La Vie: A year in rural France

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The book is in effect a year's journal of John and his family moving to rural France, (an area I have visited as I have friends who live an hour away from this place). Over that first year, Lewis-Stempel fell in love with the French countryside, from the wild boar that trot past the kitchen window to the glow-worms and citronella candles that flicker in the evening garden. In la France profonde the signs are more exotic, as John Lewis-Stempel discovers one February morning when his horse crashes through an electrified fence and bolts into a walnut orchard. He plants his toes in the French earth and turns his lyrical gaze on the land, the people, the deep community spirit. For younger bookworms – and nostalgic older ones too – there’s the Slightly Foxed Cubs series, in which we’ve reissued a number of classic nature and historical novels.The Charente: roofs of red terracotta tiles, bleached-white walls, windows shuttered against the blaring sun. For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned to live in a rural landscape as he did in childhood. Highly descriptive, going round the year in the life of a newly arrived English peasant farmer's perspective who is hard working and accepted by his French neighbours because of who he is. John Lewis-Stempel's story of a year on his smallholding in the Charente is warm and vivid and beautiful. Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. The descriptive writing of his walks in the area, the local wildlife, the local people and customs (and the attitudes of the French rural resident! Over that first year, John falls in love with the French countryside and living the good life – or as the French say, La Vie.John Lewis-Stempel sets off from the UK to the rural far west of France - la France profonde - where he and his wife settle to a farming life in a draughty house with a small menagerie of pets and farm animals and a few acres of vineyards. For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned once again to live in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing, as they did almost everywhere in his childhood. You can unsubscribe from our list at any point by changing your preferences, or contacting us directly.

John Lewis-Stempel's story of a year on his smallholding in the Charente is warm and vivid and beautiful . Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. He is the only person to have won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing twice, with Meadowland and Where Poppies Blow.

Although it began as a practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart: of learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours for lunch; in short, living the good life - or as the French say, La Vie . Readers of his many books and his Times nature columns will know how easily Lewis-Stempel's writing marries the lyrical with the descriptive.

Mrs Woolf, wife of the manager, is a very celebrated author and, in her own way, more important than Galsworthy. To become a subscriber to Slightly Foxed: The Real Reader’s Quarterly Magazine, please visit our subscriptions page. Good detail on the wildlife, farming and village life here in Charente but John's aim to live as a rural peasant is not supported by 100s of euros spent on exotic lillies, rare sheep and automatic oil pressing machines etc.Even if it doesn't make you want to move to France, you'll still wish you could open your window at night and hear that nightingale singing to you. The independent-minded quarterly magazine that combines good looks, good writing and a personal approach. He is the only person to have won the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing twice, with Meadowland and Where Poppies Blow . Alternately inspiring and exasperating, La Vie has all but forced me to build a potager and frustrated my dreams of evening strolls with a dog (due to lack of said canine) but is so beautifully, simply written, I missed it when I had to put it down ( to dig potager and commence papier mache dog).