Sainte-Menehould, Ardennes 51800

In Champagne, witness to a brilliant past, the former earthenware factory of Islettes Ismh, on 7 ha of meadows. The earthenware factory of the Bois d'Epense des Islettes was the most important of the earthenware factories of the Argonne and especially of artistic earthenware. Its origin cannot be determined exactly, but its presence is attested as early as before 1737. From 1756, for nearly a century, it was passed down from father to son by the Bernard dynasty. Formerly considerable, it employed more than three hundred workers annually. The variety of subjects is extraordinary and could surprise amateurs who have little idea that Les Islettes could have produced such masterpieces, such rarities. On the death of Bernard's last son, Joseph-Dsir, his widow maintained the business for eight years and sold it in 1840 to the Godechel brothers. Production was subject to enormous competition from the factories of Lunville and Sarreguemine, which delivered more perfected, more modern and cheaper products. The earthenware factory died out in 1848. Sold the buildings used for the farm were razed, only the master's house, the employees' accommodation, the chapel and some outbuildings were preserved.From a small tarmac road that escapes from the village, the entrance to the property is via a path running alongside the chapel and opens through a wrought iron gate, framed by heavy stone pilasters topped with acorns. A large gravelled courtyard allows parking for many vehicles, embellished with flower beds and large trees forming a setting. All the buildings are adjoined to its left, with first of all, the manor house, a staff dwelling which extends into outbuildings and finally, separated by a few metres, a vast pyre.The park extends all around with a wooded part sheltering a small dacha on stilts erected in the twentieth century near a natural basin sporadically fed by a spring, a remarkable oak tree at the edge of the meadows, and a vegetable garden near the outbuildings. At the back of the manor house, a porch dominates a terrace made of white pebbles.