Our move to Gascony
My wife Ann and I moved down to the Gers just over two years ago to run a gite business. We'd both worked in the IT business in the UK, but found jobs increasingly hard to come by once we'd turned 50, so decided on a complete change.
We'd travelled to many parts of France on previous holidays, but didn't really know this area of Gascony until we came here to view houses. However, we've come to really like it here. There's not much traffic on the roads, the pace of life is relaxed, the people are friendly and the food is great. Add to that the fact that we're less than 3 hours to Biarritz and the Pyrenees and you've also got lots of outdoor activities within easy reach.
After a lot of searching, we bought a property called Mounon du Nord halfway between Auch and Condom with two gites (one sleeping 3 people and the other 8). The previous owners had run this business for several years and the gites themselves, which had been converted from old barns, just needed a bit of freshening up.
The house needed a lot more work (including a new roof) but that's nearly finished and we now have a spacious family home to go with the gites. The swimming pool is always welcome at the end of the long hot days of summer and it's only a short ride to a multitude of restaurants, all serving local Gascogne dishes, local wines and of course, Armagnac.
If you'd said to us 5 years ago that we'd be doing this, we wouldn't have believed you, but now we're so glad we did.
1 Comments:
This has been my third visit to Mounon du Nord. Why? Two reasons. Ann and Ray have created two comfortable, extremely well equipped gites in the heart of Gascony. Secondly, flights from the UK - Midlands, Bristol and South Wales - are frequent and reasonable to Toulouse. And there you are, transported to the peace and tranquillity of Southern France, where the roads are quiet and the landscape is full of interest.
It's an agricultural region. Colourful and fruitful. The yellow sunflowers in high summer, upstanding facing the sun and then drooping with the weight of seed at the onset of autumn harvesting. Maize and corn, wheat and barley fields and acres of serried ranks of vines make a pleasant patchwork of changing colour through the seasons.
It's a warm landscape for motoring, cycling or rambling. I'm a cyclist, an amateur one, and the pace of life here suits me. I'm a wobbler on my bike !
I did make one sortie last year to an area outside Gascony, a journey of about 2½ hours (by car not bike you understand) skirting the foothills of the Pyrenees to Biarritz.
It was a brilliant sunny day in late autumn and although the picturesque and prosperous seaside town had a 'closed for the winter' look about it, the walk along the promenade was bracing, the lunch even better. A platter of oysters, followed by a fish soup and 'tarte tatin' at "Le Bistro de l'huitre" - what better way to spend a day !
But there's so much to see and experience right here in the Gers. The medieval towns with their high, unchanging fortresses and historic squares. These are bustling meeting places on market days. And restaurants who give real value for money with good food and wine - Foie Gras and Canard, melons and a variety of fresh vegetables, the distinctive taste of Floc de Gascogne as an aperitif and of course, Armagnac.
It's still a hidden, relatively unknown part of Southern France. At the end of long, hot days, a cooling swim in Mounon's swimming pool sets you up for the evening's feasting with friends.
Teleri Bevan - May 2005
Post a Comment
<< Home