I got a bit thoughtful one day looking at this view after work:
What follows is the result, with the original French first – I did my best with the dictionary while I was there but there are bound to be some mistakes still. I think it’s a pretty good representation of what Philippe is trying to do at Les Dames.
For the vast majority of people reading this who would prefer it in English, the translation is at the bottom 🙂
Escape to the Country
Je voulais dire que ça n’existe pas, mais j’aurais tort: ça existe, mais que pour ceux qui ne comprennent pas ce que c’est, la Campagne. Pour eux, “s’enfuir vers la campagne” veut dire “se sortir de la vie quotidienne urbaine, tout en se reposant et en faisant le moindre possible pour passer le temps”, ce dernier ayant rien à voir avec ce qu’il veut dire de vivre avec la campagne.
Ici, j’ai appris plus que nulle part d’autre comment vivre avec la campagne. Ici, on entend le vent, la pluie qui approche de la pente en face de la vallée, on entend les insectes, les oiseaux, la source et le ruisseau. On voit les orages, on voit la brume qui se sort des arbres eux-mêmes; elle sent et elle se fait ressentir – soit lourde et oppressive l’après-midi, soit fraîche et mordillante le matin. Bien sûr on peut se reposer, mais la pause est bien plus douce lorsque elle est bien gagné. Ici, vivre avec la campagne veut dire travailler avec la campagne, avec la nature qui nous entoure, qui nous isole de la vie urbaine surchargée et qui nous nourris dans le corps et dans l’esprit.
Et que c’est du beau travail! On travaille avec les arbres qui nous surplombent et avec la terre qui nous soutient. On travaille pour l’amour, pour créer quelque chose que l’on aime et qui plaît aux autres, et surtout pour respecter la Campagne.
Car on ne s’y impose pas. Ça y est, vivre avec la campagne, mais il m’en reste plein à apprendre.
Avec plaisir.
Escape to the Country
I wanted to say that it doesn’t exist, but I’d be wrong: it exists, but only for those who don’t understand what it is, the Countryside. For them, ‘escape to the country’ means ‘hide from daily urban life by relaxing and doing as little as possible to pass the time’, which has nothing to with what it means to live with the countryside.
Here, I’ve learnt more than anywhere else how to live with the countryside. Here, we hear the wind, the rain which approaches from the opposite slope of the valley, we hear the insects, the birds, the spring and the stream. We see the storms, we see the mist which emerges from the trees themselves; we smell it and we feel it – heavy and oppressive in the afternoon, or fresh and biting in the morning.
Of course we can rest, but its even more welcome when it’s been well earned. Here, living with the countryside means working with the countryside, with the nature which surrounds us, which isolates us from the overloaded urban life and which nourishes us in body and in mind.
And what beautiful work! We work with the trees which tower above us and with the earth which supports us. We work for love, to create something which we like and which others like, and most of all to respect the Countryside.
Because we don’t impose ourselves on it. That’s it, living with the countryside, but I’ve still got lots to learn.
With pleasure.
– James.
We’d love to escape to the country but are stuck renting in a nondescript city. When I was a kid even Brentwood where I lived had a country feel with its schools and its greenery. Now 45 years later there’s houses crammed in everywhere and house prices have gone through the roof
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It’s always a shame when that happens, but somewhat inevitable, given the even greater political hurdles of building an entirely new town in the middle of the countryside. On the plus side, there’s probably always going to be somewhere if you know where to look – it just usually involves being so far ahead of the curve that everyone else thinks you’re barking mad!
Even where I was when I wrote this article, about 6 miles from the nearest bus stop, there are plans to expand the local intensive pig farm to six times its current size with no consideration for the environmental impact.
There was also a lot of opposition to building a wind farm nearby, and not just for aesthetic reasons. I’d love to know your thoughts on wind farms, because according to people there were saying, they aren’t necessarily all that great.
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I’m all for renewable clean energy as I’m a Green Party activist. Its something industry and governments should insist on to push through a more responsible and ethical society. Recycling shops should be very much top of the tree businesses rather than junk shops and people should get pleasure out of making something useful from junk rather than just buying more and more new things. On one of my blogs about photography I went out with my camera into the countryside and managed to get shots of three deer running out of the woods, something that you don’t see everyday.
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I agree with everything you’ve said, as would my host for last month for the cast majority of it. His life as a wilderness guide, caver climber, scout leader, etc. has given him a great appreciation for the natural world, and you only need to see my previous post Working in the Wilderness to see that he’s all for recycling and not wasting a thing.
Where we would disagree with him is that he thinks an ‘intermediate’ green energy market is a bad idea. He would much rather reduce evergy consumption until nuclear fusion really gets into its stride – somehow he doesn’t see the value in reducing consumption at the same time as using ‘traditional’ renewables to provide said energy.
He also insists that every time a wind farm is built (in France at least) that a gas-fired station is built alongside to compensate for windless days
Now, I don’t even know whether that’s true in France , let alone all over, but he did seem reluctant to acknowledge that it’s better being gas-fired than coal-fired.
Also, excellent work with the photography, seems like you had a good stroke of luck (and perhaps a good deal of patience, too!)
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