French Life-expat France

The region around us in the valley of the Dropt River was little developed during centuries gone by, which helps explain its natural beauty. This lack of development was in part because of the natural character of the soil - there is typically a 30 centimetre layer of soil on top of a dense thick layer of clay.

When it rains this means that water can saturate the topsoil and go no further, so instead it flows through the soil across the surface of the clay until it settles in the nearest valley. This can create a slightly disturbing sound as you walk across a field as you can literally hear the water rushing underfoot, but you can’t see it.

In the past these soil conditions meant that tracks and roads frequently became impassable due to flooding, which hindered transport and hence industrial development. Even the most enthusiastic horse and cart struggles to get through 30cm of mud. As it turned out this lack of development was a good thing from a tourism point of view!

However it does still bring its problems, and many roads still flood at their lowest point once or twice a year.

Our house and gites are on a hill so we don’t have a particular problem. In fact it can make things look very pretty as the valley below floods and we suddenly find we have a ‘lake side view’ instead of a ‘country side view’.

But if you have bought yourself (or are planning to buy yourself) an attractive mill on the river - and the old mills are some of the most attractive buildings in the region so you might well be tempted - and spent loads of money beautifully renovating and restoring it, you would be less than happy this morning as you gaze out of the window to see the river rising around you and your house slowly disappearing under a torrent of water.

Generally developers have shown good sense and not built new houses in flood regions, and have planted loads of poplar trees to help control the flooding problem - poplars are very good at removing water from soil apparently, and are also tolerant of sitting in water for the occasional week or two.

But we do know of several old houses which get flooded every year, so be warned before you buy a quaint house next to a lake or river, or perhaps in the bottom of a valley, that you need to leave space for a boat in the garage next to the car, and keep a fishing rod to hand for those days when you can’t make it to the shops.

That idyllic river picture at the top of this post, by the way, is a road near here - taken today and currently under 60 cm of water.