One Place de l’Eglise: A Year or Two In A French Village

by Trevor Dolby

Escape to Languedoc in this poignant and transportative true account of life in a beautifully restored house in the south of France


One day a Londoner and his wife went a little crazy and bought a crumbling house in deepest Languedoc. It was love at first sight.

Over the years these Londoners gradually turn the house into a home. They navigate the language, floods and freezing winters. And eventually they find their place - their bar, their baker, their builder (ignore him at your peril).

Slowly the family and the locals get to know one another and these busy English discover slower joys - the scent of thyme and lavender, the warmth of sun on stone walls, nights hung with stars, silence in the hills, the importance of history and memory, the liberation of laughter and the secrets of fig jam.

One Place de l'Eglise is a love letter - to a house, a village, a country - from an outsider who discovers you can never be a stranger when you're made to feel so at home. Old houses never belong to people. People belong to them.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, France

194 pages, Hardcover

Published July 21, 2022

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Travelling and going on holiday to another country is a great way to experience what that place is like. You bring home the memories and a dodgy bottle of something that sits at the back of the drink cupboard. To really experience a place though, you have to move there. Trevor Dolby was one of those who had taken the plunge.

They had been looking for a while spending weekends looking at various properties, but finding nothing suitable until they found this property in the village of Causses-et-Veyran almost by chance. There is the inevitable story of moving in and him and a friend trying to move furniture that four people could barely lift.

The book is full of his little stories of living there, learning how to navigate their way around the French bureaucracy, finding the best baker and knowing who is the best builder to use. They discover the delights of the vide-greniers, and learn just how much rain a storm can unleash on the village in the summer. He swims in the local rivers with a capybara, indulges in the local wines, has lots of lunches and starts to become a full member of the village when he is part of the protests against the Post Office.

I really enjoyed this. It felt to me like he was evoking A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle, the book that got me into travel writing when I first read it many many years ago. (I really must reread it one day). It had a similar vibe in the way that he writes about the place he has settled and the people who live there too. There are pastiches of that book and caricatures of the people around him as well as the inevitable stories of renovating a really old building in another country. There are also parts of his past life as a publisher and a poignant tribute to his son.

[Beth Bonini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this book on one of Waterstones’ book tables and it caught my eye: after three years of renovation, I was preparing for the first proper summer at my own French house. This French-house owning memoir definitely belongs within a certain genre of which Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence is probably the best-known exemplar. There is less wine-drinking in it, though, and more material that could be described as “memoir” and not just Englishman Abroad. There are moments when the author adopts a similar comic tone, but there are also some properly moving and eye-moistening bits to it, particularly when he describes his son and father. Dolby is also good at describing the intense beauties of a sunset or a starry night or even a fig jam in his ancient Languedoc village.

There is something equal parts adventurous and feckless about buying an old house in France: it opens up your life to new experiences and new people, but it is also a source of (expensive) anxiety. The balancing act between those two states tips back and forth, and although the author shares more of his high points - there is always the shadow of the other. Since most old house owners (and renovators) also enjoying rescuing other old things, I particularly enjoyed the author’s tales of rescuing a French copper bath (which had been a planter in a Chelsea garden for ten years) and an ancient chandelier. It’s hard work, really - all that rescuing, and relocating - but sometimes the end result feels like it has incalculable value.

I would mostly recommend this book to people who own a house in France (or some other foreign location), or people who aspire or fantasise about doing such a thing. That certainly isn’t everyone, but it’s probably a fairly large percentage of readers.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected to enjoy this more than I did. Some of it was really intereseting but he can waffle and did bore me sometimes!

[Sophy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ermmm.

Well this was a very average read. Dolby has that "har har, aren't I funny" Dad joke type way of communicating which grates after a while.

The house and the village and the area of France sound beautiful but there was too much of Dolby's musings on people/random conversations/encounters at the shops/bars etc to get a complete feel for the place.

Overall a little disappointing. I'm glad this was a library loan.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cosy memoir of an English family’s time renovating an old home in France. An enjoyable read.

