Driving from château to château to research and improve our France guidebook, co-author Steve Smith and I have shifted into our updating groove. I find the lanes of trees leading up to the Château of Vaux-le-Vicomte attractive, not only in how they look but why they are there. The countryside of France is filled with charms like this.
If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.
Comments
I was fascinated by the trees that I saw on both of my visits to France. Using trees to shade soldiers is an old practice. The Israelis planted miles of roadside trees to hide troop movements almost immediately upon become a nation. But the French trees that most fascinated me were the poplar groves grown for furniture wood. They are planted very geometrically in groves as small as 5 acres and rarely larger than 20 acres. Clear cutting 20 acres every 15 years or so simply does not have an impact on the environment. I am still amazed that the tree growers can make a profit on such small scale.
Fascinating!