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La Vie: A Year in Rural France
The Charente: roofs of red terracotta tiles, bleached-white walls, windows shuttered against the blaring sun. The baker does his rounds in his battered little white van with a hundred warm baguettes in the back, while a cat picks its way past a Romanesque church, the sound of bells skipping across miles of rolling, glorious countryside.
For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned once again to live in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing, as they did almost everywhere in his childhood. He wanted to be self-sufficient, to make his own wine and learn the secrets of truffle farming. And so, buying an old honey-coloured limestone house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new life as peasant farmers.
Over that first year, Lewis-Stempel fell in love with the French countryside, from the wild boar that trot past the kitchen window to the glow-worms and citronella candles that flicker in the evening garden. Although it began as a practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart: of learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours for lunch; in short, living the good life -- or as the French say, La Vie.
For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned once again to live in a landscape where turtle doves purr and nightingales sing, as they did almost everywhere in his childhood. He wanted to be self-sufficient, to make his own wine and learn the secrets of truffle farming. And so, buying an old honey-coloured limestone house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new life as peasant farmers.
Over that first year, Lewis-Stempel fell in love with the French countryside, from the wild boar that trot past the kitchen window to the glow-worms and citronella candles that flicker in the evening garden. Although it began as a practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart: of learning to bite the end off the morning baguette; taking two hours for lunch; in short, living the good life -- or as the French say, La Vie.
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 18, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
May 9, 2025
I long to live in the French countryside—where mornings begin with a ride to the boulangerie for a warm baguette, and afternoons drift by with birdsong in the backyard.
August 29, 2023
(4.5) Lewis-Stempel’s best book in an age; my favourite, certainly, since Meadowland. I’m featuring it in a summer post because, like Peter Mayle’s Provence series, it’s ideal for armchair travelling. Especially with the heat waves that have swept Europe this summer, I’m much happier reading about France or Italy than being there. The author has written much about his Herefordshire haunts, but he’s now relocated permanently to southwest France (La Roche, in the Charente). He proudly calls himself a peasant farmer, growing what he can and bartering for much of the rest. La Vie chronicles a year in his quest to become self-sufficient. It opens one January and continues through the December, an occasional diary with recipes.
The family’s small-scale potager is organic agriculture at its best. He likens it to turning the clock back to the 1970s, or earlier, before England wrecked its countryside with industrial production. (His list of birds in the area is impressive, including some you’d be lucky to come across in the UK – turtledove, nightingale, stone curlew.) In fact, he estimates that his yield per square metre is triple what it was when he participated in that damaging system, for the same amount of work. His lifestyle is also a deliberate resistance to hyper-speed modernity: he scythes his grass, spends days preserving a haul of walnuts, and tries his hand at pressing oil and making spirits. There’s a make-do-and-mend attitude here: when his sheep-shearing equipment goes missing, he buys a beard trimmer at the supermarket and uses that instead.
It’s a peaceful, comforting read that’s attuned to the seasons and the land. There is also gentle mockery of the French with their bureaucracy and obsession with hunting, and self-deprecation of his own struggle to get his point across in a second language. I could never make a living by manual labour, but I like reading about back-to-the-land adventures, especially ones as bucolic as this – two-hour lunches, six-course dinners with homemade wine? Mais oui!
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
The family’s small-scale potager is organic agriculture at its best. He likens it to turning the clock back to the 1970s, or earlier, before England wrecked its countryside with industrial production. (His list of birds in the area is impressive, including some you’d be lucky to come across in the UK – turtledove, nightingale, stone curlew.) In fact, he estimates that his yield per square metre is triple what it was when he participated in that damaging system, for the same amount of work. His lifestyle is also a deliberate resistance to hyper-speed modernity: he scythes his grass, spends days preserving a haul of walnuts, and tries his hand at pressing oil and making spirits. There’s a make-do-and-mend attitude here: when his sheep-shearing equipment goes missing, he buys a beard trimmer at the supermarket and uses that instead.
It’s a peaceful, comforting read that’s attuned to the seasons and the land. There is also gentle mockery of the French with their bureaucracy and obsession with hunting, and self-deprecation of his own struggle to get his point across in a second language. I could never make a living by manual labour, but I like reading about back-to-the-land adventures, especially ones as bucolic as this – two-hour lunches, six-course dinners with homemade wine? Mais oui!
