The Ashridge Forest at the periphery of Berkhamsted is a favourite picnic destination. A gnarled yet strangely leafy old tree stands alone, smack in the middle of an enormous open green, surrounded by dense woods. It was a sunny day in this part of the UK, and unlike the locals basking in the sun, we headed straight for the shade of the tree. A quick picnic lunch, and an introduction to a new game.
Boules has apparently travelled down the ages from an original French game — ‘Petanque’. The centuries old version was played on beaches by sailors on shore leave. They played with cannon balls, instead of the gloriously well finished solid steel balls in this Boules pack!
In competition mode there are strict rules that involve a 12 metres long hard clay pitch. For an hour or so of good wholesome fun, you can play on a patch of green, gravel, the beach, pretty much anywhere for that matter. But it has to be outdoors. The eight boules are heavy and dropped from hip height and rolled on to the ground, will do grave damage to flooring inside your house!
Standing at the edge of the defined play area, the first player/team throws the ‘cochonnet’ (small light wooden ball) into the play area, at least one metre away from where the players are standing, and roughly within an area a third of the play zone. Playing alternately, you throw the steel boules (underarm), trying to get yours to roll to a stop as close to the target wooden ball as possible. There is immense satisfaction in being able to bump an opponent’s boule further away from the target.
I slowly began to get a feel for the game. A wristy action can produce a spin and sideways movement on impact. Boules is a canny game of skill. The hours passed altogether too quickly.
Nauticalia of Middlesex have produced this impressively well finished weighty game that fits snugly into a small carry case.
—The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com [1]
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