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 PORTAIL CHÂTEL
l’univers châtel en 1 clic
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Chalets
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In matter of accommodation, each region has its specificity.
In the Alps, from a valley to the other one, from a village to another one, buildings structures and materials are different: sometimes stone replaces the wood, the chimney is not the same everywhere....
The Abondance valley has the exceptional privilege to have its own type of chalet which amazes every visitor.
The roof always has two equal parts, gently sloping and overflowing on each side allowing the inhabitant to walk or work under cover in the winter.
The house is build against the mountainside and there is a big difference in level between the front side, the living area, and the back side, the barn.
The living area is facing south. At first, one is surprised by the massive facade made in spruce which has taken, year after year with sunny days as with time passing by, a nice reddish colour.
The entrance is, most of the time, on the side through the “cortna” (small yard), even if some front galleries have a door in their middle and stairs to go down to the garden and which can be used as the main access to the house.
From this little yard, a corridor takes one to the kitchen “l’outa”, then to a bigger room “le pêle” with an access to the living area gallery. From the “pêle” one can go from one room to another one.
Under the ridge piece, there is a devotion sign, a protection and maybe a humbleness sign in front of nature: a cross. On the beams you’ll often see a date as: 18 + 32.
Under the cover of the “cortna” there is a basin where water is pouring all day long. Two doors, separated by 2 m of wall, are giving access one to the lodging area and the other one to the stable. In between: the horse’s collar. This yard lets go from the stable to the kitchen without being bothered by the bad weather.
In the stable cows, heifers, and sometimes goats and a horse isolated by a wooden wall, facing their rack, are waiting for their food –hay- coming out from the top of the barn through little traps.
It’s very frequent to see double chalets build by two brothers or by a parent whishing to keep his children close to him, generally the oldest one. These chalets are strictly “divisible” from the “frête” of the roof, that is to say the ridge piece.
The roof slope is about 25% and the covering is made of slates coming from the place called “Essert” in Châtel. It can also be covered by “tavaillons”, those pieces of wood cut along the grain in coniferous trees with a chopping board knocked with a big mallet.
From centuries, the old chalets ornament the Abondance Valley scenery and some of them are 300 years old.
