France This Way...the blog!!

(Note: before you read this I should mention that you can visit the main site to discover the ‘most beautiful village in France‘)

It’s always very interesting watching our town (Villereal) change as time goes by – change is slow but continuous. There is usually a side-street closed while a house is being renovated, or a little shop somewhere being revived after years of neglect.

Just five years ago it was quite different – plenty of gloomy and dusty shoe shops and fabric shops and little provision for tourists – but these are slowly changing into posh shops, restaurants and estate agents. And following a fire last year our magnificent medieval market hall has been refurbished and now looks very splendid. Slowly but surely Villereal is going upmarket!

Many of the other towns in the area are classified ‘most beautiful villages in France’, including Monflanquin, Monpazier and Pujols and several along the Dordogne River. With the possible exception of parts of Provence (eg the Luberon) I think we have a higher number of these classified villages than anywhere else in France.

This classification often results in a town centre becoming pedestrianised and beautified, and lots of the houses being sold as second homes to visitors who can afford to pay large amounts for renovations. So the towns become very beautiful, but a bit quiet out of visitor season.

Newsagents and bakers are pushed out of the town centre to make way for cafes and restaurants, and locals stop visiting the town centre.

I’m hoping our village can avoid this. It’s an active town all year round, and we still have cars in the town square, spoiling the photographs of visitors. We have newsagents, butchers and boulangeries creating a year round hum of activity. It’s much more of a living town than many in the region.

So when I’m asked, as I often am, why Villereal doesn’t apply to be a ‘most beautiful village in France’ I grimace a little. It will continue to change, that’s for sure, and might even become a ‘most beautiful village’ in due course, but not too soon I hope.

Each year there are more visitors than the year before, many then returning each year to the quiet gem that they have found or telling others of their discovery of the northern Lot et Garonne region. But coaches are still rare, and visitors are in small family groups who can pass half a day enjoying the town or sitting in the cafes.

A town changes when visitors arrive in coaches with a guide, pass 30 minutes on a whistle-stop walk around the central square, and then move on to the next place on the itinerary. And not for the better. Our town is one to enjoy slowly, to be absorbed and revisited.

If you are visiting our town (or any other), allow time to get lost down a little side-street, to look in the window of the butchers, and to sit in the square in the early evening with a glass of wine. I promise you’ll go home with happier memories of your visit than if you rush from one ‘most beautiful village’ to another, ticking them off on a list.

Nonetheless, I’m poised, ready to start the ‘Villereal is NOT a most beautiful village in France’ campaign just as soon as necessary. And of course if you’re looking for a Villereal gite I’ll be pleased to recommend my own!