Air conditioning in Ferriere-Larcon

The bathroom window with the shutters closed, but the window opened, in the morning. We will open the shutters now!

Summer has arrived in France.  The highs are near 90*F, while at night it cools down to 60*.  There are no magic machines to cool the house, instead we use windows and shutters.  At night time, the windows downstairs are opened with the shutters, which will still allow some airflow, closed for security.  Upstairs, both windows and shutters are opened wide.

In the morning, we open all the shutter downstairs, especially the two windows on the east side of the house. Here, the prevailing morning breeze is from the east.  It is amazing how quickly the entire house becomes almost too cool.

The window in the salon is opened wide to let the cool morning air into the house.

The bathroom window, one of only two on the east side of the house, is the first to be opened.  Our cool morning breezes are always from the East.

The thick walls of our stone house, plus the shutters, are the key to keeping things cool.  By closing the shutters during the heat of the day, the stone walls keep the air cool.  In fact, there have been a couple of days when the inside of the house was too cool; we would go outside for a bit to warm up!

Looking out the opened dining room window.

When you drive through the villages of France on a warm summer day, it often looks as if no one is home. This is because all the shutters are closed tight.  But is you get out of your car and walk around, you will hear people talking, music playing, the tv on; all behind closed shutters to keep the cool in.

We hope the airconditioning continues to work.  It's forecast to be 91 for 3 days in a row next week.  

When we are home during the day the dining room window shutters are left opened until the mid-afternoon sun shines on them.  We love having light with using electricity.