La Vie: A year in rural France

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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. John Lewis-Stempel's story of a year on his smallholding in the Charente is warm and vivid and beautiful.

Slightly Foxed introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal. 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. Mrs Woolf, wife of the manager, is a very celebrated author and, in her own way, more important than Galsworthy. He guides us with gusto around his tiny potager, his five-strong herd of Ouessant sheep with their coveted wool, his water lilies. 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.There are so many things I enjoyed about this book which provided a glorious armchair excursion to rural life in France. The Charente: roofs of red terracotta tiles, bleached-white walls, windows shuttered against the blaring sun.

He plants his toes in the French earth and turns his lyrical gaze on the land, the people, the deep community spirit . The independent-minded quarterly magazine that combines good looks, good writing and a personal approach. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned to live in a rural landscape as he did in childhood.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's story of a year on his smallholding in the Charente is warm and vivid and beautiful . 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. 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.