My Life in Languedoc - a Memoir in Chapters #12

Business was booming right up until Covid hit. I had a full order book for 2020, but with no official guidelines to follow and no idea what the situation might turn into, I took the painful decision to cancel all the tours and close for the duration.

That turned out to be almost two years.

But I was far from idle.

Just a year earlier, my husband and I had bought a tumble-down old building that had once been a winery. It had been abandoned for over seventy years and was in a terrible state, but when you walked inside it was like stepping back in time. Cartwheels leaned against the crumbling walls, harnesses and bridles still hung from hooks and there was even a carriage suspended from the rafters.

We’d bought ourselves a Grand Design, but we didn’t have a grand budget.

Unable to afford an architect, we set about designing it ourselves. Looking back, we realise now that we must be two of the luckiest people on the planet because somehow, almost everything fell beautifully into place. We found a contractor with a fine reputation plus some of the best artisan builders in the region who generously allowed my husband to work alongside them.

At the forefront of our minds was the desire to preserve as much of the original building as possible, or at least to recycle and reuse whatever we could.

It took nearly two years to complete the demolition work and put in the new roof, ceilings and floors. Once the contractors had finished, the artisans were able to set to work, creating a beautiful home while taking enormous pride in what they were doing.

By the time the first Covid lockdown was announced, we were ready to begin decorating. And because, up until then I hadn’t been much help, I grabbed this task for myself.

I was determined to paint every square inch of that huge hulk of a building myself – using a paintbrush, because of my deep dislike of rollers!

Vin en Vacances opened for business again in 2022. Now, not only were we able to run our tours again, but we also had a beautiful old winery where we could offer wine tastings – something completely new for us.

Customers loved entering the courtyard and seeing the old stone-built wine cuve, now converted into my husband’s art studio. They would then enter the winery through tall glass-and-metal doors to find our long dining table, easily seating ten people, heaving with platters of cheese, charcuterie, olives and crusty baguettes to accompany the wines.

The wine tastings were a fabulous addition. Not only did the clients love them, but they were enormous fun to run.

But…

Yes, there is always a but…

In 2024, as I celebrated my seventieth birthday I heard of the death of a colleague who had been the same age as me. I regularly read of people reaching my age and then not getting to the next birthday or people reaching old age but unable to enjoy it due to infirmity or illness. I began to realise my own mortality, and it suddenly struck me that if I wanted to do anything else with my life, I had better get on with it.

In truth, I’d felt as though I was at a crossroads for a couple of years. I wated to see more of my family and friends and I was also were missing my culture and language and so was my husband. During the winter of 2024 after a lot of discussion we came to the conclusion that we wanted to return to England.

That meant selling the home we had worked so hard to create but it also meant making a decision about what to do with my business Vin en Vacances.

As so often happens in my life, the universe sorted it all out for me and both things came to pass almost simultaneously. The house sold in a matter of weeks, and Carlos, my best and most devoted guide, stepped forward to take up the reins of Vin en Vacances.

I couldn’t have been happier but then the stark truth hit me.

One of the most exciting phases of my life was ending - but I was ready to go, excited about a future whose shape I couldn’t yet see. This has been quite an adventure and looking back I marvelled at the temerity or was it just naivety that had made me believe I could move to another country where I didn’t speak the language, knew hardly a soul, start a business and make a new life for myself.

But I didn’t do it on my own.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to so many people; the wine makers who became my friends, other business owners who supported me, friends new and old and of course my family. I’d have achieved nothing without them.

And when the time came to leave in January 2026 it was a great wrench to go, but I told myself France isn’t going anywhere. It’ll will always be there as will my connection to the places and people I love.

This isn’t farewell, it’s merely au revoir.