We arrived in the Gard on the edge of the Cévennes at the beginning of November in t-shirts having driven up from the south of Italy. Though not as warm here as in Puglia, we were still glowing and people in the local town, wearing jackets and scarves, stared. To our delight, blue skies, sunshine and t-shirt days are still with us in December, which is what we were hoping for when we left Blighty on an extended period of travel, kissing goodbye to the worst Spring and Summer weather we can remember. Mind you, there have been some apocalyptic skies (September’s rain fell in two days) and a couple of weeks of Mistral howling relentlessly around the north side of the building. We are actually house-sitting a ‘spiritual retreat’ and resident cat in the hills above St Ambroix and are pleased to be here until the middle of March. We’re still marveling at the views across the Cèze river valley to the Garrigues, and peaks of the Ardèche to the north and Cévennes to the east. It’s been a year of tension, planning our escape, refurbishing the motor home, selling the house in Kent, endless weddings and, until last week, touching up brides on the computer.

So pleased are we at the beginning of our first winter on the road, we aim to complete several projects at the retreat while it is closed. This is not normal house-sit behaviour. Nevertheless, I have widened the entrance to the property, reduced the gradient and cut back the banking on two very tight bends. We only just got the motor home up here, so it is largely for our benefit along with the sweet pain, as Mirabelle puts it, of pick and shovel work. For her part she has completely spring-cleaned the main house and annexe apartment and everything within, as well as look after me. Our December project is more ambitious still, the construction of retaining walls, a substantial herb spiral, flower beds and terracing in front of the verandha where an aborted digging of a swimming pool has left an unsightly hole. I will be pleased to develop some stone-working skills since everywhere on this mountain of sandy, stony soil, erosion is a big, and apparently ignored, problem.

This relaxation for us will continue until March. Some of the land has reverted to the wild (and is a fire risk) and there are dozens of olive and other fruit trees to rescue, many of which are doomed if it’s not done this winter. It grieves me to see trees unkempt and fruit falling. The youngsters who own the place have done wonders in two years, building up their business while being at their wit’s end over the maintenance of buildings and several hectares of mountainside. We are going to help them, we decided immediately on arrival, since we are in theory paying no bills for the duration. It is also good for our health and must be building Karma points! Our teenage years coincided with the 1960s, so we are but a pair of old Hippies. Not past it, though! The first time we took the bikes down to St Ambroix we pushed them most of the way back. Now we can cycle up the mountain road, with shopping, without stopping!

So, we are at the start of some rather ad hoc house-sitting and traveling while half-looking for a base in Languedoc. Alas, property prices gave us a chill like the Mistral down our necks. We’re after somewhere very modest with a view but not something with a ‘foreigner’ price-tag that would be safer bulldozed. It is early days but probably fortunate we are getting to like motor home living. I do have more wedding photography work in the UK in July and August, having accepted the bookings on the basis that it would be too hot for us “down south” during these months. The rest of the year will be arranged around photographic assignments, house-sits, or anything else interesting. Our house-sitting/ blog site is www.rosetintedspecs.com. My photography sites are www.photorequest.biz and www.roseweddings.eu. We can also be reached through www.housecarers.com under the name Mirabelle.

The reason we came across The Languedoc Page was to peruse local pictures. If anyone needs photographic work (or houses-sit requests), please drop us a message. I do it differently from most. No tobacco filter landscapes or narrow views of medieval streets. I frequently shoot urban scenes in a block of pictures then join them, correcting the perspective to emulate a large negative. It can give some pleasing effects and a lot more to look at. It’s a pity, here in the Gard, that photographing landscapes doesn’t thrill me, except if including dolmen or menhirs or something quaintly French. Doing it well is damn difficult for a start, unless there is something to latch on to!  Our first big trip out will be to locate some pre-historic sites in the Garrigues near the Cèze gorges, as well as seek out a Mr Bricolage and larger Intermarché. It might not be long before some of my pictures can be seen on these pages.

In September we were spoilt with a choice of house-sits from looking after a Norwegian farm above the Arctic Circle for six months to helping with a renovation project in Cadiz. Yet the South-West of France it is, year in year out. Winter here will be the decider, if we are going to decide anything at all.  

David Rose, photography@roseweddings.eu