63-573: Berck ( French pronunciation: [bɛʁk] ), sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer in French or Berck-su-Mér in Picard ( transl. Berck on Sea ), is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais . Situated on the English Channel immediately north the mouth of the river Authie , Berck boasts over 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) of sandy beaches and grass-topped dunes, and since
126-503: A church property until the reign of Henry VIII , when Hythe and Saltwood were to be sequestrated to the Crown, suggests that some complicity by the baron Rranulf de Broc was possible in the murder of Becket. It was during this time at Saltwood, on 28 December 1170, that four knights plotted Becket's death the following day. Hugh de Moreville was one of the knights, along with Reginald Fitzurse , William de Tracey and Richard le Breton . From
189-504: A distinctive literary tradition. The Ch'ti language was re-popularised by the 2008 French comedy film Welcome to the Sticks ( French : Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis ; French pronunciation: [bjɛ̃vny ʃe le ʃti] ) which broke nearly every box office record in France and earned over $ 245,000,000 worldwide on an 11 million euro budget. The first person plural often appears in spoken Picard in
252-890: A gauge of 15 inches (380 mm) and the track is nearly 14 miles (23 km) long. During the Second World War the service transported the Operation Pluto pipeline. Hythe is represented in Parliament as part of the Folkestone and Hythe constituency in the House of Commons . Hythe has a Non-League football club, Hythe Town F.C. who play at the Reachfields Stadium. Folkestone & Hythe Operatic & Dramatic Society owns
315-586: A language distinct from French. A 1999 report by Bernard Cerquiglini, the director of the Institut national de la langue française (National Institute of the French Language) stated: The gap has continued to widen between French and the varieties of langues d'oïl , which today we would call "French dialects"; Franc-comtois , Walloon , Picard, Norman , Gallo , Poitevin , Saintongeais , Bourguignon-morvandiau , Lorrain must be accepted among
378-515: A large number are unique to Picard—principally terms relating to mining or farming . Here are several typical phrases in Picard, accompanied by French and English translations: Cardinal numbers in Picard from 1 to 20 are as follows: Picard is not taught in French schools (apart from a few one-off and isolated courses) and is generally only spoken among friends or family members. It has nevertheless been
441-536: A lighthouse (first wooden, then stone). As a result of the retreating coastline, boats were designed with flat bottoms so that they could be drawn up on the beach. A cart was driven out to them in order to bring in the catch (see Eugène Boudin's painting below). Berck was a location of combat for centuries. The chronicler Enguerrand de Monstrelet mentions that during 1414 the English garrison in Calais raided south and burned
504-491: A regional language along with Walloon , Gaumais ( Lorraine ), Champenois ( Champagne ) and Lorraine German in its 1990 decree. The French government has not followed suit and has not recognized Picard as an official regional language (in line with its policy of linguistic unity, which allows for only one official language in France, as per the French Constitution ), but some reports have recognized Picard as
567-504: A similar tower at Mortella Point in Corsica which the Navy had captured from the French. Although never needed for their original purpose they were later used to combat smuggling and also acted as signalling stations and coastal defences during the two world wars. Three of the towers survive at Hythe; one was converted to a house in the 1930s and can be seen along West Parade, and the other two are on
630-711: A tourist attraction. A seaside bathing station, with an immense beach of fine sand on the Opal Coast , it continues to be a centre for sand yachting and the new sport of surfboarding . The former Berck Plage railway station has been converted into a casino. The town has twinned with Bad Honnef in Germany and with Hythe in England. The church of Saint Jean Baptiste was restored in 1954. The 15th-century carvings on its corbels were then highlighted in paint. The choir and belfry are listed monuments. The new church of Notre-Dame des Sables
693-534: A trial flight in a glider plane modelled on that of the Wright Brothers and over a few seconds was airborne for 50 metres. His one-time partner Louis Blériot never experimented with flight at Berck. He did develop and test the sand-yacht ( l'aeroplage ) there in 1911 and pioneered the first race over the sands in 1913. Since 1966 a six-hour endurance race has been hosted by the local Eole Club. Since 1986 there has been an annual kite-flying festival each April on
