Most popular posts
“A delight to read”
Tag Archives: rural life
The Pros and Cons of Brits in France
Peter Mayle, the doyen of writers about the good life in France, died recently at the age of 78. His book, A Year in Provence (1989), describes how he restored an 18th-century farmhouse near Ménerbes in the Luberon with the … Continue reading
That Which Should Accompany Old Age
Yesterday, we visited our elderly neighbour, whose wife died nearly two years ago. We often feel guilty that we don’t visit more often, but Monsieur F is almost 90 and now rather frail. He is very difficult to understand, even … Continue reading
Posted in History, Personalities
Tagged elderly in France, farmers, Farrebique, rural depopulation, rural France, rural life, SW France
25 Comments
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
Ma Vie Française #5: Author Olga Swan
My latest guest is a somewhat unusual occupant of this slot, in that she had une vie française but doesn’t anymore. More of that below. Olga Swan has had several novels published by Crooked Cat Books, including Vichysoisse, part of … Continue reading
Bons Voisins – Good Neighbours
I’m constantly amazed at French people’s ability to conjure up a social event from unpromising components, whether it’s an apéritif, an improvised barbecue or a full-blown fête. Last night, some neighbours organised a repas de quartier, a neighbourhood meal, which … Continue reading
Posted in French life
Tagged country fêtes, Fêtes in France, French farmers, French fête, living in France, repas de quartier, rural life, SW France
23 Comments
French Flavours E and F: Two Aveyronnais Specialities
Time for another instalment of my French flavours series. I realise I have only got to ‘E’ and we’ll never get to the end at this rate, so this week I’ll do ‘F’ as well and you get two for … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes
Tagged Aveyron, Aveyron recipes, Estofinado, Les Farçous, River Lot, rural life, Stockfish, SW France, Villefranche de Rouergue
7 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
16 Comments
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
Getting a (Social) Life in France
Making friends is difficult when moving to a new country. Twenty years ago, our Brummie removal men asked, “Do you know anyone here?” When we said no, they shook their heads in disbelief. If you move to la France profonde, … Continue reading
Ma Vie Française #4: Janine Marsh and the Good Life
Today, I’m excited to welcome someone who not only lives in France, but also has visited every corner of it. Janine Marsh runs a phenomenally successful website, The Good Life France and edits a free ezine, The Good Life France … Continue reading
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
Cattle Country
Considering we are surrounded by them, I’m surprised I haven’t written more about these mainstays of local agriculture. Perhaps it’s because I have a love-hate relationship with them, especially when marauding herds have trampled down our garden. What am I … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes
Tagged Beef, beef consumption, boeuf, cattle farming, farming, food, rural life, SW France, transhumance
27 Comments
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
2017 Preview and 2016 Weather Roundup
Bonne année, Meilleurs Vœux. Wishing you a happy and peaceful year and a better one for the world in general. Welcome to Life on La Lune 2017. This is a particularly special year for me and the SF (Statistics Freak … Continue reading
Posted in Weather
Tagged 2016 weather, climate, drought, frost, rainfall, rural life, SW France, Weather, Weather statistics
8 Comments
10 French Christmas Traditions
Like every country in Christendom, France has a range of Christmas traditions, local and nationwide. I explore a few in this post. Christmas used to be lower key, less commercialised and of shorter duration than in the UK. During our … Continue reading
Posted in Customs, History
Tagged Bûche de Noël, chansons de Noël, Christmas, Corsica, French Christmas traditions, Noël, rural life, santons, SW France
28 Comments
A Walk Around Castanet
Last week, the weather here was truly appalling, especially on Wednesday and Thursday, with high winds and torrential rain. And other parts of southern France suffered much more than we did. This November has been particularly wet, although not cold. … Continue reading
Posted in Places, Walking in France
Tagged Castanet, châtaignes, rural depopulation, rural life, SW France, sweet chestnuts, Tarn-et-Garonne, walking, Walking in France
13 Comments
Walnut Time
