What I learned from having a 10 a.m. drink with our French neighbors
A French farmhouse & co-stewardship post
A brief overview of our French farmhouse situation: During the pandemic, our family purchased a little old farmhouse (sight unseen!) in the Aveyron region of France with our nearest and dearest friends. The home measures under 800 square feet and is suitable to live in for part of the year, but it needs a fair amount of restoration before it can comfortably accommodate full-time occupants. We are slowly chipping away at essential repairs and updates within the residence as our tight budget allows, and one day we hope to adapt some of the outbuildings as well. There are 5 adults and 4 young children in our group. Three of us have known each other for almost 30 years, and we’ve visited this area of France for work for nearly 20 years. We do not use the property as a vacation rental or timeshare — it is a forever home in progress. (In other words, this is my retirement plan, so it’d better work out.) When we’re not at the farmhouse, my family lives in a guest cottage we designed in the Southeastern US next to my folks.
As always, I should note that I’m keeping today’s words tailored to my own experiences in this specific, rural area of of France. I am not aiming to generalize. Every town, every neighborhood, every household and every situation is, of course, entirely unique.
Our shared home in the Aveyron is situated near a calm and quiet river. Since the previous owners of the property sold it to us as-is without removing any of their belongings, the four children in the household have ended up with a funny assortment of hand-me-down kitchen tools and garden toys that they use for splashing, digging and sifting rocks in the shallow water. We haul the well-worn items from our tiny home to a secluded beach and back again daily, crossing paths with chatty locals, curious tourists and friendly hikers along the trek.
One morning as we headed towards our favorite pebbled stretch of waterway, we passed our neighbors as they worked outside. After exchanging a few words out on the road under the warming summer sun, they kindly invited us inside their charming and refreshingly cool stone home.
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