It’s 07:30 here, in the South-West of France. Dawn is breaking, creating a wonderful slow-motion light display across the fields where I now live.
Everything is utterly silent. The birds seem to sleep later than their UK counterparts and aren’t chirruping their dawn chorus yet. I don’t know if that’s because there are fewer birds here, or that they’re ‘diluted’ because of the enormous space they have to flit around in. The result seems to be less birdsong, but when you do catch sound of the wildlife, you can hear it so much better because there is little or no background noise.
In England, we had a woodpigeon nesting in the tree on the front garden – or rather, a succession of woodpigeons over the years – and their sounds, calls, noises were prevalent, right outside the main bedroom window. We have woodpigeon here too, and owl, kestrel, European finch, buzzard, robin and corvid families. I’ve also spotted deer, hare and last year, on our first full visit, we encountered two very large boar (wild pig) in the darkness on the road to our new village.
A young kestrel
The neighbours have chickens and I can hear the faint cock-crow. The noise from these neighbours is such an improvement on the last neighbours we had – farmyard sounds, even the old tractor clunking and chugging across the field next door is preferable to the arguments, shouting, and DiY we endured back in our ‘other life’.
The phrase ‘We live here’, said sometimes in peaceful contemplation, sometimes in absolute awe, is repeated at least once in every day and we know how exceptionally fortunate we are that we live here.
Our dogs love it here too. Cassie is old and slower than she was. She doesn’t cope too well with the intense summer heat, but it’s cooling down now and she’s running around the place, enjoying her best life. Tora is just two years old and has always had boundless energy. She loves the freedom of the massive space, too.
They still haven’t spotted a deer to my knowledge.
The cats don’t go outside much, just as they didn’t when we lived in England, but for different reasons. Back there, in our previous home, they were in danger of being run over – cars passed frequently and it wasn’t even a main road. Here, we live right on the main road through the village, connecting this one to the next village and there is less traffic. We get fewer vehicles past our new home in a full day than we did in an hour (or less) in England. No, the reason the cats don’t venture outside is because of predators. The buzzard could easily snatch one of them up and carry her off and I can’t bear to think of that.
One of the cats caught a mouse!
From last year's visit
The horses – the reason we’re here at all – they are enjoying their new life too. They have the freedom to roam across around 7 acres of grassland, a copse or two of oak and this summer, they had the new-found joy of apples from trees bordering their home.
One of the many chateaux in the area
There’s a pasture system designed for horses and their well-being, called Paddock Paradise. The theory seems sound – horses are nomadic and wander across the landscape as they graze. The Paddock Paradise system mimics their natural habit and sends them through strategically placed temporary fencing, giving them variety in food, terrain and activities. I had looked into making a system like that for my horses, but they really have no need for me to interfere. They wander of their own volition, keeping together in their herd, across to the small field, back to the big field, down through the trees, into the dried-up pond (I’m hoping to do something with that soon), finally ending up in the stable where the majority of water is kept. They have self-filling troughs and a large container of water, salt licks and occasional hay. They visit the stables when the day gets too hot and they need rest or shelter from the hot sun.
The day they arrived
They call to each other when they are separated and run around from one field to the other on a whim. They are also living their best life and the next stage will be putting them onto the field across the road where there’s new grazing and woodlands to explore.
The sunrise this morning was a little subdued because of the damp and temperature fluctuations between the daytime heat and the night cold, but the effects of the damp morning creates the feel of a fairy tale kingdom. High in the sky, level with the clouds, my retreat from the real world nestles amongst nature.
I love it here.
We live here.
What a beautiful place! 🤩 A blessing to have so much nature all around one's home. 🏞️
Yes it is a blessing. I've always 'wanted a wood' of my very own. I believed it was a wish too far, but not any longer. It's beautiful here :)
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Places like this that can bring peace, sometimes someone really wants their residence among the plantations, to enjoy the real atmosphere of nature.
I think where you live now is peace and happiness. :))))
It has all brought peace, yes, you're completely right. The stress of before has dissolved :)
It is somehow impressive the way that "we" are immersed in city sounds, and rhythms... Letting out minds be completely drowned in senseless thoughts and preoccupations (that is it...) Things that shouldn't be present in our minds, but stubbornly they pop up as soon has we leave the present to start worrying about the future, without making nothing in the present to change "the possible future".
Thank you so much, @michelle.gent, for the free visit to the place that you now call home 😚
I've only ever visited cities. I've never wanted to live in amongst the 'rat-race- of city living. This place, however, is a completely new adventure for us. Where we lived before was on the outskirts of a town - still with regular traffic passing and other ambient noise. This is silent in a way that soothes and heals (once you get used to it).
That looks an awesome place to live indeed! The fact that you can be surrounded in nature with just a few steps is priceless. Cheers! !LUV
It is priceless indeed! We have yet to experience a full winter here, but I think we'll manage. Nature all around us is breathtaking, scary, wonderful, beautiful and everything in between.
You'll manage for sure! You just have to choose between leaving with a camera, binoculars... or both! ;)
I can see why you love it there. Absolutely beautiful! I'm hoping to find some peaceful acreage away from the city very soon.
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