Unlike many other introductory texts on this site, this one will be brief!

During the Tour de France by bike, in fact from the beginning of the trip in 2012, I noticed that on the lawns in front of the houses were often laid out old agricultural tools. I started to photograph them whenever a short break offered itself or I could find someone in the garden to chat with. Some had been painted (sometimes even pink), others decorated with flower pots and others were left as they were.

Having travelled quite a lot by bike abroad, unless we are mistaken, we don't remember there being so many of them elsewhere and that's why we think it's a very French peculiarity.

In order to write this text, we intended to rely on the results of an internet research and, to our great surprise, we came up empty. We thought we would find university works, press articles and even books on what could be described as a small suburban curiosity.

So we timidly make this proposal: in our opinion, it shows a demonstrative attachment to the land, to the peasant roots, to the terroirs, whereas the evolution of post-war agricultural practices and new lifestyles tend to take us out of this thousand-year-old history and into post-modernism every day.

Lastly, in front of the houses there were sometimes other old agricultural instruments such as barrels, presses... If we chose ploughs, it is because there were more of them and also because of their stronger symbolic dimension, it seems to us: working the soil before sowing, animal traction often, etc.

If you hear or read about any of this, please contact us. We would be happy to hear about it.   

Enjoy your viewing!

Unlike many other introductory texts on this site, this one will be brief!

During the Tour de France by bike, in fact from the beginning of the trip in 2012, I noticed that on the lawns in front of the houses were often laid out old agricultural tools. I started to photograph them whenever a short break offered itself or I could find someone in the garden to chat with. Some had been painted (sometimes even pink), others decorated with flower pots and others were left as they were.

Having travelled quite a lot by bike abroad, unless we are mistaken, we don't remember there being so many of them elsewhere and that's why we think it's a very French peculiarity.

In order to write this text, we intended to rely on the results of an internet research and, to our great surprise, we came up empty. We thought we would find university works, press articles and even books on what could be described as a small suburban curiosity.

So we timidly make this proposal: in our opinion, it shows a demonstrative attachment to the land, to the peasant roots, to the terroirs, whereas the evolution of post-war agricultural practices and new lifestyles tend to take us out of this thousand-year-old history and into post-modernism every day.