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#1733084839273756-507: A type of beer first brewed in 1909, which went on to become a national brand. Mackeson stout is no longer brewed locally but is produced under contract by one of the major national brewers. Hythe Ranges is a military training ground that takes up a large section of the Hythe shoreline. Access to this section of the shore is restricted when red flags are showing. The Royal Military Canal runs across
819-620: A variety of very closely related dialects. It is difficult to list them all accurately in the absence of specific studies on the dialectal variations, but these varieties can probably provisionally be distinguished: Amiénois, Vimeu-Ponthieu, Vermandois, Thiérache, Beauvaisis, "chtimi" (Bassin Minier, Lille ), dialects in other regions near Lille (Roubaix, Tourcoing, Mouscron, Comines), "rouchi" ( Valenciennois ) and Tournaisis, Borain, Artésien rural, Boulonnais. The varieties are defined by specific phonetic, morphological and lexical traits and sometimes by
882-629: Is a langue d'oïl of the Romance language family spoken in the northernmost of France and parts of Hainaut province in Belgium. Administratively, this area is divided between the French Hauts-de-France region and the Belgian Wallonia along the border between both countries due to its traditional core being the districts of Tournai and Mons ( Walloon Picardy ). The language or dialect
945-507: Is a market town and civil parish on the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent , England. Hythe is an Old English word meaning haven or landing place. The town has mediaeval and Georgian buildings, as well as a Saxon / Norman church on the hill and a Victorian seafront promenade . Hythe was once defended by two castles, Saltwood and Lympne . Hythe Town Hall , a neoclassical style building,
1008-610: Is one of the langues d'oïl and belongs to the Gallo - Roman family of languages. It consists of all the varieties used for writing ( Latin : scriptae ) in the north of France from before 1000 (in the south of France at that time the Occitan language was used). Often, the langues d'oïl are referred to simply as Old French . Picard is phonetically quite different from the North-central langues d'oïl , which evolved into modern French. Among
1071-590: Is referred to by different names, as residents of Picardy call it simply Picard , but in the more populated region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais it is called Ch'ti or Ch'timi (sometimes written as Chti or Chtimi ). This is the area that makes up Romance Flanders , around the metropolis of Lille and Douai , and northeast Artois around Béthune and Lens . Picard is also named Rouchi around Valenciennes , Roubaignot around Roubaix , or simply patois in general French. In 1998, Picard native speakers amounted to 700,000 individuals,
1134-441: Is similar to that of French. It is undoubtedly the easiest for French speakers to understand but can also contribute the stereotype that Picard is only a corruption of French rather than a language in its own right. Various spelling methods have been proposed since the 1960s to offset the disadvantage and to give Picard a visual identity that is distinct from French. There is now a consensus, at least between universities, in favor of
1197-470: Is the community radio station for Hythe and Romney Marsh and has been broadcasting since 7th March 2022 replacing Shoreline FM, now an online service, which had been broadcasting on 100.2FM from January 2020. Academy FM 105.9FM, the community radio station for Folkestone can also be received in parts of Hythe. Hythe FM on 95.1FM was a restricted service radio licensed station which broadcast for several years during
1260-516: The Black Death afflicted Hythe, and in 1400 the plague further reduced the population. Hythe has no coat of arms; however, the corporation seal represents an antique vessel with one mast, two men in it (one blowing a horn) and two men lying on the yard arm. Hythe was the home of the Mackeson Brewery, which after changes of ownership, closed in 1968. It was the birthplace of Mackeson Stout ,
1323-581: The Tower Theatre at Shorncliffe . It is a charitable organisation which performs several shows a year. Hythe has two paid-for newspapers, the "Folkestone and Hythe Express" (published by the KM Media Group) every Wednesday and the "Folkestone Herald" (published by Kent Regional News and Media). KentOnline.co.uk (published by the KM Media Group) also has a dedicated website for Hythe news. Free newspapers for
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#17330848392731386-471: The 19th century Parisian visitors to the town and passed on news of their discovery to fellow artists in the capital. One of the most notable was Édouard Manet , who passed a summer there with his family in 1873. Among the twenty paintings he made were depictions of boats at sea and the beachscape; some are now held by the Musée d'Orsay . Eugène Boudin first visited in 1874; over the next twenty years, he made Berck