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
February 1, 2026
This was my first John Lewis-Stempel, and I loved it! I do have a niche love for memoirs about non-natives living in France and this may be one of my favorites from that list. It’s funny—I laughed out loud a good few times. I love John’s descriptions of his farming and foraging and gardening and livestock and how it’s different from his experience in Herefordshire. His prose flows right along and he captures the beauty of his French village in rural France so well. Even his descriptions of the creepy crawlies like centipedes and snakes in the hotter climate are quite funny.
I was fascinated by his descriptions of how Medieval rural France is in many ways because bigger towns are, sometimes, quite a distance. He mentions that the local bank puts out a calendar and every day seems to have a saint’s feast day. I love that.
As you would expect, he touches often but lightly on the French love of regional food and terroir. It never felt as if he was treading old ground here but delighting in this piece of French culture in his own experience that is widely known and celebrated and, frankly, makes me envious in my land of supermarkets and “get anything any time”.
I was fascinated by his descriptions of how Medieval rural France is in many ways because bigger towns are, sometimes, quite a distance. He mentions that the local bank puts out a calendar and every day seems to have a saint’s feast day. I love that.
As you would expect, he touches often but lightly on the French love of regional food and terroir. It never felt as if he was treading old ground here but delighting in this piece of French culture in his own experience that is widely known and celebrated and, frankly, makes me envious in my land of supermarkets and “get anything any time”.
September 13, 2023
I seized upon this book, partly as an admirer of Lewis-Stempel's writing, and partly because I too have lived in rural France - though not in the Charente. Lewis-Stempel's quest to become a peasant farmer was not ours, but there was much to recognise and appreciate here. The sheer quantity of bird and insect life; the make-do-and-mend philosophy underpinning daily life; the welcome afforded to incomers who show appreciation and make the effort to integrate; the infuriating nature of French bureaucracy; the love of foraging and of traditional methods. This was a peaceful read, quickly read, yet calming, and evocative of the simpler lifestyle he celebrates.
September 21, 2023
Everyone who is British living in France profonde utters, as axiomatic, ‘France is like the Britain of our childhood’, by which they mean, depending on their certain age, the 1950s or the 1970s or 1990s.
Sometimes rural France is older still. While we were house-hunting and renting the mill in the hedged bocage of northern Deux-Sevres the birdsong was of medieval intensity. Here, in our corner of woods and arable fields in eastern Charente-Maritime, we are at Renaissance level.
I’ll take it. Gladly. And add it to the song of my own life.
British nature writer John Lewis-Stempel is a man who takes birdsong seriously. In the Preface to this book, he highlights the song of nightingales as a reason to relocate to rural France. As a sort of Afterward, he compiles a list of all of the birds see on his own patch at La Roche in the Charente region. Throughout the novel, he notes which birds are singing; and just occasionally, those brief times in the annual calendar when there is seemingly no birdsong at all.
Ever since I bought a house in rural France I have been attracted to this sort of guidepost book; my ignorance of France is not quite total, but there are innumerable blanks to fill. Sometimes a knowledgeable foreigner is best-placed to describe and explain the cultural differences in his adopted country. I feel enriched, bit by bit, by descriptions of food, custom, terroir, language and manners as interpreted by a sensitive and observant insider/outsider.
Lewis-Stempel is so associated with British farming and nature writing that it’s a bit surprising to find him in this role, though. It’s sad to think that British farming has become so industrialised and debased and unappreciated that he needs to remove himself to France in order to find (or at least be at ease with) his inner peasant. Throughout this book - which is structured as a loose, almost conversational diary of the natural year - there is Lewis-Stempel’s desire to be a self-sufficient farmer. That’s the binding thread that holds it all together. He persuades us that self-sufficiency is an entirely understandable and normal goal in rural France and not an eccentric and mad return to the past. I found myself wondering if Lewis-Stempel will end up returning to his native land, especially if he manages to get his mind and tongue around the French language.
September 5, 2023
…the swallows have gone, as though they never existed. But again: the impossible blue of the sky.’
I first heard of Lewis-Stempel through my subscription to The Times newspaper. He writes some of the nature watch pieces.
Lewis-Stempel is a farmer of mediaeval heritage, with his family owning the same land for 700 years. But he has bought a house in the Charente region of France. This house comes with a potager, various farm buildings, and other accoutrements of a house built in rural France during the Belle Époque. The book recounts a year in his life: January-December.
