Nearby Villages - Salornay sur Guye

As a result of family connections Salornay was one of the first villages in France that I came to know, many years ago. It has not changed that much since then although it has smartened up and gained some extra facilitates - it did lose its patisserie which used to sell delicious "barquette au chocolat".

Photo by ChigyTweet published under a CC license.

Salornay, only 4 km from Le Gros Chigy, is the nearest town with a range of facilities which includes hotel, camping ground, bar, bakeries, green grocer, butchery, supermarket, tabac, post office, service station, hairdresser, electrical, builder, old age home, hospital, primary school, library etc. It has a population of around 800 which appears to be increasing slowly.

Photo by ChigyTweet published under a CC license.

Close by Cluny (16.5 km from La Gros Chigy) and Cormatin at 14 km have a much wider variety of facilities as well as their tourist attractions while Macon and Montceau-les-Mines are large cities 30 to 40 kilometers away.

Central to the village is a square housing a war memorial,

Photo by ChigyTweet published under a CC license.

tourist maps and a gravel pentanque area 1 400 M2 area surrounded by trees. This is also where the produce market is held on the 2nd and 4th Thurdays of the month.

Photo by ChigyTweet published under a CC license.

The Guy river flows through the village just to the East of the square where it is crossed by the medievel Sainte Catherine bridge.

The Gande river flows to the West of the Village, joining the Guye to the North. With two rivers not not surprising to find six lavoir (community washing places although lavoir translates to washhouse this by no means captures their social function in the past), five bridges and the remains of mills.

A Church with Romanesque bell tower and apse

Photo by ChigyTweet published under a CC license.

along with a private XVc chateau

Photo by ChigyTweet published under a CC license.

complete a picturesque village, whose character has not been lost to modernisation which has resulted in more new houses and plastering of old stone houses than is really desirable.