1449-715: The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports held his court for Shepway, and it is referred to as the "Shepway Cross". In fact the Shepway Cross is a civic war memorial erected in 1923. It was placed on the top of Lympne Hill because that was traditionally the site of the Court of Shepway. Shepway Cross was paid for and unveiled in August 1923 by Earl Beauchamp, the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson , attended
1512-405: The Sticks , starring comedian Dany Boon , deals with Ch'ti language and culture and the perceptions of the region by outsiders, and it was the highest-grossing French film of all time at the box office in France until it was surpassed by The Intouchables . Today Picard is primarily a spoken language, but in the medieval period, there is a wealth of literary texts in Picard. However, Picard
1575-697: The beach and are owned by the Ministry of Defence . Geologically, the town developed on a succession of non-parallel terraces, rising from the level ground around the Royal Canal (previously named the Royal Military Canal) towards the steep incline upon which the parish church of St Leonard was built. From the High Street, alleys lead up to the steeper levels of the town. Hythe was once defended by two castles, Saltwood and Lympne . Saltwood derives its name from
1638-499: The bombing was the town hall, which was built in 1893 and has murals painted by Jan Lavezzari. After the stone tower of St John the Baptist fell into disuse as a lighthouse, it was replaced at first by a primitive oil lamp suspended in the dunes to mark the sandbars at the river mouth. Two years later a 10-metre tower was mounted above a keeper's cottage. This became hidden by construction of the maritime hospital in 1861. A new, taller tower
1701-551: The ceremony. The memorial now shows signs of decay. The lettering denoting the monument's true purpose is hardly legible. The School of Musketry was established in Hythe in 1853. Hythe is the northern terminus of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway , running third-scale steam and diesel locomotives. The track runs parallel to the coast through Dymchurch and New Romney to Dungeness . The founders were Captain J Howey and Count Louis Zborowski . It opened in 1927. The trains run on
1764-426: The course of 300 years, has now disappeared due to silting. Hythe was the central Cinque Port, sitting between Hastings and New Romney to the west and Dover and Sandwich to the east. According to Hasted , a French fleet approached Hythe in 1293 and landed 200 men, but "the townsmen came upon them and slew every one of them: upon which the rest of the fleet hoisted sail and made no further attempt". In 1348,
1827-509: The form of the neutral third person in ; however, the written form prioritizes os (as in French, where on is used for nous ). On the other hand, the spelling of conjugated verbs will depend on the pronunciation, which varies within the Picard domain. For instance southern Picard would read il étoait / étoét while northern Picard would read il étot . This is noted as variants in the following: The majority of Picard words derive from Vulgar Latin . Many words are very similar to French, but
1890-480: The light railway thence across Romney Marsh to Winchelsea. Its 26-mile length can be walked. Also built around the same time as a defence against possible invasion by Napoleon were the Martello Towers . In total, 74 of these towers were built between Folkestone and Seaford . The walls were up to 13 ft (4 m) thick, and each tower held 24 men and had a huge cannon mounted on the top. They were named after
1953-487: The long poem "Berck-Plage" by Sylvia Plath . She had visited it in 1961 and wrote the poem a year later, mixing memories of maimed war veterans at the Berck hospital with impressions of the recent death and funeral of a neighbour. In Jean-Paul Sartre 's Le Sursis ( The Reprieve ), the character of Charles is evacuated from the military hospital at Berck just before the outbreak of the Second World War . The town also figured in
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2016-455: The middle of the 19th century it has been a destination for convalescents and vacationers. Various forms of Berck's name were in use by the early 13th century. Datum Bergis and Berc appear in documents from 1215, and Bierk appears in a document from in 1282. Its specific etymology is unknown and may come from either the Germanic berg ("hill") or birkja ("place of the birch trees"). By
