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Activities in Saint-Martin-de-Belleville
1 Télécabine Saint Martin 1
Liaison domaine des 3 vallées
160 Rue des Choumettes, 73440 Les Belleville, France
3 The Lachenal hotel
This establishment, which opened in 1927, was a boarding house founded by Ms Adèle Rey, a widow, with the help of her mother. It was the first tourist spot in the village. Adèle drew in the daring tourists who were already visiting the Tarentaise spa towns. Prestigious guests including Henriette, Princess of Belgium stayed here from 1928 onwards, wooed by the refined cuisine and the exceptional level of luxury for that time. In 1946, she sold it to Mr Lachenal, a determined young chef. For a while, the boarding house was home to construction workers working on the road between Saint Martin and Moutiers. Mr Lachenal then modernised the hotel, bar and restaurant. People came from neighbouring towns to celebrate special occasions: wedding meals, banquets and so on. He made the business thrive, but always made sure it stayed sober and genuine. Mr Lachenal died in 1975 but left his mark behind: the building is still called “Le Lachenal”, even though it stopped operating as a hotel in 2018.
32 Rue Saint-Martin, 73440 Les Belleville, France
4 The wash house
The women did their laundry with bicarbonate of soda in a wooden tub of warm water. After thoroughly soaping, scrubbing and rinsing, they soaked the clothes in a bucket of boiling water preheated with ashes wrapped in a tea towel. Afterwards, they took their buckets to the stream or the wash house for rinsing, which they did with the help of a wooden beater on a plank of wood. Once this was all done, the washing was hung out over the balcony to dry.
247 Route du Châtelard, 73440 Les Belleville, France
5 The communal oven
The villagers had a central wood oven, which was lit every 3 weeks in winter. Every family made their bread with rye flour, and kneaded the dough with their feet in 3 troughs in the building opposite. In order for all the families to be able to bake their bread, the oven stayed alight for around 3 days. Once cooked, the bread was left to cool on racks.
Rue du Pavé, 73440 Les Belleville, France
6 Pavé street
Le four était géré par les villageois, représentés par le procureur qui s’occupait du bois pour l’allumage du four. Celui-ci était allumé toutes les 3 semaines en hiver. Chaque famille fabriquait son pain avec de la farine de seigle. Le pétrissage se faisait à la « confrarie » (bâtiment en face du four) dans 3 pétrins et avec les pieds. Pour que toutes les familles puissent cuire leurs pains, le four restait allumé pendant 3 jours environ. À la sortie du four, les pains étaient mis à refroidir debout sur des râteliers.
Le Vieux Chalet, Chef Lieu, 73440 Les Belleville, France
7 The town hall
The council bought the building in 1840 for 3300 pounds. In 1736 there were 1736 inhabitants and the elected representatives decided to expand. The building work lasted 4 years and the town hall was made bigger with the addition of an extra floor. In 1867 all the work was finished and the town hall was complete. It was made up of a girls’ classroom and female teachers’ lodgings on the first floor, boys’ classroom, municipal offices and archives on the second floor and male teachers’ lodgings and two rooms for other employees on the third floor.
Cours de la Cure, 73440 Les Belleville, France
8 Sanctuaire Notre Dame de la Vie
Vallée des Belleville, Les, 73440 Les Belleville, France
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