One of the most characteristic qualities of the buildings of Touraine is the consistency of the 'colour palette'. With a sky often cloudy or overcast, a truely delightful aspect of the area occurs when the many 'greys' are lit up by sunshine falling on the ubiquitous greeny-cream 'tuffeau' stone work. This little building shows off the traditional palette well - it is a gatehouse at the château of Azay-le-Rideau.
- whitish tuffeau stonework around windows doors and at the corners
- pinkish rendering to the coursed rubble walls between
- grey 'ardoise' slates
- flat grey-painted windows and doors
- grey shutters, often left closed
- overhanging stone cornices in tuffeau
- french grey painted oak dormers
- zinc rainwater pipes with a characteristic Touraine gutter design
- whitish hard stone setts
- decorative ironwork, in this case in faded blue paint
- sandy gravel ground surface
- a few patches of rising damp in the render at ground level - very typical too!
1 comment:
That's a really useful overview - thanks. But getting the exact pale blue grey for the shutters and pale pearly terracotta-y pink for the render - that's a trick - I hope we can manage it.
Susan
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