My wife and I live in the southwest of France just north of the city of Pau and the Pyrenees mountains. We have converted a farmhouse and barn into accommodation and we run various creative courses and rent out the barn as a gite. The land of over five hectares is mainly flat and surrounds the house; there is a wood of about an acre and a plantation of around 400 mature trees so we are self-sufficient in fuel for the two woodburners. There is a large vegetable plot which is very productive. The two large fields are covered in grass and wild flowers - we get around 40 large bales in two cuts each year. The land is organic as nothing has been put on it for at least 30 years - the farmers around us grow maize and have a few cows. We are considering selling up and buying something a bit smaller this year.