We just left after 10 beautiful days in the "French farmhouse" as I call it. I'll definitely want to go back there.
I like to arrive to new places somewhat ignorant, because it feels exciting to discover it as I'm there. I had imagined southern France to be like a low-key Napa, or Tuscany: rolling hills of grapes and pasture, dryish, large houses and scattered inns, canals, I had imagined foodies everywhere, very "discovered" by international tourists. I was looking forward to it, but turns out I was wrong in just about every way.
We stayed in the mountains near Massat, a small village in the Pyrenees (french mountains). It was a fascinating mix of France and Oregon: cute french village, rain and rural Oregon style mud. The roads are better than Italy, not as good as Australia.Steep (20-40% grade) mountainside, but not super high elevation. Bicyclers train for Tour de France there, dodging cows and tourists.
They have one economic factor that changes everything: very cheap land, rent, and housing. Neohippies can, and do their 'back to the land' thing from around the world. Land tax is very low. Food is medium. Fuel and sales tax is very high.
As you've probably guessed, there's few jobs. Locals are builders, and/or terrace farmers, as people there have done there since... forever? Definitely hundreds of years, probably thousands.
I heard 90% of people left rural France in the 1940s, for the city. Today most of those properties, stone houses, are wrecks, reclaimed by the voracious forest. Some are being rebuilt as vacation houses owned by, or rented to, middle class from Spain, nearby French cities. Most still are crumbling.
Massat, the nearest village, felt alive -- maybe half hippie, half traditional. A lone cafe gathers everyone-- grannies, mums with babies, workers, tourists, retirees. The cheese, bread, and croissants are incredible. The coffee is not.
There's no beach or ocean nearby, but plenty of lakes, creeks, small rivers and lush greenery- ferns, mushrooms, nettles, Chestnut, apple trees. Again, it felt a lot like coastal Oregon: Rain, but not endless grey of london/coast of Oregon (ie many more days of sun during Oct - june).
So that's the place. Now, my personal experience: relaxation. We've seen gorgeous places in Portugal, England, Italy, but I always felt I was travelling there. The French farmhouse was the first place on the trip where the stress of travel truly vanished and I felt landed. Settled. Easy like Stinson Beach or south of Perth. There wasn't much particularly to do, but I didn't want more.
We hit a lovely rhythm as a family: a hike down to feed local horses apples, maybe see bats in a local cave, a visit to James and Rebecca, homeschooling, keep house. I had time to work on my video games I'm building, fix a cabinet, or build a retaining wall with James, play board games with the kids, cook and clean.
It felt like making peace with, and forgiving, some of my rural childhood I have always disparaged. I might have gotten stir crazy after a while, I'm not sure, but 10 days went by like instantly.
I'm not sure I could live there permanently. I don't want to learn French, and that would be a huge barrier. It's a long, twisty drive to anywhere. There's no place for kids to walk on their own and socialize. It rains a lot.
But still, I'd love to go back. I'm going to miss it. I do want to see more of the world, so I'm willing to keep going. I won't forget it though.