A mountain dweller or montagnarde as they say in French, it what I became after a move from UK suburbia to Alpine pastures, or from shops to sheep as it were.
I arrived in deepest, darkest rural France for a spell of 2 months as an au pair, after which I should have returned home to look for a “proper job”. 19 years later, I now have two kids and live on the farm which has been in my husband’s family for generations. My parents-in-law live about 7 metres away (the other side of the courtyard) and our nearest village, home to 200 souls, still has some catching up do with the rest of the country.
My husband looks after 280 sheep and enough land to make the farm self-sufficient. I have a part-time job and help out on the farm when the work requires zero-ability. Most days my feet don’t touch the ground. Bienvenue!
The mountain dweller 