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Category Archives: Places
Millau: Towers, Markets and Bridges – Guest Post by Angela Wren
I’m thrilled to welcome back to the blog Angela Wren, whom I had the great pleasure of meeting at an authors’ event in Carcassonne in September. Angela is a Francophile, who has visited many more corners of France than … Continue reading
Posted in Books/writing, Places
Tagged Angela Wren, Emma Calvé, Jacques Forêt mysteries, Millau, Millau Bridge, Millau glove-making, SW France
4 Comments
Villeneuve d’Aveyron: Ancient Paths and a Historic Gem
What do you think this building is? A small château or fortified house? A barn? All will be revealed below. Autumn is the best time for walking in this area. The days are warm and sunny, it’s usually dry underfoot … Continue reading
A Mystery Tour on the Way to Cantal
Revisiting old haunts can be tinged with disappointment. I once returned to a place where I had lived 30 years before and was saddened to see how much it had changed. Happily, Cantal has never fallen into that category. This … Continue reading
Posted in Auvergne, Places
Tagged Auvergne, Cantal, Maison Carrée, Marcolès, Massif Central, Maurs, Monts du Cantal, Thiézac, Vallée de la Cère
15 Comments
Return to Cahors
I do like Cahors, an ancient city and capital of the Lot Département. Why is it, then, that we visit so infrequently? It’s more appealing than our own Préfecture, Montauban, and it doesn’t take much longer to get there. The … Continue reading
A Local WWII Resistance Group: Update
Today, the causse above the riverside village of Cazals is a tranquil place with superb views of the Gorges de l’Aveyron. It’s covered with juniper and scrub oak and the only sounds are birdsong or the occasional whirr of … Continue reading
The Story of Notre-Dame des Grâces
Set at the edge of a grassy plateau overlooking the verdant Bonnette Valley, this little chapel is visible for miles around. It commands a magnificent view of the countryside, with the ancient province of Quercy on one side and the … Continue reading
Summer in Southwest France
Summer is here, les grandes vacances have begun and the foreign number plates in the area have multiplied. And to go with them, a little present from the French government: a drop in the speed limit on secondary roads from … Continue reading
Posted in French life, Places
Tagged Chapelle de Teysserolles, fete, French markets, lavoir de Caylus, summer, summer fêtes, Summer holidays, SW France, Teysseroles fête
11 Comments
Every Château Tells a Story #16: le Château de Saint-Michel de Vax
What a boon the internet can be – in small doses. And we’ve had only a small dose of it recently. More about that in a later post. I can find out almost anything, without moving from my computer in … Continue reading
Whitsun Walk on the Wild Side
Pentecôte (Whitsun) is the time for our village’s annual fête. It’s become a tradition for Caylus Notre Village (CNV), an association that promotes and protects local monuments, to organise a series of guided walks around the commune as part of … Continue reading
Posted in Places, Walking in France
Tagged APICQ, Caylus, Caylus Notre Village, Fête de la Pentecôte, lavoir, Moulin de Genebrières, SW France, vintage cars
14 Comments
Loze: a Tiny Village on the Causse
Sometimes life takes you over. I’ve brought out two books in the space of a month and sung in two concerts, in Gaillac and a tiny hamlet near Puycelsi, in the past 10 days. I’m notorious for trying to do … Continue reading
Posted in History, Places
Tagged Bonnette Valley, Lacapelle-Livron, lauzes, Loze, Mas de Monille, Moulin de Vignasse, rural depopulation, SW France
25 Comments
On the Carpet: the Tapestries of Montpezat-de-Quercy
I’m pleased to say that I have done one of the five items I listed in my January post of things to do in 2018. It’s now getting a bit late for the truffle market at Lalbenque, but that will … Continue reading
Five Museums in SW France You Must Visit
If you read Life on La Lune regularly, you’ll know I’m a history girl. And there’s plenty of it around in our part of France if you just scratch the surface. Also, many museums in France open for free on … Continue reading
Posted in History, Places
Tagged Albi, Bordeaux, Centre Jean Moulin, Figeac, French museums, Fromagerie Papillon, Musée Champollion, Musée du Beret, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Nay, Roquefort, SW France
17 Comments
5 Things to do in SW France in 2018
Meilleurs vœux pour l’an 2018 à tous mes lecteurs. I will still be writing 2017 on cheques until the end of February. Have you made New Year’s Resolutions? I find those lofty aspirations are all too easily broken. However, the … Continue reading
Posted in History, Places
Tagged Lalbenque, Les Arques, Montpezat de Quercy, Musée Fenaille, Musée Soulages, Musée Zadkine, Ossip Zadkine, Puylaroque, Restaurant les Sens, Rodez, SW France, truffles
13 Comments
S.O.S. French Towns
A few days ago, I had coffee with two friends in the centre of Villefranche-de-Rouergue. This Aveyron town, some 25 km from us, is one of my favourite towns in the region. It’s an attractive place, steeped in history and … Continue reading
A Film Record of an Aveyron Family Post-WWII
Just after WWII, Aveyron was a different country from much of France. It took a long time to get there from anywhere else, people spoke a different language and the way of life had existed for centuries. Change was happening, … Continue reading
Posted in History, Personalities, Places
Tagged agriculture, Aveyron, Farrebique, Film, French country life, Georges Rouquier, Occitan, Rouergue, rural life, SW France
5 Comments