2079-710: The modern French form of chasser . Because of the proximity of Paris to the northernmost regions of France, French (that is, the languages that were spoken in and around Paris) greatly influenced Picard and vice versa. The closeness between Picard and French causes the former to not always be recognised as a language in its own right, but rather a "distortion of French" as it is often viewed. Despite being geographically and syntactically affiliated according to some linguists due to their inter-comprehensible morphosyntactic features, Picard in Picardy, Ch'timi and Rouchi still intrinsically maintain conspicuous discrepancies. Picard includes
2142-427: The moment Hythe came under Crown control, the senior official of the town was also a bailiff appointed by the Crown. This state of affairs (uniquely for a Cinque Port) remained until 1575 when Elizabeth I gave the town control of its affairs. The last Crown bailiff, John Bredgman, became the first mayor. A brass inscription bearing his name remains in the parish church, dated 1581. A monumental cross now indicates what
2205-586: The most notable traits, the evolution in Picard towards palatalization is less marked than in the central langues d'oïl in which it is particularly striking; /k/ or /ɡ/ before /j/ , tonic /i/ and /e/ , as well as in front of tonic /a/ and /ɔ/ (from earlier *au ; the open /o/ of the French p o rte ) in central Old French but not in Picard: The effects of palatalization can be summarised as this: There are striking differences, such as Picard cachier ('to hunt') ~ Old French chacier , which later took
2268-416: The neighbouring dunes once made the town the centre of a number of aeronautical experiments. These began in the final decades of the 19th century with early trials of photography from unmanned kites. Among the first working locally was the English meteorologist E.D.Archibald in 1887; he was followed the next year by Arthur Batut and during 1889-91 by Emile Wenz. The experiments continued until 1914 and some of
2331-468: The northern edge of the marsh, to Winchelsea . Running under Stade Street, the canal, intended to repel invasion during the Napoleonic wars of 1804 to 1815, gives central Hythe its character. Now shaded by trees, the canal, 10 yards wide, passes into the marsh from the middle of the town. The canal begins at Seabrook and runs through Hythe. It follows the original haven that was once Hythe's harbour as far as
2394-431: The novel Une année à Berck by Christian Morel de Sarcus (Paris, 1997). The language originally spoken by the inhabitants was Picard , from which originated several expressions used by fishermen. Although it has now retreated before standard French , there are still those who seek to preserve it. Berck has a language association, T'yn souvyin tu? and there have been linguistic studies of the local dialect. These include
2457-672: The object of scholarly research at universities in Lille and Amiens , as well as at Indiana University . Since people are now able to move around France more easily than in past centuries, the different varieties of Picard are converging and becoming more similar. In its daily use, Picard is tending to lose its distinctive features and may be confused with regional French. At the same time, even though most Northerners can understand Picard today, fewer and fewer are able to speak it, and people who speak Picard as their first language are increasingly rare, particularly under 50. The 2008 film Welcome to
2520-528: The photos found commercial use on postcards. The town has had an aerodrome since 1917. This was in part because at the start of the 20th century, the area played its part in the race to take to the air. The artist Jan Lavezzari , who had originally studied engineering, tested a double lateen sail hang glider from the Merlimont sand dunes in February 1904. He was followed there that Easter by Gabriel Voisin , who made
2583-760: The poet Edouard Grandel's Lexique du patois berckois (Université de Picardie, Amiens, 1980), Lucien Tétu's Glossaire du parler de Berck (Société de linguistique picarde, 1981) and his À l'écoute des Berckois : Dictons et proverbes, sobriquets (Société de linguistique picarde, 1988). The Picard dialect poet Ivar Ch'Vavar was born in the town in 1951 and, though he now lives in Amiens, has often written about it, most notably in Berck (un poème) , published in 1997. Picard language Picard ( / ˈ p ɪ k ɑːr d / , also US : / p ɪ ˈ k ɑːr d , ˈ p ɪ k ər d / , French: [pikaʁ] )
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2646-577: The principal was the Eden, also known as the Grand Casino de la Plage, with a theatre and music hall. This was destroyed in war in 1944, but it is survived by its equally gorgeous rival, the Kursaal. The ambitious Cottage des Dunes, which tried to unite a luxury hotel and casino, failed commercially in 1913. After a brief spell of use as a hospital, it was adapted for official use. Another official building that survived
