Le Lin d'A.C.B (A.C.B linen)

In Biville La Baignarde, 5 kilometres to the west side of Auffay, Annie-Claude Bouquet demonstrates the workings of her linen clothing business including the sale of her fabrics.

The Linen, a labour of love,

From mid-March to mid-April, the linen grower watches the ground….when vapour begins to rise from the warm earth it means that it is time to plant the linen seeds.

The linen plant, which grows in 100 days, needs permanent monitoring: aphids watch for the young and soft green shoots. It grows taller at top speed although frail and the linen grower watches apprehensively the thunderstorms and strong rains in case they flatten the stalks.

In mid-June the fragile flowers of the linen plant bloom It is beautiful to see these blue or white fields, (depending on the varieties) which wave in the slightest breath of wind. These small flower heads bloom from 10.00am till 1.00pm the time of the day when the sun is strongest and when they then drop their petals to be replaced next day by another flower. This phase lasts for approximately 10 days.

After 100 days the harvesting of the plants begins.

The linen plants are then pulled out of the ground by the roots. A machine does this because the linen plant roots are fibrous. The machine then deposits the linen stalks neatly in lines on the warm and wet ground so that tiny mushrooms attack the pectin which binds the fiber and the straw. This completely natural action is called retting. If it rains too much the linen “warms”, if it does not rain it does not ret. At this stage everything depends on mother nature.

When it is retted and dry , it is hurriedly rolled up and put in stock under cover waiting for the next stage in its development.

The cultivation of linen is difficult and stressful and requires a great deal of knowledge by the linen grower. All this is necessary to obtain a fine, high quality linen once woven giving great satisfaction both for the clients and Annie-Claude and Jean-Paul Bouquet the linen growers.

Annie-Claude & Jean-Paul Bouquet, liniculteurs