Dymchurch No More

I recently acquired, courtesy of eBay, some 1930's some postcards of Dymchurch, a seaside resort in Kent. These are the without doubt the dullest postcards on the planet, and one fears that Dymchurch itself is squarely to blame. 

Dymchurch dullness (click to expose the dullness)

On the principle that the cheapest picture frames can be obtained by buying the worst art, it was the three glazed frames holding the twelve postcards of Dymchurch, that were my real objective. I was wanting to frame some wonderful Scottish landscape postcards that had been generously gifted to me by friend of Balintore Mrs. M. .

reverse of a gifted postcard

The postcards themselves are paintings in the romantic tradition produced by a French chocolate factory (Choclaterie d'Aiguebelle). To promote sales, the factory produced many different series of beautifully illustrated postcards on a variety of themes, generally educational. The firm was founded in 1868 by Trappist monks from the Notre-Dame d'Aiguebelle Abbey, and production went on into the early 20th Century.

My visiting friend Madeleine used her artistic skill to perform a life-saving postcard transplant, with the old postcards left in the back of the frames for historic purposes, and the new postcards inserted. The irony is that the new postcards are probably older than the old postcards.

Dymchurch no more (click to reveal the art)

I figured the plum cardboard mounts would work well with the blue/green tones of the paintings, and when Madeleine pointed this out to me without prompting, I felt vindicated in the eBay purchase. The plum washed out the monochromatic scenes of Dymchurch with the force of a tsunami on the placid Kent coast.

Anyhow, thank you Mrs. M.. There is a wonderful serendipity in the romantic caledonian vision of a French Trappist monk washing away the dullness of a Kentish coastal town. The walls of Balintore Castle are indeed gifted.