2709-557: The regional languages of France ; by placing them on the list [of French regional languages], they will be known from then on as langues d'oïl . Even if it has no official status as a language in France, Picard, along with all the other languages spoken in France, benefits from actions led by the Culture Minister's General Delegation for the French language and the languages of France ( la Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France ). Picard, like French,
2772-563: The sands, attracting international exhibits of great beauty and inventiveness. The inhabitants are called Berckois . Over the past two centuries there has been a steady growth in the population of the town, which in the 1793 census was 983, only a little more than the 800 recorded in 1301. In 1851 this had doubled to 2,216 and after the commercial development during the second half of that century had climbed to 7,799 by 1901. It more than doubled again by 1936 (16,700) but fell to 11,529 by 1946. As of 2017 it has increased to 14,189. Painters joined
2835-529: The sea front was disrupted by the installation of the Nazi Atlantic Wall . The town suffered from bombing during the Allied invasion in 1944. This contributed to the diminishing of the ancient fishing industry, which numbered some 150 boats at the turn of the century. It had all but disappeared by the 1960s. Today, although the hospital sector remains economically important, the town has again promoted itself as
2898-469: The sick and those in need of rest and recuperation. It was at this time that the medical benefits of sea bathing were being recommended. The town, advertised as just a three-hour journey from Paris, began to build up its tourist trade with the help of the railways. At first passengers had to alight at the nearby town of Verton , on the main line to Calais, but in 1893 a 1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ) metre gauge branch line
2961-401: The start of the 14th century, Berck was an established fishing village. In 1301, it was recorded to have 150 homesteads with 800 inhabitants. The oldest parts of Berck are now 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) inland from both river and sea, presumably because of deposition , but at the time of its founding village was on the coast and what is now the church of St-Jean-Baptiste began its existence as
3024-488: The subject of some 120 paintings. He was followed in 1876 by Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic , who was so taken with the place that he set up a studio there. Until 1885 he devoted some six months of the year there, painting the area and the lives of fishermen. Following in their footsteps came the sons of local families who, until about 1914, constituted what has been called 'the Berck School'. These included Francis Tattegrain , who
3087-562: The town because of its medical facilities. Albert Besnard was there in 1895 on account of his tubercular son. As a thanks offering for his cure, Besnard and his wife Charlotte decorated the walls of the chapel in the Cazin-Perrochaud Institute between the years 1898–1901. While he was there, he also executed oil paintings and etchings. Jean Laronze (see above) was also there in 1904 for the same reason and painted several canvases during his stay. The town figures unfavourably in
3150-558: The town include the Folkestone and Hythe Extra , part of the KM Group; and yourshepway , part of KOS Media . It also has a paid-for monthly magazine "Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Life". A new free community/lifestyle magazine for Hythe, "Hythe Life Magazine" launched in the summer of 2014. The local radio station for Hythe is KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country . Cinque Ports Radio 100.2FM
3213-496: The town. During the second siege of Montreuil in 1544, the English advanced from the south and burned 200 houses, the church and the mill as they passed through Berck. What was left of the place was burned by the French on their way to relieve the siege. In the mid-19th century, Berck was given a therapeutic role in the treatment of tuberculosis . The Maritime hospital was inaugurated in 1869 by Empress Eugenie . Other hospitals and benevolent institutes were soon created to cater for
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#17330848392733276-476: The vast majority of whom were elderly people (aged 65 and over). Since its daily use had drastically declined, Picard was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) a "severely endangered language ". However, as of 2023, the Picard language was listed as “vulnerable” by UNESCO. The word ch'ti , chtimi or ch'timi to designate the Picard language
3339-531: The village in its shadow. During the reign of King Canute the manor of Saltwood was granted to the priory of Christ Church in Canterbury , but during the 12th century it became the home of Henry d'Essex, constable of England. Thomas Becket had sought from King Henry II restoration of the castle as an ecclesiastical palace. Henry instead granted the castle to Ranulf de Broc . That the castle had been returned to Becket, as Archbishop of Canterbury , and remained
