Curiouser, and curiouser.

Perhaps one of the reasons why we became bewitched by this house, was the extraordinary way we had to enter various sections of it from the street. We were able to enter another part of the building lower down the street, by a double barn door, which looked as if it had been a stable, or that animals had been kept in there, tethered to the walls. There was still evidence of chains and rings and things, but these had long since ceased to be used, and the livestock had been replaced by an army of ill assorted spiders, with enough webs to weave a doormat, and no doubt a sprinkling of mice. Above the collapsing wooden ceiling/floor of this part of the house, was the huge space I mentioned, open to the roof, two stories above. There was a huge "lintel" or "threshold" above a blocked up opening, which looked as if at one time it had connected to the kitchen.
Back to the street, and in via another double barn door into a cavernous space and our first sight of one of the large fireplaces mentioned by Francoise. The room was also filled with an extraordinary amount of rubbish, a "cuve" (huge wine vat), used in the initial fermentation of wine, numerous old barrels, bicycle frames and discarded wheels, logs and firewood, all on a sloping, seemingly dirt floor, although the fireplace would indicate that it had been a room of some significance at one time.
In one corner was a home made rustic ladder leading to a floor above, which was covered to a depth of 18 inches with "twigs" which we later discovered were vine prunings. Why anyone would save such things and store them at this level we never discovered. This room of course became the "twig room", but it was soon to disappear from the inventory for reasons I shall explain later.
In the "big room" room one could see evidence of a doorway which led into the back hall, but which had been completely plastered over on the hall side.
Leading from the "big room" was a low door which led to another room of almost the same size and with a cobbled floor done in the Italian style and usually only found in chateaux or houses of some distinction. A door from this room led in to the garden and naturally this became the "garden room". There was also evidence of a blocked doorway into the next part of the building, and to the room above.
Still two more doors to open and the visit will be complete.