He has moved with his family, dogs, and various animals. The aim is to reconnect with nature, to farm for the person rather than for money, and to become at least 50% self-sufficient by the end of the year.
His writing has an eternal feel. Even when writing about man, he writes about an ancient rhythm of life. This is not a book about the fast-paced modernity most of us live in. Lewis-Stempel described himself as perhaps the last religious nature writer. His faith, as well as a yearning for a way of life lost even in the depths of rural Herefordshire (England), are clear to see. Life and death are dealt with beautifully.
The writing is excellent, with a wry humour as he goes through his tasks. The scenes are depicted vividly. I truly felt that I had been transported to the Charente. I am a nature lover, an environmentalist, and a man who constantly wishes to reconnect with the countryside which surrounded me in my youth. This book struck a perfect chord for me. As I wrote this, I listened to the La Vie playlist. I aim also to try some of the recipes found in the book. This is a remarkably holistic book.
I first heard of Lewis-Stempel through my subscription to The Times newspaper. He writes some of the nature watch pieces.
Lewis-Stempel is a farmer of mediaeval heritage, with his family owning the same land for 700 years. But he has bought a house in the Charente region of France. This house comes with a potager, various farm buildings, and other accoutrements of a house built in rural France during the Belle Époque. The book recounts a year in his life: January-December.
He has moved with his family, dogs, and various animals. The aim is to reconnect with nature, to farm for the person rather than for money, and to become at least 50% self-sufficient by the end of the year.
His writing has an eternal feel. Even when writing about man, he writes about an ancient rhythm of life. This is not a book about the fast-paced modernity most of us live in. Lewis-Stempel described himself as perhaps the last religious nature writer. His faith, as well as a yearning for a way of life lost even in the depths of rural Herefordshire (England), are clear to see. Life and death are dealt with beautifully.
The writing is excellent, with a wry humour as he goes through his tasks. The scenes are depicted vividly. I truly felt that I had been transported to the Charente. I am a nature lover, an environmentalist, and a man who constantly wishes to reconnect with the countryside which surrounded me in my youth. This book struck a perfect chord for me. As I wrote this, I listened to the La Vie playlist. I aim also to try some of the recipes found in the book. This is a remarkably holistic book.
May 24, 2024
Sadly, this book was not for me. I love memoirs and I love books about France, but I just could not connect to the author's writing style. I realized that I'd tried another book of his in the past and I had the same problem.
Clearly, this issue is not my own, not the fault of the author. I simply find it too much of a struggle to picture what he is describing, as well as finding it very difficult to stay interested.
That said, I can see why others love this writing. If it wasn't for my amazing trip to France and this book being one of the buddy reads we were going to discuss, I think I would have given up after just a chapter or two. My friends, Beth (@beth.bonini) and Liz (@pony.books) adore his way with words and it was a such a positive experience to hear why they loved this book.
I wish I had loved it like I love my Gladys Taber memoirs and nature writing. But, it's really completely different in so many ways (though I can't begin to describe them). I would say that his nature writing and observations are definitely worth a try—and you'll probably know immediately whether you'll enjoy the book or not.
I'm just sorry I wasn't able to appreciate La Vie the way I'd hoped.
Clearly, this issue is not my own, not the fault of the author. I simply find it too much of a struggle to picture what he is describing, as well as finding it very difficult to stay interested.
That said, I can see why others love this writing. If it wasn't for my amazing trip to France and this book being one of the buddy reads we were going to discuss, I think I would have given up after just a chapter or two. My friends, Beth (@beth.bonini) and Liz (@pony.books) adore his way with words and it was a such a positive experience to hear why they loved this book.
I wish I had loved it like I love my Gladys Taber memoirs and nature writing. But, it's really completely different in so many ways (though I can't begin to describe them). I would say that his nature writing and observations are definitely worth a try—and you'll probably know immediately whether you'll enjoy the book or not.
I'm just sorry I wasn't able to appreciate La Vie the way I'd hoped.
December 12, 2024
3.5 I think. Initially dismissed this as posh man gardens and lists birds, but he is a good writer. Yet another book that has made me want to leave London and live off the land.
September 14, 2024
4.5. Stars
This was an absolute delight to read - and one I'd really recommend. Stempel's prose so clearly induces you into a moment where you're totally rooted in the tableaus and motifs of pastoral life. It's a simple meditation on people's relationship to nature, animals, food, and a version of eudaimonia. The network of Stempel's relationships with his neighbours, his land, and the village community all intersect in a really interesting way that is so unique to small (French?) village living. It genuinely feels like a privilege to have read this book.