3402-509: The written form known as Feller-Carton (based on the Walloon spelling system, which was developed by Jules Feller , and adapted for Picard by Professor Fernand Carton ). Picard, although primarily a spoken language, has a body of written literature: poetry, songs (" P'tit quinquin " for example), comic books, etc. A number of dictionaries and patois guides also exist (for French speakers): Hythe, Kent Hythe ( / ˈ h aɪ ð / )
3465-514: Was built connecting Berck with other towns in the region. As well as carrying passengers, the train carried goods traffic from the brick-works at Berck Ville. Known locally as le Tortillard for its wandering route, it was closed in 1955. There was a later narrow-gauge line running northwards through the dunes from Berck Plage to Paris-Plage , as Le Touquet was then known. It was built in stages via Merlimont between 1909 and 1912, but gradually it sanded over and closed in 1929. During World War II
3528-536: Was completed in 1794. Hythe's market once took place in Market Square (now Red Lion Square) close to where there is now a farmers' market every second and fourth Saturday of the month. Hythe has gardening, horse riding, bowling, tennis, cricket, football, squash and sailing clubs. Lord Deedes was once patron of Hythe Civic Society. As an important Cinque Port , Hythe once possessed a bustling harbour which, over
3591-460: Was constructed in 1868. The two buildings, referred to locally as father and son ( le père et fils ), stood next to each other until they were dynamited by the Germans in 1944. The current concrete lighthouse, designed by Georges Tourry , was completed in 1951 and is 45 metres high. Its light can be seen from a distance of 24 nautical miles (44 km). The steady sea breezes and the updraft created by
3654-457: Was encouraged to take up art by Lepic; Jan Lavezzari , son of the town architect who was also a friend of Lepic; Charles Roussel (1861–1936), who settled in the town in 1886; and Eugène Trigoulet (1864–1910). After World War I the town and its inhabitants continued to be represented artistically by Roussel and by Louis Montaigu (1905–1988). Fishermen in interiors were a specialty of the latter. A collection of these and other Opal Coast painters
3717-646: Was from 1358 a meeting place of the confederation of the Cinque ports, several miles west of Hythe, known then as "the Shepway crossroads". Shepway cross, erected in 1923, the monument to the Court of Shepway, is beside the Hythe to Lympne road (B2067). The lathe of Shepway was the Saxon name for south-east Kent, roughly corresponding with the modern District of Shepway, comprising Folkestone, Hythe, Romney Marsh and nearby villages as far north as Elham. Many think this monument marks where
3780-597: Was invented during the First World War by Poilus from non-Picard speaking areas to refer to their brothers in arms from Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais . It is an onomatopoeia created based on the frequent use of the /ʃ/ ( ch- ) phoneme and of the /ʃti/ ( chti ) sound in Picard: " ch'ti " means the one, as in the sentence " ch'est chti qui a fait cha" ( he is the one who has done that), for instance. Belgium's French Community gave full official recognition to Picard as
3843-458: Was not able to compete with French and was slowly reduced to the status of a regional language. A more recent body of Picard literature, written during the last two centuries, also exists. Modern written Picard is generally a transcription of the spoken language. For that reason, words are often spelled in a variety of different ways (in the same way that English and French were before they were standardized). One system of spelling for Picard words
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#17330848392733906-494: Was opened in 1886 on the marketplace of the beach quarter. Its seating for 1,500 was to cater principally to holiday makers in season and to the patients from the many medical establishments profiting from the sea air. There are paintings on the choir walls. Beside its medical establishments, the beach quarter catered to the moneyed classes in the second half of the 19th century. It slowly developed with grandiose villas, hotels and amenities. Among these were handsome casinos, of which
3969-469: Was opened in 1979 in the Municipal Museum, sited in Berck's old Gendarmerie. This was built at the end of the 19th century by Emile Lavezzari. Among minor artists who have made Berck a subject in their work are Paul Laugée (1853–1937); Eugène Chigot (1860–1923), who had a studio there in 1893; and Georges Maroniez , a judge who painted and photographed in the area during holidays. Two others stayed in
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