Laforêt,Legends and mysteries at Laforêt's bedside
Hidden behind the small shale farms, "Pépé crochet" sits at the edge of the watering hole. He tells us about life in the days of this charming rustic village's tobacco drying sheds and washhouses.
Hidden behind the small shale farms, "Pépé crochet" sits at the edge of the watering hole. He tells us about life in the days of this charming rustic village's tobacco drying sheds and washhouses.
Leaving Vresse and the bridge over the Semois, Laforêt can be seen behind a canvas of greenery: a small, rustic and wild village, which commands tranquillity. This is undoubtedly due to the legends and mysteries that dot its alleys: from the fountain, the wild hunter, the white lady, the “verbouc” (half-man half-goat) and the “nutons” (ancestral elves) appear at the corner of a path or a bend.
The wide and deep houses are built in schist around the church of St. Agatha. This habitat is covered by large and very special roofs, known as “faisiaux” (slate quarry waste). A typical Ardennes decor completes the whole: low entrances, lucky and protective hearts on the barns, a bull’s eye in shale, wooden doors and windows frames. Once surrounded by tobacco fields, Laforêt still has drying sheds, a reminder of the region’s wealth. Other witnesses to the organisation of daily life in the past abound: washhouses, watering places and fountains. Below the village, in summer, a woven wooden (lattice) footbridge is thrown over the Semois. It’s the heritage of the tobacco planters who used to reach the fertile farmland along the river without making a detour.
The association Les Plus Beaux Villages de Wallonie (The Most Beautiful Villages of Wallonia) oversees a network of 32 villages, bearers of a strong territorial identity and reflecting traditional architecture. It is committed to promoting the rural, cultural and natural heritage of Wallonia and is a part of the development of local and responsible tourism.
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