Photos: village’s creative letterboxes delight visitors

A Rubik’s Cube-themed letterbox has been crowned winner of the 2025 Fête des Boîtes aux Lettres in the Loiret village of Saint-Martin-d’Abbat – beating competition from some 200 other personalised entries.

This year’s trophy was presented to residents Laurence Léger and Frédéric Delaguette for their colourful cube design.

The quirky tradition began about 30 years ago, when Michel Lafeuille, newly retired from Paris, mooted the idea of a community project to raise the profile of the village. 

The suggestion received support from the then mayor, Antoine Carrion, after which the letterbox bug spread from neighbour to neighbour.

Today, a variety of boxes line the streets, inspired by residents’ hobbies, jobs and interests. Locals are now known as Abbaltiens (BAL standing for boîte aux lettres), and the village, near Orléans, is nicknamed le village des boîtes aux lettres.

Inspired by squirrels

Michel Aguenier, 84, has lived with his wife at their current address since 1968. His squirrel-shaped letterbox was hand-made by cutting sheets of metal and fixing them to the front of his existing box.

“I chose to transform my letterbox into a squirrel because I often see them in my garden. They get up to mischief, burying walnuts and hazelnuts, but we forgive them because it is entertaining to watch. The letterbox is my way of winking back at them,” he told The Connexion.

The standard French letterbox is recognisable as a large cube on a pole or fixed to a wall, with a flap through which to post letters and parcels. From this starting block, residents are free to let their creativity run wild, building sculptures, scenes and stories.

Mr Aguenier has helped to customise around 10 letterboxes for different residents and local businesses. His designs include a giant goldfish to represent a poisson d’avril for April Fools’ Day, and a dripping tap for the letterbox beside the water tower.

As more letterboxes popped up, people started making detours through Saint-Martin-d’Abbat to see the creations for themselves. Residents created a village association and even published a map to plot the personalised letterboxes.

“A lot of people like to make jokes and use wordplay to hide funny messages in their designs,” said Mr Aguenier.

The Cucumel family fashioned their postbox into a pair of buttocks, as cu sounds phonetically similar to cul (slang for bum). And a certain Mr Breton made a lighthouse, as these are considered a traditional symbol of Brittany.

Rather than encouraging competitiveness, the wooden letterbox trophy presented at the village’s annual fête is a way of recognising residents’ creativity and celebrating community spirit. 

Recognised by La Poste

The Alcaraz family were the first to receive the prize when the initiative began in 1997.

“My husband, Hubert, was a painter, and Michel Lafeuille knew that he was interested in art brut,” said Christine Alcaraz. 

“We live on a farm, and for years a neighbouring farmer's herd of cows grazed in our meadows until the day he sold his livestock. 

“It was in memory of this time and to highlight that this house had once been a farm, my grandparents' farm, that we decided to create a cow-shaped letterbox called ‘Marguerite’ in reference to the cow in the famous French film La Vache et le Prisonnier (The Cow and I). 

“My husband designed it, my father cut out the metal sheets, and our children, who were 10 and 12 at the time, painted it with their father,” she explained.

In 2010, La Poste also recognised Marguerite by issuing a ‘collector’ stamp featuring the cow-themed postbox.

“Hubert passed away last February, but we still use his favourite phrase whenever we go to retrieve the mail: ‘Let's see if Marguerite has eaten.’”