Yvoire Medieval Village and Chateau

(Photo credit: http://www.yvoire-france.com)

Last weekend I visited Yvoire with Tom. It sits about an hour from Geneva on the south side of Lac Leman and is a small 14th century walled medieval village. I had looked at it before online and my friend Becca had said that it was beautiful so it was high on my list of places to visit. You could take a boat to Yvoire from Nyon which is on the North side of the lake and just half an hours drive from our home, but the boat costs almost 30CHF per person and so it's not really an affordable short cut to driving; also Tom has been saying for a while that he wanted to drive to the other side of the lake and explore there.

So on Sunday lunchtime last week we decided to drive from Nyon along the lake to Geneva, drive through Geneva and then drive along the other side of the lake to Yvoire to explore what was there.

An hour and a half later we pulled into a carpark and got ourselves a ticket. Because Yvoire is a protected medieval village, vehicles are not permitted and so you have to park in the car park and walk to the village. It's only a couple of minutes walk so it wasn't a problem. I did wonder where the money from the carpark went though . . . does it go towards restoration of the village or is it a government carpark? Without further research I don't know but it's an interesting question.

We walked from the car and I was instantly blown away. Even from the outside, this medieval village has a quaint, Lord of the Rings beauty that captures the imagination. The outer walls of the village are made up of houses and buildings so it doesn't look imposing and the moat which originally ran around the outside of the town has been filled in and is now a small road, yet the stone gateway with it's clear markings from a previous portcullis remind you that it must at one time have been a well fortified location.

We walked under the gate way and down what I assume was once the high street. Now, it was a Sunday afternoon so it was very busy with visitors, not something I usually like, so I was keen to find a quiet spot. I fancied a glass of wine so I asked Tom if we could go somewhere for a bite to eat. He replied "I need a cash machine" . . . unsurprisingly there wasn't a 'medieval cash machine' at Yvoire so that brought an end to that plan. By this point it was after 3pm and we were aware of the light fading. I didn't fancy going home in the dark so we decided to walk around and see what the village offered and then we would go home, planning to come back another time.

There was a beautiful Chateau right on the lake and whilst I tried to do some research into who owned it, I struggled. Still sometimes that makes it even better as I can use my imagination instead!

So Yvoire is definitely somewhere we will be returning to, but in the meantime here are some pictures I took of the place so you get an idea what it's like:

(these three photographs are copyright of the author, Charlotte Furness)

Country House Gate Lodges / Gate Houses

(Swan Lodge, Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire) 

Have you ever driven through the country and seen a set of large posh gates with a drive snaking away from it? Very often there is a small, bungalow looking house at the side of the gates. You’d be forgiven for thinking ‘is that it? I expected something larger’ and getting confused as to why such an ornate gateway seems to lead to such a small property.

The reality is that in most cases the small house is a ‘gate lodge’ which is placed at the entrance to a large country estate. It’s rare to have gate lodges at the entrance to modern country estates however historically they were a key part of a country estate.

So, what was the purpose of having lodge buildings at the end of your drive? Well, as you might imagine, they were used for security. Any visitors would be stopped by the residents of the gate house (usually a member of the estate staff such as a gardener or game keeper) to ascertain the intentions of the visitor before allowing them through the gates and to the house.

The second purpose to having a lodge at the end of your drive was to use it as a visible status symbol. Lodges were often designed with architectural aspects that are similar to the main house itself so that as people passed, or if they were visiting the house for the very first time, they would be given a glimpse of the status of the person who lived there and the architecture of the house.

In 1850 Lady Emily and Sir Charles Isham of Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire built a lodge house at the end of their driveway (see image at top). This may have been for security reasons, but primarily it was a status symbol and part of a dramatic entrance to their home, Lamport Hall. Visitors would enter the estate via an ornate gateway, past the lodge house, and up a sweeping drive which gave the visitor a panoramic view of the Hall and grounds.

Other great examples of lodge houses include:

Deene Park, Northamptonshire:

Rushton Hall, Northamptonshire:

(all photographs in this blog are credited to: www.gateandlodgehouses.co.uk no copyright intended. All rights to website owner).