and the possibilities for extra water for your gardens.
Fascinating and so well filmed! I can't wait to see the process to all of this including the walled-off cave under the kitchen. Love the time worn stairs too!!
There are plants/roots that grow in water with no light. I had them growing up through cracks in my house's foundations. No trees nearby. The niches are possibly for lanterns.
How eerie was that 😊😊 great video ❤
A very interesting video on the cave. The walls appear to be in remarkably good shape considering the previous high water level. Great find of the well, as confining the water level may be a good idea. The niches might have been used to store food, wine, or oil lamps. The cool cave was ideal before refrigeration. Take care my friends, Ralph Rocchiccioli
How exciting to be able to access the Cave! So many opportunities for this space too. Event space would be so cool! Can you imagine having a spooky Halloween party with lots of candelabras with dripping candles, lots of webs and props….what a cool space! Ooooooh so many possibilities my Darlings. Sending you and your fur babies so much love! ❤
That cave is fab, cool & shady, lots of possibilities & I know you will transform it to a welcoming place.❤
You are both definitely braver than I! Fascinating.🌸🌺🌼
Didn't they use the niches for cold storage ? Because there wasn't refrigeration in those times
If there's e way of removing the water from the cellar for good & making use of the cells for 🍷 wine & music 🎶 night s
Those roots literally look like the aquatic version of Cousin It. 😊 You may want to check those roots to see if there are any other salamanders.
Excellent cave adventure!! ❤
12:05 whatever its use it was subjected to many feet going up and down over the centuries. (more wear on the top steps or just camera angle makes the lower steps look less worn?) A busy spot for sure. The mystery would drive me crazy, I just have to know things!
Superb how fascinating
What a terrific idea! Milk and Cream products in the Cave niches. Here in the USA, our older houses have spring houses that are made to hold milk directly out of the ground Spring and then the water is piped into the house and kitchen, or to a decorative fountain. Never wasted. I think this water would be perfect for your plants but I would put a sealed screen door over the opening to protect against mosquitoes. They can be not only irritating but deadly, at least in the southern USA. Something called West Nile Virus can be very bad. Anyway, God bless you both !
From Rosa, AL USA. 🇺🇸
A beautiful video. Your music selections are wonderful. Great job.
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We call those mud puppies 😅..had a bunch in a cistern in a house we rented .a pipe from out side ..they'd come in drop to the bottom couldn't get out .we rescued 90 plus .plugged the pipe. Cleaned the cistern ..7sed it for potatoes. And carrots cabbage.!! Worked good . 😊
The house im in now has a big cistern under the old kitchen which is a bed room now..buildt that in 1954..just the wood ceiling front floor..you can see where the pump pie was 😊
Interesting..❤
This is so interesting, the cave etc. Wow.
Thanks. Great adventure and a great escape for me!
Looks like a chicken, looks like you just rang his neck. Haha its late here.
My anxiety was through the roof when you showed the well. I was so afraid that the edge of the well may have weakened. I know it's crazy and you are cautious. I have a warm spot in my heart for the two of you. Please be careful. ❤
I could have sworn I saw a Turtle (!!!) swim off to the left of the screen when Patrick pulled those clumps of roots!!! (the roots to left in line of roots ie last big clump he pulled)…How easy would it be to drain the cav, then build a wall about 3 foot high around the well area? Then maybe you could keep the water level in rest of area way down, or completely in a dry state…looking forward to seeing where the wooden surrounded hole in ceiling is situated from the higher level of this cav…Also, do you think you might have a crawl space leading off from that bricked up square area up in the wall?
Would the niches have held candles?
This is fascinating
I want to see more about the cave and what you do with it and if you are able to use the water.
Usually a niche would be for candles or lanterns or to keep something cool there!
I remember when you first showed us the cave filled with water, you had said at that time you hoped to be able to pump it out. Can you pump it low enough in order to build walls to contain the well water in order for it not to continually flood the cave. The walls and ceilings are well preserved. Having a breeding area for mosquitoes is not good and draining the area and drying it out would leave them with no where to breed. Is there a way to find where those roots in the well come from? Ivy comes to mind as they can get in anywhere and the roots can be extensive and become large. It will be great space for events of some kind. Ronnie in Saskatchewan
Patrick and Stewart, I did some research and this is the possible purpose of the rectangular pockets:
These niches were functional, not decorative, and most likely:
• Held water or sediment.
• Helped in filtering, settling, or storing water.
• Might have been part of wine or dairy cooling, but the consistent layout and proximity to the well point primarily to a water-handling use.
If there are channels, drains, or ceramic pipes nearby, that could confirm it further. Let me know if you’d like to interpret more features from other areas of the cave.
Regards
Charles
I wonder how they built it if the ground water is so high.
Really enjoyed this video, guys.
And I also have to compliment you on the production quality of the opening scene. It is quite exceptional!