This was an absolute delight to read - and one I'd really recommend. Stempel's prose so clearly induces you into a moment where you're totally rooted in the tableaus and motifs of pastoral life. It's a simple meditation on people's relationship to nature, animals, food, and a version of eudaimonia. The network of Stempel's relationships with his neighbours, his land, and the village community all intersect in a really interesting way that is so unique to small (French?) village living. It genuinely feels like a privilege to have read this book.
September 3, 2023
I actually ended up enjoying this book wayyyy more than I was anticipating. Such a comforting read. I loved reading about life in rural France, the produce that he grew and the recipes he used for it!
September 4, 2023
A beautiful description of life in rural France, with a spattering of the ‘Good Life’!
August 4, 2024
3.5 rounded up. A nice little book on rural french culture and life.
January 31, 2025
I would like to move to France now
July 7, 2024
I have never read a bad book by John Lewis Stempel and that continues with this book which focuses on a year of his life in as a French peasant farmer.
A wonderfully, vibrant read and full of joy and sadness and wonderment at the French provincial and rural life. I always assumed the UK and it's farming is hard pressed to be beaten but after reading this France sounds charming and old worldy. It felt like a time capsule and how things used to be with community spirit still alive.
It was a fun read and I look forward to his next book. Though I do find myself craving a Café Noisette.
A wonderfully, vibrant read and full of joy and sadness and wonderment at the French provincial and rural life. I always assumed the UK and it's farming is hard pressed to be beaten but after reading this France sounds charming and old worldy. It felt like a time capsule and how things used to be with community spirit still alive.
It was a fun read and I look forward to his next book. Though I do find myself craving a Café Noisette.
July 30, 2024
meh…dnf… but putting it in the ‘read’ shelf because I’ll be dipping into it. I can’t enjoy reading it cover to cover, but I’ll be happy to have a little taster throughout the year as a pick me up. I almost wonder if it was intended that way since the book is divided by months of the year.
November 13, 2024
Heeeerlijk als je houdt van vogels en Frankrijk.
September 16, 2025
A joy to read.
June 30, 2024
It's not often that I can't finish a book, but I couldn't make it through this one. Too many random thoughts and distractions, not enough coherent story and analysis of the lifestyle.
August 30, 2023
“The rituals of rural France, whether queuing for a baguette or sipping a noisette (espresso with a ‘nut’ of milk) while watching the world go by, are effective barriers to the rush of modern times. Somehow, in France, at least outside of Paris, Marseille and Lyon, there is still time. Time to be. Time to do nothing at all.
I watch Jean-Francois make his way from the Boulangerie to the Maisonette de la Presse. A journey of fifty yards, but it takes Jean-Francois quarter of an hour. A former notary in his early seventies, Jean-Francois shakes hands or bisous five different men and women - France is the republic of handshakes and kisses - and exchanges greetings, gossip and news with them all. These same people then greet and talk with others in a slow, slow quadrille.
I sit sipping my noisette and watch the dance to the music of time.”
John Lewis-Stempel has permanently moved to France and become a self-sufficient farmer in the Charente region, living in extremely rural France or “la France Profonde”.
In this book, he describes a year on his farm, the birdsong, the wildlife, the crops, the villagers and some of the nuances of French culture, all in his beguiling, poetic style.
A book that will make you fall in love with rural France and want to become, like Stempel, a self-sufficient farmer living and working in the beautiful French countryside.
I watch Jean-Francois make his way from the Boulangerie to the Maisonette de la Presse. A journey of fifty yards, but it takes Jean-Francois quarter of an hour. A former notary in his early seventies, Jean-Francois shakes hands or bisous five different men and women - France is the republic of handshakes and kisses - and exchanges greetings, gossip and news with them all. These same people then greet and talk with others in a slow, slow quadrille.
I sit sipping my noisette and watch the dance to the music of time.”
John Lewis-Stempel has permanently moved to France and become a self-sufficient farmer in the Charente region, living in extremely rural France or “la France Profonde”.
In this book, he describes a year on his farm, the birdsong, the wildlife, the crops, the villagers and some of the nuances of French culture, all in his beguiling, poetic style.
A book that will make you fall in love with rural France and want to become, like Stempel, a self-sufficient farmer living and working in the beautiful French countryside.