[William Davenport · Rating 5 out of 5]

First I'll tell you that I didn't read this book, I listened to it. And maybe that makes a difference. But unlike the 3.7 rating I saw when I signed in, I give One Place de l'Eglise a 5+ star rating. Possibly other's rated it lower because it wasn't what they were looking for which could be the standard kind of Peter Mayle travel memoir. You know, have the dream to get out and move to France, finally act on the dream, find a home, and then go through all the trials and travails of seeing your goal through to the end (or at least at a good stopping-off point). I love those books too, maybe because that is what I am in the middle of doing right now, but I really liked Mr. Dolby's slightly different approach. With him you really don't get wrapped-up in the construction project part of the story, you aren't covered in sawdust and grime or arguing about French plumbing. No, here the story is more about people. And the story dips back in time occasionally tying in Mr. Dolby's previous UK life (actually it seems it is still an ongoing UK life with France interspersed into the mix) with what he is doing now and how the past has shaped the present and future. I could go on but I'll leave the decision up to you. I'd certainly recommend you give it a try!

As an aside I recently finished La Vie, another fix up the old French property book and get ingrained with the locals. It to was great. The writing was top notch. And you'll never get as much information about planting, growing, bird song and more from this delightful gem.

Oh, and another aside, I am always recommending The Soong Dynasty to friends. My copy is pretty dog-eared I've loaned it to so many folks. It is the saga of a Chinese family, mainly spanning through the 1900's. I've yet to find one person who hasn't told me that they couldn't put it down.

[J4XK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trevor and his family share the tale of residing in the UK and dreaming of a home in Provence, however Provence is not attainable so they settle for Languedoc. The home is enchanted and carries a legacy of history and Trevor’s recanting of the trials and tribulations in acquiring the home, renovating the home and aligning to French customs is inspiring and whimsical to anyone who has dreamed of a home in the French countryside. My condolences to the loss of his son George which leaves a poignant taste in the last few pages but overall quite a great book to read on the weekends, evoking a sense of escapism and French culture.

[Harmeen Puarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elegantly written and a surprise for how much I enjoyed this. Just as the author mentions that books are a cacophony of people and places in his life, his book has now become sewn into what is a moment of change filled with both excitement and riddled with anxiety in mine. I often remember each story I read by the place I was at in my life when I read it and this will remain very special in mine .

The part about the bathtub made me smile and laugh to myself while reading . Trevor eloquently evokes humour and many other senses as you read this.

[Helin-Mari Arder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olen üht otsapidi sarnast raamatut veel lugenud, mis näitab, et välismaalaste kogemused Prantsusmaa ja prantslastega on üsna sarnased, isegi kui inimesed täpselt samasse külakesse ei koli. Teost võib võtta kohati vaat et reisijuhina, sest siin on ka päris täpseid kirjeldusi kuidas ja kuhu pöörata, et mõnda kohta pärale jõuda. Õdus lugemine, mis aeg-ajalt annab mitmeid juhiseid mõne toimingu või sündmuse kohta. Kindlasti mõistlik lugemine neile, kes on peas heietanud mõtet Prantsusmaale asumisest. Place de l'Eglise number üks maja elanikud oskavad teile selle kohta häid soovitusi anda!

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really rate this nov. It starts off pretty decent but just becomes a rambling of drawn out stories. There is a fair bit of French that requires translating as no context is provided. I'd say the last quarter of the book was a little boring for me but each to their own and I'm sure some loved it in its entirety.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this simply because we too once bought a house in France - not so very far from the one named in the title - that needed rather a lot of TLC to make it habitable. So it was quite an enjoyable read with a big spoonful of nostalgia for me. But it wasn't a memorable one, and I turned to the last page without regret.

[Helen Ennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable booking, taking the reader off in lots of different directions: reflections on life, reminiscence, aspects of village life in France, career and personal insights. I particularly enjoyed it because it is about a part of southern France I have holidayed in myself. A very rich mix of ideas with sometimes funny, sometimes sad aspects.

[Ian Hills · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book, very well written. I would happily have given 5 stars but found it a little annoying to have to break off occasionally to look up French translations.
Looking forward to the sequel.

[Max Kinnings · Rating 5 out of 5]

One Place de l'Eglise is a rare treat. Funny and moving in equal measure, you can't help but be swept up in Trevor Dolby and his family's French oddysey. The writing is wonderfully evocative. As soon as I finished it, my wife read it and loved it too.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the evocation of time and place but be warned - the ending reduced me to tears.

[Susan Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad, but beautiful book.

[Odette Lattimer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful little gem of a book, well written and I love Trevor.

[James Greig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughly enjoyed this read. Very well written.

[Deirdre E Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trevor Dolby narrates :-)

[Irina Sokolova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful read, full of love, humour and sometimes beautiful sadness... highly recommended!