The Nevers Amicale arrived in St. Albans for their biennial visit on Thursday 5th May 2016.
Friday was spent with their hosts, some visiting museums and Art galleries in London. Whilst others visited local sights or walked in the English countryside enjoying the warm weather.
Members of the Amicale with the Mayor of St. Albans
On Friday evening we had a delighful evening meal at Redbourn Golf club, which was attended by nearly 60 people including the Mayor of St. Albans.
On Saturday we visited Mapledurham house and below is a description of the day by one of our members.
We had a curious start to the day: setting off east on the M25 reminded many of us of how tricky reading road signs in Europe can be!
Once the problem was rectified we had an easy drive to Caversham, parking at a promisingly delightful mooring where our boat, The Caversham Princess, was waiting.
The gentle cruise from there to Mapledurham didn’t disappoint. We glided past river banks that were looking sumptuous in their early summer greenery and our visitors were delighted to spot strings of ducklings and cygnets following their watchful parents. Arriving at Mapledurham was to step back in time. The house, originally owned by the Blount family, felt into disrepair over the years and more recently has passed to the Davis family: husband and wife are determined to restore the estate to its original state which they do on an entirely self-funding basis.
Arriving at Mapledurham House by boat
On arrival we were offered soup and sandwiches before meeting our lively and engaging guide, Corry Starling, who began the tour at the front entrance of the house. He managed to juggle his fascinating and informative talk with Micheline, spokesperson for the Nevers Amicale, who took on a sentence by sentence translation for our French guests.
The interior of the house was fascinating; we learned that the main reception rooms were on the first floor and the status of visitors dictated whether you were received in the first, second or third room: only the most impressive visitors gaining access to the furthest from the stairs! Mapledurham is unique in that it boasts the last working mill on the Thames and in recent times has been fitted, via incredibly difficult challenges, with an Archimedes Screw Thread Turbine. Not understood by everyone, but we learnt that it is the largest of its kind on the River Thames, 8000 litres of water passing through it every second.
Unfortunately there was a film was being made in the mill and so we were unable to visit it, but the view across the lake was one fitting of a Constable painting and Corry’s delightful repartee was entertainment enough.
There was just time to wander a little in the grounds and churchyard before re-assembling for a cream tea and an easy ride home. It had been a thoroughly enjoyable day.
The Amicale left on Sunday morning after an action packed few days, and we look forward to seeing them in Nevers next year.
Our first experience of the Friends of Nevers visit, May 2015 – by Catrin & Chris
Like excited school children we had gathered at St Pancras Station and were whisked by Eurostar to Paris. Soon we were heading out to the lovely Nivernais countryside, home of the gentle Charolais cows, beautiful rivers – the Loire, Nievre and Allier – vineyards and the tranquil Nivernais canal.
Catrin and Chris with their hosts
Warmly welcomed by Jacques and Yvette, our kind French hosts, we immediately relaxed and looked forward to a few days of French culture and French language ‘immersion’. The only pressing decision was which enticing aperitif to sample (I chose one made by Yvette with plums from the garden). A lovely meal comprising of five courses – the French like to serve salad and cheese as separate additional courses – was a taste of things to come, all washed down with a bottle of excellent local wine.
So how had we stumbled upon this Francophile dream? Having taken family holidays in France for over twenty years, we were keen to improve our French and met Gill in our French conversation group. She told us all about the Friends of Nevers exchange. We couldn’t quite believe that we hadn’t heard of it before, and decided it would be a great opportunity to improve our French, learn about the delightful town of Nevers and support the twinning association.
An excellent guided tour on Friday morning revealed some of the town’s secrets. The impressive Ducal Palace, with its Renaissance façade is considered the first of the chateaux of the Loire. The narrow medieval streets of the old town cluster above the river. The awe-inspiring Cathédrale with its remarkable, strikingly contemporary stained glass windows was certainly a talking point for St Albans visitors and our Nivernais hosts alike.
Jacques and Yvette took us to see the aqueduct on the Nivernais canal. Chris thoroughly enjoyed learning lots of new French vocabulary concerning locks, bridges and canals, as he and Jacques chatted away. A shared passion for science and technology can certainly bridge the language barrier! Yvette too made us feel ‘part of the family’, even calling me (Catrin) ‘ma cousine’, because my family are from Wales and her grandmother was Breton, and only spoke the Breton language not French.
A convivial communal evening meal was enjoyed by all on Friday evening. We certainly were being spoilt on the food and wine front and it helped our French speaking ability no end! Another packed day on Saturday with a coach trip to Clamecy where we learnt the fascinating history of ‘les flotteurs’ – the latter-day logging industry sending gigantic rafts of logs from the Morvan forest down the river to fuel the fires of Paris. A five course meal and more local wine at lunchtime fortified us for an afternoon visit to the famous basilica at Vézelay on the pilgrim’s road to Compostella.
Friends of Nevers on the steps of Vélezay Basilica
Our final day in Nevers was spent with Jacques and Yvette and their French friends for a ‘déjeuner sur l’herbe’; a thoroughly French lakeside picnic. A few hours later we found ourselves deep underground, helmets donned, at the bottom of a disused coalmine! The mining museum at the aptly named La Machine gave us a glimpse into the tough real lives of the miners in the 1800s.
On Monday morning as we left and said ‘Au Revoir’, we felt it had been much more than a short break in France. The Friends of Nevers trip had truly offered us an insight into French culture and language. We had really felt part of the real France with our new friends!
The mayor of Nevers invited the mayor of St. Albans to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the twinning in Nevers. A small group from the Friends of Nevers accompanied him.
We were treated to a tour of some of the industries in Nevers as well as tasting the Beaujolais Nouveau and having an official renewal of the twinning agreement. This was followed of course by another meal and wine.
Friends of Nevers 