When you have a project that is difficult to understand around you, reading is of undeniable interest to see if it can be viable.
I recently flipped through an old lady, mother of a deceased friend: the magazine No. 2 of “Esprit Hauts-de-France”. What was my surprise to see that in the Haut-de-France several projects that I had in recent years are represented with examples well established in a territory.
I will take as a first example the arrangements of the hortillonnages of Amiens in an article under the title of “Prendre le temps de s’arrêter est un acte révolutionnaire” (“Taking the time to stop is a revolutionary act”). It is ten or fifteen years that I advocate the contemplation of landscapes and Land-art as a source of appeasement, of dictionnary, open to all because often located in public places or regularly open gardens. The first time I went to Versailles, I visited only the park and for example during a trip to Munich, I also preferred the visit of the park of the castle of Nymphenburg and see these carp ponds that visit a place as emblematic as the concentration camp of Dashau. Land-Art does not necessarily require large means even if having some works of a recognized artist can improve the visibility exponentially and even internationally.
The development of the forest and ponds of Signy-le-Petit and its surroundings can be a huge garden bringing local visitors or tourists to visit this end of the world. To propose even if I do not see the Signacians very much supported by the art and their beautiful countryside which they do not know.
A few pages later in the same magazine “Comprendre l’âme d’une terre de frontière” (“to understand the soul of a frontier land”), we are told about the fortified churches of Thiérache on the Aisne side: Parfondeval, Jeantes, about sixty churches on this side but in the Ardennes, one has the same and here too important work could be done to highlight and make known, learn more about their significance in this territory as in other places in France, the Southwest or the Southeast.
Another project that is already underway in a few villages in France and Belgium is to make Signy-le-Petit a book village and open a few temporary bookstores there for a summer; let’s say from June to the end of August. This is done elsewhere, such as in Redu in Belgium or Bécherel in Brittany. Investment is not necessarily important: houses are for sale in the village and could be used as a place of storage and sale if not for housing, since currently no one comes to settle for the same reasons as elsewhere (distance from places of work and leisure, lack of shops and infrastructure, and many other reasons, all more logical and stupid at the same time, certainly). Shops could even reopen temporarily too, for the same reason that winters are hard (but why isn’t it like that right next door in Belgium where the activity of bars and restaurants operates all year round? Even if they are located in small places). An additional restaurant or bar in the centre of the village, and why not a pancake shop, or a guest house with its gift shop or local products would be an undeniable plus to bring visitors to the village and perhaps even to give the locals some work.
To come back to this shop of local products, I have also been thinking about it for about twenty years if not more. the Thiérache is a melting pot of agricultural traditions that have not disappeared and that gathered in a shop could surprise more than one gourmet. The first product is of course cheese with our stinking local cheese Maroilles* and some small producers make it one which smells sweetly, and makes us want a quiche or meat in sauce if not to taste it with bread, wine or a local beer. After the most common product is certainly beer with the best Trappist beer in the world : Chimay in all its forms, and within a radius of less than 100 km we must certainly gather other jewels of the brewers’ art: Orval, Maredsous, Rochefort; and cheese as well of course in these abbeys. Of course, they are mostly Belgian, but Ardennes breweries are beginning to emerge and provide beautiful vintages. After the products are legions : honeys, jams, fruit juices, cheeses, fish products such as the famous “escavêches”, ostrich meat, and finally the list is not exhaustive. The creation of an associated website could make the request not a local but a national or more national request.
I come back to Land-Art. During my visit to the Museum of Modern Art of Villeneuve d’Ascq (the LAM), I was surprised to see the representation of a French totem pole. Raw art is something that interests me and some objects such as a wooden palisade, each board of which is treated like a character or an object, have made me dream of what could become of the outline of my garden, the surroundings; as well as the use of land by trunks acting as huge characters such as some totems of the First Nations or American Indians. This is also visible in the magazine that I use as a support for this article. réf: “Au Musée avec les enfants pour apprendre à regarder, à s’étonner, à aimer…” (“At the Museum with children to learn to look, to wonder, to love …”).
Still in the art of gardens, another possibility would be the development of a theme park, for example around bamboo on three to eight acres and the use of this bamboo to make objects or small furniture. A quick look at the article “Le jardin est un havre zen où se retrouver” (“The garden is a Zen haven where to find yourself”).
As the ride can be done with different vehicles, one of the most natural is of course the horse… and already around and in the forests of Signy, the ringing of the hooves resounds regularly. Making it an asset for visiting certain places around the village would be a plus (castle, church, wash-houses, ponds, forge, or the new places of this reading). Of course, the places to see are not prestigious but the visit of the village can be multiplied : “A cheval, en des lieux d’histoire grandiose” (“On horseback, in places of great history”).
After and to leave in more industrial or economic considerations, I wondered if it was not possible to arrange on the course of the ponds a mill in order to produce electricity. This has already been done at the pond of “La Forge” why not do it reborn or to install one just after the road to the pond of “La Motte”. Ecology and technology can go hand in hand.
Another project would be the installation of a gas production plant from green waste. Perhaps this is already done in part by the commune community?
Finally, could we not bring a film studio to settle there ? Couldn’t the old Signy forges used partly or wholly for the production of wooden toilet seats be used for this purpose? The houses of the village as well as the castle and woodwinds would be a magnificent setting for a single story. The proximity of Belgium also.
To return to more reasonable projects, a simple example would be to create a farmers’ market and even if the region is more of a logging and sheep farming area, the establishment of a goat farm providing goat cheese on behalf of the village could make a big difference in the village.
There we are ! I’ve gone through some of the possibilities that a village like Signy-le-Petit has and the interest it would have in reinventing itself to support these residents.
I have many other projects that could be done on Signy-le-Petit but they are more personal and do not involve local actors such as town halls, community of communes, chamber of commerce, tourist office, department or others.
To be continued…
(*) Maroilles originates, of course, from the village of Maroilles (North) and is close to the forest of Mormal but its geographical production area includes the North-East of the Aisne near Signy-le-Petit.