A Saint-Just Treasure

I just posted a shortened version of this on Facebook, but I just had to post it here too (especially for my non-Facebook people)!

We just got back from a day in Saint-Just. We were helping our friend, Isabelle, who will be translating for us next week. We did some yard work for her in the morning and enjoyed lunch and a tour of her home afterwards.

Isabelle and her mom live on a beautiful estate that's been in their family for years. The yard was lovely and extremely large. I would pretty much equate it to "The Secret Garden." During WWII the Germans would camp out there because of its prime location. I love doing yard work, so I was in heaven as we raked, broke down fallen branches, and picked up fallen Sharon fruit (Persimmons, I think?) and laid them out to ripen.

And the house, oh the house! It was a mansion (literally a maze of a place) and wonderfully old. Vines with red leaves crawled up the walls of the beautiful, blue shuttered home. The main part of the house was built in 1780, and some of the basement/wine cellar areas date back to the 1300-1400s! Uh, I just loved it! I'm only sorry I don't have any pictures to share. Just use your imagination, okay?