February sees John Lewis-Stempel solve his lack of transport by purchasing a Citroën Berlingo–the French farmer’s vehicle of choice
I’VE become a white-van man. Or, I suppose I should say, now we’re here in the Charente, un homme camionette blanche. We needed some farm transport. Lately, the skies have been the sheen and the colour of boiled fish-eye and the polishedfor-sale Citroën Berlingo on the forecourt of the village garage matched.
The van fitted the purchasing mood of the day, then I drove it around and found it fitted some more. A little white van is the French farmer’s vehicle of choice. Everybody locally assumes the driver of a 10-yearold Berlingo is local, so I was continually hailed down for a chat. On finding I was l’Anglais, the only Englishman in the village, they then introduced themselves. New acquaintance was made. The Berlingo has been social integration on wheels.
Apart from being a mobile introduction bureau, the van’s other job is carrying the posts and wire for thevineyard. I romantically imagined such kit would be purchased from a specialist emporium in the claret capital, Bordeaux.M. Gobinau, the local winemaker, smiled and directed me to the establishment he used himself: Bricomarché, the French equivalent of Homebase.
Odd, the things you can buy in Bricomarché. As well as vine equipment, I’ve come away with chickens, Marans mostly. I suppose about a quarter of the village (population 311, according to the noticeboard outside the mairie) keeps fowl. The morning alarm call is the competitive crowing of cockerels, a sound now almost gone from English villages.
Denne historien er fra February 13, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra February 13, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds