Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: boulangerie

The city of Mende (pop. ~ 12000) is situated in the high valley of the Lot, within the area of the "Grands Causses" (limestone plateaus). One of these plateaus is the "Mont Mimat". The owners of the boulangerie (founded 1936) did keep up with the times and invested into a vending machine.

The town of Stavalot grew around the "Abbey of Stavelot", founded in 648 by St. Remaclus, the abbot of the Abbey of Solignac (near Limoge) on behalf of the Merovingian king Sigebert III (aka "Saint Sigebert of Austrasia"). The boulangerie and patisserie Dumoulin exists here since 1785.

In 1827 the villages La Rochebeaucourt and Argentine merged to La Rochebeaucourt-et-Argentine. Mid 19th century La Rochebeaucourt-et-Argentine was a prosperious village with a population of about 1200. Meanwhile the number of people living here has sunken to about 300. The exodus has left marks. Empty shops line the streets. Gone forever.

Laon, placed on a ridge and overlooking the flat Picardy plain, was a strategic, fortified site, already in Roman times. St. Remi founded a bishopric here in 487. Laon was a very important place in the kingdom of the Franks. After the fall of the Carolingians, Hugh Capet became the master of the town with the support of the bishop. The city´s old part, up on the hill, today still has numerous medieval buildings. For the tourists, there are are hotels, restaurants, chambre d'hôtes and boulangeries like this one.

Some decades ago every single village in France had a "Boulangerie". Life without fresh bread produced locally twice a day was just not thinkable. Meanwhile many of them closed down forever.