We enjoyed a day's outing to the city of Thiers; a knife manufacturing city in the Auvergne. The origin of the town's specialization dates back to the Middle Ages: legend has it that the knights of the Auvergne brought back the secrets of knife manufacture from the First Crusade (1069-99). We toured Thier's Cutlery Museum where we learned about the process of knife making including a demonstration of special knife grinding technique developed only in Thiers; in bygone days, a man, in a prone position, worked the knife and usually had a dog asleep across the backs of his legs for warmth!
The town is interesting with many beautiful half-timber houses and a church in the town square called L'Eglise Sainte Genes de Thiers. We continued our tourt of this area by visiting a fortified castle called Château d'Aulteribe built around 1450 and was passed on successfully to the La Fayette family and the Beaufort Montboissier family. In the 17th century the castle became the property of the Montagus who sold it to the Jacques de Pierre in 1775. From 1833 onwards the family transformed it to its present day look. In 1954 the Marquis de Pierre died and left his beautiful castle and art collection to France for the education of the visitors who come to see his private home.
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