RURAL RIDDLES CABINETS OF CURIOSITY Curiouser and curiouser!


for their curiosity value in order that we can create a virtual/pictorial ‘cabinet of curiosities’ as part of future columns. If you know their purpose, all well and good – if you don’t, perhaps other readers will! In the 16th and 17th


centuries, many wealthy Europeans created quite sophisticated cabinets of curiosities: actual cabinets, cupboards or even, in some instances, an entire room. Famous in Paris is


HAPPY HUNTING GROUND? O


ver the years of compiling Rural Riddles, I’ve been


asked several times if I could identify certain objects with a possible countryside connection which readers


have found at vide-greniers in France. Some (often with the aid of experts I’m fortunate enough to know) have been easily identifiable – others have not, however!


With that in mind, I thought


it might be an interesting idea to invite readers to send me photos of small, rural-based items bought or otherwise acquired purely


hunting. We were very surprised as, judging by the numbers of shooters out and about around us during the season, they must be in the minority. We always thought hunting was a passion with the French rural community so are attitudes changing? Katie Bateman


Q A


By ‘hunting’, I assume that you are referring to


shooting game with shotguns. In the UK, going ‘hunting’ would mean being out with a pack of hounds, either on horseback or on foot. In Europe, ‘hunting’ generally indicates shooting but there are, of course, packs of hounds hunting in France too. Although pottering about


with a shotgun and dog in the hope of finding the odd pheasant, partridge or rabbit


Viticulturalists tell us that they don’t like


is the way many like to spend a few hours, there are, as you’ve discovered from your neighbours, some who don’t. Apart from the perceived cruelty of shooting, they often cite the danger to others in the countryside and mention the fact that according to statistics, there have been over 3,000 hunting accidents reported over the past couple of decades – with over 400 of these proving fatal. Some, however, feel it


is a part of French rural life. Marine Le Pen of the National Rally Party says that it is “an ancestral tradition which must be maintained”. President Macron is on record as saying that commune shooting groups do a lot for conservation and are “a great asset for biodiversity.” Despite that, he and his government are not always


‘Deyrolle’, a veritable cabinet of curiosities founded in 1831. Twelve years ago, Prince Louis Abert de Broglie purchased the premises and contents (a myriad of strange objects and artifacts, stuffed birds, animals and insects) and said that a visit there is “like going to the British Museum, or the New York Natural History Museum… but here you can speak to the animals, touch the animals, even buy the animals, and among them are plenty of other things.”


Pottering for the pot – with dog and gun


popular with the hunters as, during their time in office, they have (quite rightly in my


opinion) tightened up certain legislation to be more in line with those throughout the EU.


GET IN TOUCH! If you have any ‘rural riddles’ for Jeremy, contact him by email at jcjeremyhobson@gmail.com Jeremy Hobson is a France-based writer who specialises in all country matters j-c-jeremy-hobson.co.uk


FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: March/April 2023 105


© CREATIVE COMMONS


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