Doing Their Thing

What is a goal? It’s a dream with a date! I like this definition. Dreaming is easy, but the real work is making fantasy reality. I’d wager many of the people reading this article are on a date with their dream - living in France or perhaps planning to come and live here.
The trick is to have a dream and believe in it. The song says, ‘Nothing’s impossible if your heart is really in it’. I can’t say I totally agree with these words, but the longer I live, dream, and work towards making dreams (...)

A follow up to PROJECT RESTORATION (see below) with useful information about roof terraces (or lack of) ..
PROJECT RESTORATION 2
As often happens, whilst I was grappling with the "des res" in the previous article, we were offered the even smaller house opposite at an affordable price. The house subsequently became ours. As ever, what was supposed to be a quick clean up and coat of paint became a full on building site, as the various possibilities presented themselves.
The one big (...)

How to build a brand new house inside some 14th century walls ..
This entire project is not so much one of restoration, more of building a brand new house in an ancient shell. We again stumbled upon the place by accident, as usual. It strikes me that property buying down here is largely a matter of opportunism; being in the right place at the right time.
We have now owned the barn for over a year and it is taken almost all this time to get a clear idea in my head as to what I would like (...)

Patchwork, tea and biscuits in Pezenas.

The Can-O-Worms now available in France!The odourless living composting kitchen and household waste system.

Lizzie Gosling and Ali Ballantyne have converted part of their 17th century convent home in Roujan into a new art gallery. Here’s Ali’s story of how they did it.

John Platings is an experienced ruin resucer. Today’s dilapidated old house becomes a superb des res in his skilful hands.

If the hectic life of the Languedoc is leaving you feeling stressed, try a soothing massage.

HOW DOES an English accountant from south west London end up on the shelf at Marks and Spencer?
Tony Roberts came to this part of the world some 20 years ago, like so of us many did, on a simple three-week holiday. He picked courgettes for a local farmer. He enjoyed the sun, the wine, the people and the lifestyle.
Naturally he came back again - and again. By 1990 he decided, again like so many of us, that a holiday cottage wouldn’t be such a bad idea. When he went in search of a little (...)