The walnuts start to fall here in SW France around the end of September. By mid-October, it’s positively raining nuts. This year, we were afraid that our crop would be minimal. Many walnuts fell early and were blackened and mummified, … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, History
Tagged autumn, French country novels, huile de noix, rural life, SW France, walnut oil, walnut oil mill, walnut tart, walnut trees, walnut wine, walnuts
25 Comments
Drought in Southwest France
We spent the first six months of this year complaining that we had too much rain. Now we’re complaining that we are having too little. It has barely rained for about six weeks and the weather has been dry, … Continue reading
Posted in Weather
Tagged drought, dry August, rainfall, rural life, summer, SW France, Tarn-et-Garonne, Weather
16 Comments
Ma Vie Française #2: An Interview with Stephanie Dagg
I’ve known Steph since 2010 but we have never met! Author, editor, blogger, businesswoman, and smallholder– she wears so many hats it’s difficult to keep up. She’s written a popular book, Heads Above Water, about her family’s life in … Continue reading
Opération Escargot
France’s cuisine was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2010, when it was included in the list of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. Why “intangible”? Good food might be a consolation for the soul, but it’s also a feast for most … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, Nature
Tagged escargots, food, French cuisine, gastropods, héliciculture, rural life, snail breeding, snails, SW France
22 Comments
Badgers in the Bush?
Like most people, we have a part of our garden of which we are less than proud. It’s where we dump grass cuttings, leaves and other garden rubbish that we don’t put in the compost bins. Fortunately, it’s shielded by … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Weather
Tagged badgers, blaireaux, French wildlife, frost, nature, rainfall, rural life, SW France, Weather
11 Comments
Ma Vie Française #1: an Interview with Jacqui Brown
You’ve heard a lot from me over the past six years about life in rural France. So let’s hear from someone else for a change. This is the first in an occasional series, Ma Vie Française, in which people tell … Continue reading
Monsieur C – One of a Dying Breed
Today, we visited an elderly farmer neighbour, whose wife is in hospital with respiratory problems. They were the first local French people we met in 1997. Monsieur F has always been difficult to understand because of his strong regional accent … Continue reading
Is the Rural French Café Dying Out?
The village café-bar is a typically French institution, just as the pub is essentially British. Our nostalgic vision of French rural life places the café (often doubling as a restaurant) at the heart of the village, along with the church, … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life
Tagged France, French cafés, French village life, Ifop, living in France, rural depopulation, rural life, SW France
15 Comments
Pastis: A Quercy Speciality
Hands up everyone who thought pastis was an aniseed-flavoured apéritif. It is; but it’s not a local speciality here. The pastis I’m talking about is an apple dessert made with very fine pastry, which is particular to the Lot and … Continue reading
Autumn Colours
This autumn the colours are magnificent, made all the more vivid and luminous by the exceptionally warm weather for the end of October. A brisk, but warm, wind from the south has chased away the clouds and polished the sky … Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Places
Tagged autumn, autumn colours, autumn leaves, berries, rural life, seasons, SW France, Tarn-et-Garonne, Weather
10 Comments
End of an Era at the Hamlet of Flouquet
It was the end of an era in two senses, to which I’ll return below. Every year, as part of the summer walks laid on by the commune of Espinas, we visit a pretty hamlet called Flouquet. The houses are … Continue reading
Posted in History, Personalities, Places
Tagged baking bread, bread, Espinas, Flouquet, four à pain, lavoir, patrimoine, rural life, subsistence agriculture, SW France, threshing
10 Comments
Drought and Southwest France Weather July 2015
I have been reminded yet again this summer of how tough life must have been for the people who lived in our house up until the 1960s, when mains water was installed. Our property has two citernes (water-collecting cisterns) and … Continue reading
Posted in Weather
Tagged citerne, drought, foxes, Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources, Marcel Pagnol, rainfall, rural life, summer, SW France, water, Weather
2 Comments
