The lit-clos (enclosed bed) in No. 4 Rue du Fort

The Legend of the box bed:

"These beds were designed for protection from wolves and other animals which might enter the house, seize the children sleeping in their cradle, and carry them away.
Peasants and farmers used, therefore, in order to safeguard their children, to lock them up in their enclosed beds and bar the door before going into the fields.
It was also a protection against the pigs, who would cram their snouts indiscriminately, and chickens and birds of prey, constantly in and out of the cottages, not looking twice at what they tore or burst: an eyelash, an ear, a small foot, a little hand."

The bed in No. 4 Rue du Fort is unique in that I have no knowledge of any other self-catering accommodation where you can actually sleep in such a bed.

It was originally bought in an antique shop near La Souterraine. It was a coat stand-cum-mirror. I removed the hooks and looking-glass and used an 18th-century door with a normal single size mattress to restore it.

It's very cosy and warm, and children love it.

And it keeps the wolves out!