The Arrival of the Piet Mondrian Cows

We like to take the opportunity to continue to explore new locations and finding different things to visit.  We stumbled upon a brocante on one of these trips several years ago. The whole hamlet is taken over by a multitude of miscellaneous items, some antique, some modern and some real rubbish.  If we are in that direction, we always pop in as you never know what you may find. When you visit us here, you will see several items that have been acquired from the family business including our lovely wooden cart in the garden generally adorned with geraniums through the summer. This time, we found some Piet Mondrian Cows.

In January, we called in to find they were closed but Adrian took a distinct liking to two tractors. They were at least 60 years old which he thought would look great on the field.  I meanwhile had uncovered two absolute beauties – life size cows from the Cowparade series. Abstract art, eye catching and perfect for Perigord Retreats painting holidays. Lucky for me, the tractors were already sold so they were no longer an option.

Fortunately for us, the owner was present on site and it would appear, he had been storing these cows for a little while but there is not a great deal of demand for something so unusual in this part of rural France.  We chatted and cajoled him in to selling them at a very reasonable price with delivery included.

For several nights, every time I woke up ( I spend more time awaked at night than I do asleep), I though oh my goodness, what have we done.

 

The delivery

Under the cover of darkness, without the knowledge of Harry and Chloe, our man delivered two life sized cows directly off the back of his lorry.  I could not stop giggling. In our own environment, I had not realised what an impact they would have. We helped him lift them off and, still laughing, tried to work out where we would put them.  Overnight, we laid them on their side on the lawn and said we would move them the next day.

Struggling with a back injury, between us, we managed to lift and drag them in to the middle of the field.  We tried a variety of locations and thought they looked best where you could see them from Villa Perigord and as you are walking between the two houses.  Laughing still, we were happy with our purchase.

Harry turned up the same day – “What the hell is that in the field”. Chloe returned home “Is that really two cows in the field”. Every villager decided to walk past and gawped across the field, dog walkers decided to try a different route so they could view.

We think it’s a nice mix of the old with the new but you might think differently when you come and see for yourself.