Terroir Of Plenty

Being unplugged, seasonreliant and tapped into Nature sounds dangerously trendy, but is the way of life for swathes of France’s rural population. Arabella Youens investigates where to buy to live off the land

- Arabella Youens

IT’S 30 years since Peter Mayle published his bestselling account of the first year of his new life in Provence’s Luberon valley (‘Years in Provence’, October 10, 2018). Having moved to write a novel, he quickly became distracted by the curiosities of local life and decided instead to detail the wisdom of the everyday people he came across, later admitting it was infinitely more fascinating than anything he could have invented.

In the ensuing years, the book has inspired thousands to leave Britain in search of a warmer, quieter life.

Mayle never set out to advocate living in a more sustainable vein, but, fast forward three decades, and there has been a notable rise in the numbers of people who are choosing to engage with what they eat and how they live. Packs of vegetable seeds far outsold those for flowers in London’s garden centres last year, according to the RHS, and the number of vegans has risen by more than 360% in the past decade.