From my last helpx host I met one of her neighbors who bought from her a property ; domaine de l'engles which he bought at the time of his retirement (from what I can tell) as much to keep busy as anything else, from basically a series of ruins he has turned it into a Gite (bed and breakfast, without the breakfast).
Historically towards the end of the 100 year war (which this area served at various times as the front line) after the franks had moved the engles back behind a line that is not far from here, a group of engles who where essentially mercenaries elected to camp out in this little gully to serve as a forward operating base to continue their campaigns of rape and pillage into the nearby frankish territory.
This is all remarkably amusing to me in that the new proprietor of the engles is a devout frenchman, who loaths to speak english and is not terribly fond of "les perfide albions"
Renovations of the place have been proceeding piece-meal for the last 14 years and the Gite is starting to take on a Winchester Mansionion aspect.
