French Village and Country Life
No 1: Focus on Beauville, Lot et Garonne
Originally a Roman village (Bovis Villa.... we still have a herd of cows on the sunny slopes below the village) this ancient settlement was transformed into a Bastide at the time of the medieaval religious wars and was in fact in English hands for over two hundred years up until 1534. History has left us a beautiful village with arcaded main square perched on a point of land jutting out into and overlooking a lovely rural valley. Below the ancient ramparts there are pretty fields of Sunflowers and Wheat and the plum orchards of the region ( where are produced the famous Prunes of Agen).
The village itself is quite typical of the region, being a lively agricultural community, and providing all the services necessary for life in the surrounding area. A good selection of shops....excellent rural hotel/ restaurant where you can enjoy a very substantial meal for 11.5 €, a family run bakery, grocers store with butcher, hairdresser, chemist, bank, post office, agricultural merchant, cafe. All this makes for practical living whilst being out in the country ( this will be appreciated by those of you who live in rural parts of other countries where local shops have died faced with the competition from giant supermarkets.) There is a primary school, doctor, veterinary surgeon and Notaire ( and us of course Vialex, an international estate agency) grouped around the second square which is planted with Chestnut trees and is home to the Boules players of the village. Numerous fetes enliven the village throughout the year, but in particular the Summer, when we also have our own 'international' Boules competition on Bastille Day 14th July........30 local Boules players team up in pairs with local expats and visitors from UK, Holland, Belgium, USA etc for an afternoon of serious Boules followed by an extremely lively evening in the bar and restaurant.
Local artisans still provide the professional services necessary for the renovation and upkeep of the old stone houses of the area, and the village shopkeepers keep us well fed. In the following articles we will be looking at some of these artisans...the village Baker (Boulanger), the chef in the hotel/restaurant, the local stonemason and roofer, craftsman carpenter, pharmacist and others. . . in fact a look at some of the crafts that are dying out elsewhere but which live on here.
Next article.... Le Boulanger, at the heart of village life.
