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Our 2020 Journées Patrimoine adventure is our 2021 recommendation!

Since OUR 2018 flash tour of the Vendée we have loved the annual Journées Européennes du Patrimoine! Since then, each third weekend of September we research & plan, top off the car with petrol, and program our trusted GPS. Oh, and we set the alarm clock on weekday time to get through or morning chores. Once the dogs are walked, everyone has been fed and our picnic is packed in the cooler, we lock the door behind us and exhale. Two days of exploring where we live. How does it get any better than that? In this article, we’ll show you what we did last year, in 2020. The only addition to our weekend: a surgical facemask and a bottle of disinfectant hand gel.What are the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine or European Heritage days? – Created by the Ministry of Culture in 1984, national museums and historic monuments are opened to the …

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Château de l’Hermenault and Garesché: connecting Vendée to world history

Chatting with the current châtelaine of Château de l’Hermenault, it came to light that the person who sold the beautiful castle to her forefather in 1806 had been Daniel Garesché, mayor of La Rochelle in 1791-1792. In our pleasantly lengthy conversation, the kind châtelaine said “Garesché family is fascinating. You should look it up.” … So, we did. We found in Daniel Garesché a man who was part of a veritable dynasty. A family that, to put it mildly, left their at times muddy boot prints on the history of France, Haiti, and the United States of America. With the motto “Jamais sans Espérance” (Never Without Hope) to lend a strong hand, it is the story of close-knit family built on patriarchal opportunism and survival spanning centuries, and touching the Vendée along the way.To truly understand the opportunistic make-up of this family it is necessary to travel back to the …