Apart from some castles, mansions or large houses whose imposing architecture was intended to assert the authority and prestige of their occupants, the other elements of the civil heritage are generally very discreet. If we see from a distance the old windmills, the water mills are always hidden in the hollow of the valleys. The same is often true of lavoirs. Wells, fountains, bread ovens are so integrated into the landscape that they are virtually unnoticed. And you have to twist your neck to discover the little sundial that adorns a steeple or the facade of a beautiful home.
Yet this heritage, which we tend to forget, bears witness to a popular past full of history and also stories. One must know how to stop to recognize it and make it talk. It can tell us so much that it would be a shame to think it could not speak.
