In Meurthe-et-Moselle, south of Nancy, in Vaudémont, the Duvals invite you to their home, to their farm, in 1850. The visit is free every day except Monday. Just ask for the key at the Auberge de la Colline. You will visit the place at your leisure all this summer 2022.
Ask for the key at the Auberge de la Colline in Vaudéùont and go visit the 1850 farm.
“Come in, it will give you an exit”, said the comedian from Vosges, Claude Vanony in one of his sketches. By entering the Duval Farmin Vaudémont, you will leave 21e century, only to return to the 1850s.
After knocking on the door, you will hear the sound of wooden clogs, creaking hinges and the smell of the fireplace.
Thibault Leclerc bought this farm seven years ago. Seeing the panel “for sale”without knowing what he was going to do with the place, he asked the owner to remove it.
“I left the name Duval because it was the name of the owners. They were very moved because everyone thought I was going to transform the farm”, he says. “In reality, when I visited it, I was very struck by the details: the door surrounds, which were made of stone, some woodwork, from right to left, which did not fit with the materials of a farm usual.” He adds : “In fact, in Vaudémont, the houses were built with the remains of the castle. The villagers recovered elements for their own houses and that is why you have cut stone frames from the 16th. Seeing this place, I said to myself that it just had to be restored.”
New owner, Mr. Leclerc cleared the additions, linos on the floor. He brought out the old floors, removed what was on the walls, replaced the stove with an older one. He chose to restore everything to its original state.
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“In the Duval farm, as in all those of the time, there were only two main rooms: the kitchen of course and the bedroom behind, but it was a single room for everyone with closed beds.”explains Thibault Leclerc. “You have to understand that the obsession was the cold and that’s why the fireplace was both open to the kitchen and to the bedroom, the hearth, it was necessary to secure the heat. And then when We spent whole evenings, we went to sit in the middle of the animals. The discussions, the transmission, the couarail, in the Lorraine patois, took place in the middle of the animals. We took advantage of the warmth of the stables.”
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Like most of the inhabitants of Vaudémont, the Duvals were a peasant family. She cultivated the land and raised animals: cows and pigs.
“There were three barns behind and we kept their fittings: you see where the cows were, where the pigs were”details the manager of the Auberge de la Colline. “There is even a farmhand that I brought back”he concludes. “The farm hand is a kind of very narrow chest where the farm boy slept among the animals at calving time. He put his clothes inside and his jacket served as a pillow.”
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In the guestbook, many visitors write that they were extremely touched, that the Duval farm made them relive their childhood. Some even come to deposit family objects used in the past.
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