"If you love copper cooking pots . . . " a Villedieu-les-Poëles Travel Page by Beausoleil

We visited Villedieu on a very cold rainy October day. It wasn't too far from the gite we were renting south of Caen and a very pretty drive despite the weather. Villedieu was just a curiosity stop on our way to the Abbaye de Hambye north of Villedieu.

Well, we drove into town and were immediately enchanted by all the copper signs, statues, pots in windows, etc. We even saw a copper garbage can! They were beautifully set off by bright red geraniums against the wet grey stone of the buildings.

We parked and started walking.

If you look through doorways, you find lovely hidden courtyards.

No, we didn't walk into someone's courtyard. This particular one is home to the town lace museum. It was closed the day we were there but the lace in the windows was magical and it certainly would be worth a trip in the future.

We saw this sign and had to go in, Atelier du Cuivre. We both play French horn, a brass instrument, and on French musical scores brass are referred to as cuivres. That got us in the door!

It was a combination museum and workshop and was in full swing with men pounding madly on sheets of brass while others were melting and pouring it. We signed up for the tour which was very interesting.

I must admit a highlight was the owner's dog. He had a tennis ball and had free run of the workshop. He would run up a ramp and drop the ball which would, naturally, roll down the ramp. Then he would tear down to retrieve his own ball. He also was more than willing to let us toss the ball anywhere in the shop so he could retrieve it for us. He was amazing and he never went where he wasn't allowed. Great fun!