French cartoons and castles

We've just spent a week's holiday in the North Loire Valley, and here are the things we will now add to the list of "things that France is great for".

We were already aware of: nicer weather, more rock to climb on (see photo below from our day bouldering at Franchard), lovely pastries.

However, we are now also aware of:

1. The kids' cartoon "Linus and Boom". Sadly this is a French phenomenon and is yet to appear in the UK. Even the wikipedia page is in French.

2. The castle Guédelon. This is a castle that is being built using techniques from the middle ages. It's situated on a site of an abandoned quarry, in a forest, near some clay deposits, so they use all local materials, and process it on-site. This includes a blacksmith, stone masons, rope maker, tile makers, carpenters, etc. It's been going about 15 years and it be be fully built in about another ten years. There were loads of school kids there, learning about how things were done in the 13th century.

Note the two wheels that are part of the crane in the picture above. This is for people to get inside and use like hamster wheels to lift stuff up to the castle. Here's a shot of two blokes in it, providing the manpower.