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The Little House at Orthez website was originally set up to
serve a gite (holiday property) which belonged to Helen Fawcett. Orthez
is situated in Béarn, of which it
was once the capital. This is a rural part of Gascony in
France as yet not suffering from major international tourism.
The market town of Orthez, with its fascinating history, lies on
the Gave de Pau ("gave" is a Béarnaise word meaning "river").
The speaking of the Béarnaise language is now largely confined
to the older generations, but the main street names remain dual
signed.
Helen
no longer owns the gite. But rather than delete the website it has been
retained for other purposes, including that of publication of an
account in English of the Battle of Orthez - this was the last battle of
the Peninsular War resulting in Wellington's defeat of Napoleon's
forces and the abdication of the latter.
Nowadays the main purpose of this website is the publication of
items written by Garry Fawcett. The first such category is Local
History, dealing particularly with North West Leicestershire and South
Derbyshire in England. Other subjects may be added in due course.