Erosion

This was taken near the village of Boudes in the Allier valley. We camped on the parking area of a local vineyard - we are members of France Passion whereby we have a book of names of small businesses who allow camping cars to stay overnight. After dinner we walked along the road and the into the village. We wouldn't say the village was pretty or beautiful, better than that, we have decided on 'architecturally interesting'. Set in a wine area the village appears to work around vineyards and wine. The buildings within the village are compact, we thought built on an individual basis although apparently typical for a wine growing area. Built higher than wider, most have little windows with a curved lintels, arched doorways and outside stairs covered by a porch, under the roof line a fancy frieze of brickwork. The photo: a few km away we walked to the Valley of the Saints to look at these forms. The erosion of the rock over millions of years, Cheminees de fee - chimney shaped form of fossilised tropical soil.