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Chapter Ten – Fin
Three months in France came to an end all too quickly. A cousin’s marriage back in the UK was conveniently timed, allowing me one week’s grace to return to mainland Europe if needed. This was a direct result of Brexit. Prior to the referendum, travel between the UK and mainland Europe was essentially unlimited, but…
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Chapter Nine – Boxing with Hornets
On the 28th August, I left the straw house to head to my final stop; a homestead further east. Lulu followed me hopefully up the driveway with a stick, but decided I was a lost cause as I loaded my rucksack into the boot of Cecile’s car and myself into the passenger’s seat. We were…
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Chapter Eight – The House of Straw Balls
Seeking a change from farms, the next stop was a property in a small town, just south of Toulouse. The host, Cecile, was building herself a home out of straw and needed people to help with the construction. After arriving at the bus station, Cecile, her boyfriend sam and dog Lulu picked me up in…
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Chapter Seven – Another Delicacy
During the first week at the farm in Medoc, I joined my hosts and some of their friends at a Ginguette. Ginguettes were outdoor bars that opened exclusively in the summer months. They were fairly modern inventions having only caught on in the last twenty years or so. Finding out about these felt like a…
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Chapter Six – Chicken Run
The next stop was a non-production farm in Medoc, Gironde. Non-production farms didn’t sell produce to customers, so these farms tended to be smaller and less formal. I pulled in at the train station on a Sunday afternoon and was collected by my co-host, Claire. The drive to the property passed through fields, small homesteads…
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Chapter Five – Part Time Ogre
I spent a further week at the Chateau near Chinon. With the school holidays in full swing, my gardening duties were frequently interrupted by child-minding of the three boys. Mostly they kept themselves amused but quickly decided that I needed to contribute to the summer fun too. The eldest, ten year old Charlie, suggested we…
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Chapter Four – Hitchhiking to Descartes
The journey between the permaculture farm and the Chateau was around forty miles, and turned out to be quite eventful. I set off early, walking by the roadside with my thumb out-stretched to hitch a ride. After walking for about twenty minutes, a suave looking couple in an electric Renault slowed down and pulled over.…
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Chapter Three – These Choux Were Made for Weeding
I arrived at a vegetable farm near the town of Preuilly-Sur-Claise on a sunny Monday morning. At the end of a dusty driveway there was a large chicken coop containing about ten hens, several chicks and a cockerel called Bacchus. Behind the chicken coup was a barn, which was busy with activity. There I met…
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Chapter Two – Vines, Wines and Not a Word of French
My second stop was a Chateau in the Loire valley named Bel Ebat. It was owned by Jeff and Oscar, a gay couple with three boys, who had lived in America and London before settling in France. Jeff collected me from the train station in the nearby town of Chinon and we drove through blazing…
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Chapter One – Hoses, Runny Noses and Other Quelque Choses
I arrived at my first farm in the late afternoon on Monday the 5th June 2023. It was an indecisive day in France, with the weather alternating between humid and bucketing with rain. My host farmer (l’agriculteur) was a rural-looking French man named Marcel, who collected me in an old Renault from the train station…