On Tuesday morning I set out on a photographic visit to an ancient local church a friend of mine had mentioned to me. It has to be said that our little corner of France is blessed with a wealth of ancient churches, a host of breathtaking examples from the 12th and 13th centuries lying within a few kilometres radius of the Hillside.
Taking full advantage of a free morning, the glorious sunny weather and the beautiful countryside, I set out with my camera bag and map – no GPS for me on these excursions – and within a couple of hours I had discovered no less than four wonderful churches, various old farm buildings and a delightful village nestling on a hilltop. The village church of Berneuil, which has stood for over 900 years overlooking the surrounding valleys and vineyards, is the subject of my post for today’s Thursday Doors. Although the outside of the church is very beautiful in classic romanesque style, it was the simple interior which struck me most, the stone steps and flags worn by centuries of human passage. I thought I’d photograph my door from the inside just for a change……..
Thanks as always to Norm for hosting this excellent challenge.
ALL PHOTOS © JANE MORLEY
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View from a French Hillside 
Beautiful set of photos!
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Thank you Timothy! It is an amazing place, so full of history!
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Those rough, stone steps at the doorway and the carved-stone interior flooring really speak of ages long a ago. Wonderful photos.
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Thank you Olga, you’re right about the stone steps and floor, I kept wondering how many people had walked on them over the centuries!
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Beautiful photos, Jane. I love the old stone floor in the church and the way it draws the eye right up to the light spilling in through the doorway.
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Thankyou Jean! I thought the stone flags and steps were wonderful, they contain so much history !
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Love the rows of chai in lieu of the more traditional church pews. Beautiful photos!
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Thank you Julie! Yes it seems more like a meeting hall with the chairs doesn’t it, more convivial?!
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What a fantastic church!
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It certainly is, the setting of it and the little village are wonderful too !
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Exquisite images as always Jane, I leaves me with the yearning to sit quietly in the cool interior and enjoy a moments peace and stillness
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Thank you! Yes I felt exactly the same. It was so quiet there even though it has the village all around it, you definitely felt connected to all those centuries of history once inside it!
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What a delightfully simple interior, Jane…
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Hi Sue, yes I agree, it was even more beautiful for that, although I believe it would have been highly decorated with wall paintings centuries ago!
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Very likely. I have seen some amazingly ornate churches (Vierzehn Heiligen in Bavaria) and some incredibly simple ones in Romania, for example, and I have to say the simple ones win out for me…
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Quite so Sue, simplicity lets the wonderful architecture speak for itself 🙂
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What a fabulous photo series – beautiful door, church and surrounding area. Thank you for sharing. As for no GPS, I’d still be out there wandering around trying to get back home. 🙂
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Thank you very much Judy, really pleased you like the photos! I always prefer using maps, you tend to find things that those bossy GPS devices would never let you discover!! 🙂
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Beautiful!
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Cheers Herbert !
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lovely Jane x
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Many thanks Katie!
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Loving the mood of your images.
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Thank you Cornelia, delighted that you like them!
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Sigh…just wonderful 🙂
What a great selection of shots for such a magical place.
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Cheers Norm! So pleased you like it, it truly is a wonderful place, the kind of village that in England would have been completely restored and protected but here is left a little shabby and in need of some care and attention, in a way it’s more romantic like that!
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Boy, oh boy, could I while away the quiet afternoon hours with a long and lengthy meditation session for myself in the cool interior of that church, although what would be more likely to happen is that I’d prowl every square inch of that gorgeous relic and create some fantastic new tale, dying to be told about prior inhabitants and how the church was a central character to mystery, deception, death and tragic love.
My mind is a whirl.
Okay, now I really need to see this church, Jane.
😉
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You and me both Shelley! The tales that seep out of every stone are just crying out to be told! It has an amazing peaceful atmosphere too of course, just right for composing one’s thoughts and a myriad plot lines 🙂 😉
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I love how the centre of the steps is warn by hundreds of years of passing people!
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I know, wouldn’t it be wonderful to know who some of them were!? I’m trying to picture what the countryside would have been like then too, probably very wooded I think 🙂
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Thanks Jane for another trip into the French countryside. I love that you took this from the inside, it gives it a totally different feel than a picture from the outside, with the worn stone underneath your feet, the warm light from outside gives it a beautiful feel. I also love those chairs and the cobblestones underfoot. Such beauty. Then the outside views. You do give us such an all round view of where you are going that it feels like I was right beside you. Thanks 🙂
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Thank you Kaz! I’m so glad you like this, I keep thinking people will be getting sick of my church doors but there are so many beautiful ones in this area and such amazing history behind them I have a few more yet! This particular village is so lovely and the setting just beautiful, I just had to include some views too!
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Keep them coming, we having nothing here that compares so even though I am not religious I do love an old church 🙂
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Thanks Kaz! Another one due for posting tonight!
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Beautiful photos Jane..I love old churches, and there is nothing better than a morning walk in the countryside with a camera 🙂
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Thank you James, I agree entirely, a walk in the country is powerful medicine for modern ills!
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This is a great collection of doors!
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Thankyou Dan!
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This was before I joined “Thursday doors”, but what an inviting door and gorgeous stonework. Lovely, lovely church.
janet
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Hi Janet, Thanks , this is one of my favourites of the churches I’ve visited round here – I’m doing a bit of a photo project on them! Glad you like it.
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