December 10, 2024
Read this on our Queen Elizabeth cruise, from their beautiful library. It’s an account of a farmer and family moving from England to remote village in France. Bit of humour, lots of feelings, much of interest about different ways of farming life, I really enjoyed it.
July 24, 2023
Gentle and reflective book about a year of sustainability and self sufficiency in rural France. Lovely and knowledgeable writing about nature.
September 9, 2023
A light easy read. Lovely description of rural France.
November 8, 2023
A lovely, gentle read that was perfect escapism from horrible real-world events. I’d like to move to rural France now!
January 10, 2024
Perfection
February 22, 2025
A glorious novel
March 8, 2025
This book grew on me, it's beautifully written and made me feel like I was experiencing living in France.
June 18, 2025
pleasant story of a man and his small holding! a month by month guide of a family living and working the farm and living a self sustained life. sometimes a difficult life but idyllic nonetheless
January 13, 2026
Beautiful depiction of life in rural France, focusing heavy on the nature behind it.
June 22, 2023
2.5
I'd really been looking forward to reading this and it saddens me to have to give it such a low rating.
I've absolutely loved a lot of Lewis-Stempel's earlier books and as a farmer he seemed to be so rooted in rural Herefordshire. However, the family have upped sticks and moved to a small village in the Charente region of South West France.
La Vie describes a year of his family living in the village, putting down roots and enjoying their new life.
The only thing he appears to miss about England is 'country pubs'.
I am struggling to work out the purpose of the book by an author of his calibre. The 'I started a new life in France' genre is an overcrowded market and this book brings nothing new to that genre. Cliches abound. The depth and intensity of his earlier works is nowhere to be seen.
At one stage he says "I really do have no wish to sentimentalise rural France'. And yet he does so, on every page.
I'm afraid the word 'potboiler' did keep coming to mind. Very disappointing.
I'd really been looking forward to reading this and it saddens me to have to give it such a low rating.
I've absolutely loved a lot of Lewis-Stempel's earlier books and as a farmer he seemed to be so rooted in rural Herefordshire. However, the family have upped sticks and moved to a small village in the Charente region of South West France.
La Vie describes a year of his family living in the village, putting down roots and enjoying their new life.
The only thing he appears to miss about England is 'country pubs'.
I am struggling to work out the purpose of the book by an author of his calibre. The 'I started a new life in France' genre is an overcrowded market and this book brings nothing new to that genre. Cliches abound. The depth and intensity of his earlier works is nowhere to be seen.
At one stage he says "I really do have no wish to sentimentalise rural France'. And yet he does so, on every page.
I'm afraid the word 'potboiler' did keep coming to mind. Very disappointing.
December 29, 2024
I quite often enjoy a story that is a year in the life *insert regional area* - and La Vie is another addition to this genre that is delightful.
This is much more an insight of daily life and agrarian adventures. It avoids delving too deeply into the contrast of cultures that is so typical of ‘an Englishman in France’.
Along the story we’re also treated to recipes for
- frogs legs
- feta baked in vine leaves
- garlic aioli
- pickled walnuts
- Walnut wine
- Chocolate sloes
- French walnut cake
- Sweet honey walnuts
And reflections on cheese, breads, wine, slow baking…will make you hungry to be part of village life.
Fair warning. There is a brief description of bull fighting. Skip over it as you wish. The writer is neither an advocate nor a detractor, rather it is an observation of life in southern France.
There are other beautiful observances of nightingales, horse, sheep, donkeys and local wildlife. It is a slow and rewarding life.
A quick read, and a light escape into small lot subsistence farming. Don’t mind me while I go ponder a veggie patch…
This is much more an insight of daily life and agrarian adventures. It avoids delving too deeply into the contrast of cultures that is so typical of ‘an Englishman in France’.
Along the story we’re also treated to recipes for
- frogs legs
- feta baked in vine leaves
- garlic aioli
- pickled walnuts
- Walnut wine
- Chocolate sloes
- French walnut cake
- Sweet honey walnuts
And reflections on cheese, breads, wine, slow baking…will make you hungry to be part of village life.
Fair warning. There is a brief description of bull fighting. Skip over it as you wish. The writer is neither an advocate nor a detractor, rather it is an observation of life in southern France.
There are other beautiful observances of nightingales, horse, sheep, donkeys and local wildlife. It is a slow and rewarding life.
A quick read, and a light escape into small lot subsistence farming. Don’t mind me while I go ponder a veggie patch…
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews