Living in France . . .

. . for two weeks in the summer. That was what we did when we had a young family and not a lot of money and it was what our friends did too. ‘Gîtes de France’ was our way into being able to get two weeks away in the sun that we could afford. We liked being in a community, as opposed to a holiday resort, visiting the local ‘Lac’, shopping locally. I remember when the girls got the confidence to go for the bread in the morning or shop for bracelets in the markets.

Mind you, when we think back to the kind of places we stayed in - hastily converted barns etc they were not good. But we didn’t mind at the time, it was all part of the adventure.

Now we are a lot more choosy. But the idea of living in a place, rather than a resort, is still there. We like all the amenities of living comfortably, but we still like the idea of living in a community - shopping locally, one of Gordon’s ‘must haves’ is that he can walk down, with his basket, to buy bread for breakfast, buying wine from the local Cave Cooperative, frequenting the local cafés and bars.

Since we have been able to travel outside the school holiday season, we have taken to staying in Provence and the house in Bonnieux we have loved so much that we have returned year, after year, after year. Now we know that it is just too far to drive and to drive in France is what we still want to do, whilst we can. So, here we are in the Dordogne . . .

. . . and somehow we seem to have found the perfect place. In every way this ‘petit gite which isn’t too petit’ ticks every box. We are happily living here. My blip is the view this afternoon from where I was sitting at the table on the patio, with the most amazing parasol we have seen, to the garden with the pool . . . and oh yes that’s Gordon enjoying a hammock but not quite fitting in it!