The double bread oven

The double bread oven—one of only two surviving examples in Normandy—stands as one of the primary structures of this clos masure. The earliest traces of its existence appear on the 1826 Napoleonic land registry, suggesting its origins date back to the 17th century.

In 1990, the local council acquired the farmstead, leading to the full restoration of the double oven in 1991 under the guidance of Xavier Derbanne, an architect from the Bâtiments de France. Covering an area of approximately 20 square metres, its walls are made of timber and cob. The thatched roof was renovated in 2026, while the two vaults of the double oven were restored in 2024.

From 1991 to 1997, the oven was used during all village festivities, but it eventually ceased operation due to the lack of a baker. It wasn't until 1999 that the festival committee association, with the help of Mr Pierre Leboucher, undertook its recommissioning. Since then, it has been fired up several times a year by two local associations to make galettes des rois and aguignettes during the "Palettes et Fleurs" and "Tractor Festival" in spring, as well as for the Saint Fiacre celebrations at the end of August.

Operating this type of oven requires time and patience, taking at least five days to reach the ideal temperature. The first two days are dedicated to dehumidifying, followed by a gradual rise to around 250°C. When the desired heat is reached, the hearthstone at the back of the oven changes colour from red to white. The embers are then raked out using a wooden rake and a dry "drag" (a handled mop), before the interior is cleaned with a damp mop. The food is then baked in a specific order based on the falling heat: meats and poultry first, followed by bread (which requires high temperatures), then pastries, slow-cooked stews, and finally meringues as the temperature drops. When the oven is "dead" (barely lukewarm), feathers are dried inside for making eiderdowns, and the collected ash is used for doing the laundry.

From a Corsican Sheepfold to the Bread Oven

While on military manoeuvres in the Corsican mountains, Roland sat down among the ruins of a sheepfold. Poking out from a pile of stones and wooden beams, he spotted an old key that reminded him of the one for the bread oven in Mont-Cauvaire. He slipped it into his fatigues, sensing that a new life might await it back at the farm...

The old key waited for a long time, hanging from a nail, until the day its counterpart at the bread oven became too worn to work. Roland took both keys to his friend Pierre Poulain, a skilled blacksmith. Since that day, the key from the Corsican sheepfold has stood guard over the bread oven of Mont-Cauvaire.