Hidden Treasure in Quercy
Imagine yourself at the bottom of this 30-metre deep hole, hacking away at the white rock with a pickaxe and piling the spoil into a wooden bucket. It’s damp. Visibility is assisted only by the dim light of lanterns. The … Continue reading
Every Château Tells a Story #15: Le Château de Puylagarde
The village of Puylagarde has several distinctions. First, it’s the highest village in our département of Tarn-et-Garonne at 425 metres. On a clear day, you can see the Pyrénées to the south and the Monts du Cantal to the north … Continue reading
Vaour and the Templars
Situated on the edge of the former royal Forêt de Grésigne, the town of Vaour conveys a strong sense of history. This is not surprising, since traces of Neolithic tombs and later occupation can be found in the forest. … Continue reading
Posted in History, Places
Tagged Commanderie de Vaour, Crusades, fôret de Grésigne, SW France, Tarn, Templar commanderie, Templars, Vaour
18 Comments
20 Years of la Vie Française
Last weekend marked the 20th anniversary of moving into our house in France. We had arrived in France a few days earlier, but we regard the occupation of the house as the true anniversary. This year I had a long … Continue reading
Posted in French life, Places
Tagged culture clash, France, French culture, French restaurants, la vie française, living in France, moving to France, SW France
13 Comments
Varen: Haven by the River Aveyron
I never cease to be amazed by the new things (to me) I discover in this region, where I have lived for 20 years. We haven’t set foot in Varen for ages and even then we didn’t stop to have … Continue reading
Posted in History, Places
Tagged Château de Varen, French Wars of Religion, Hundred Years War, Le Moulin Varen, Lexos, patrimoine, River Aveyron, SW France, Tarn-et-Garonne, Varen
16 Comments
Water, Water, Everywhere – But Not a Drop to Drink
The joys of living in a rural French commune. We currently have to collect our drinking water daily in bottles from the Syndicat des Eaux (local water board), which for us involves a round trip of about 18 kilometres. The … Continue reading
Posted in French life, Places
Tagged drinking water, rainfall, rural life, Source de Livron, SW France, tap water, water
15 Comments
Discovering a Former Railway Line
Do you enjoy travelling by train? I do, except of course when it’s cancelled or held up by the wrong sort of leaves or by vandals removing the copper from the electric cables, as happened to us recently in Sweden. … Continue reading
All Fired Up: Bread Ovens
You may have seen these small, domed buildings, often tacked onto the back of a house, in French villages. They’re part of le petit patrimoine, not significant enough to merit historic monument status but important vestiges of past times, nonetheless. … Continue reading
Posted in History, Places
Tagged baking bread, bread, communal bread oven, Flouquet, four à pain, four banal, French bread, patrimoine, rural life, SW France
15 Comments
Restoration of the Lavoir in Caylus
Lavoirs, or wash-houses, are features of the landscape around here. In times past, this is where the women (naturally…) did their laundry. They were normally constructed by a spring or a stream, so if the women were lucky, there was … Continue reading
Posted in History, Places
Tagged Caylus, Caylus Notre Village, lavoir, lavoir de Caylus, patrimoine, rural life, SW France, wash-houses
12 Comments
Finding Our House in France
Today is a very special one on La Lune. It’s 20 years ago to the day since we first saw our house. During our five days’ house-hunting in France, among the legion of properties we saw only two fitted the … Continue reading
Posted in French life, Places
Tagged Aveyron, French property, living in France, Lot, property-hunting in France, real estate, rural life, SW France, Tarn-et-Garonne
23 Comments
#Paris in the Springtime #2
Here’s part 2 of the story of our first visit to Paris in 15 years. We had only three days in the capital, and so we were determined to make the most of it. Our shoe leather was definitely more … Continue reading
Paris in the Springtime #1
People often say to us, “You must visit Paris all the time!” Actually, we’ve been there only twice as tourists in our 20 years in France, and I’ve been there for the day (!) a couple of times for work. … Continue reading
Posted in Places
Tagged France, Impressionist painting, Impressionists, Latin Quarter of Paris, Marais, Montparnasse, Musée d'Orsay, Musée du Louvre, Paris, Vermeer
5 Comments
Puylaroque: Tranquil Village with a Turbulent History
The panorama from the viewpoint at Puylaroque is magnificent. Beneath the rocky outcrop on which the village stands, the plains of southwest France roll away towards the Pyrénées. On a clear day, you can see the mountains, but that is … Continue reading
Forgotten Love Letter Saved for Posterity
Sometimes fate works in mysterious ways. In this case, it saved for posterity a wonderful letter that would otherwise have been consigned to the flames with a heap of junk.
Posted in History, Places, World War I & II
Tagged Espinas, farming, Flouquet, living in France, love letter, rural community, rural life, SW France, World War I
5 Comments
A Cut Above the Rest: Laguiole Knives
The Aveyron town of Laguiole sits at the edge of the stark and empty but stunningly beautiful Aubrac plateau. We passed through there several years ago on our way to the Aubrac cattle transhumance, which takes place every year in … Continue reading
Posted in Aveyron, History, Places
Tagged Aubrac, Aveyron, Jean-Louis Calmels, Laguiole, Laguiole bee motif, Laguiole cheese, Laguiole knife, Michel Bras, SW France, transhumance
12 Comments
