I moved to France in January 2000, whilst still young enough to enjoy it. I had spent most of my working life in the conference business and travelled all over the world.
Life here is wonderful - short winters and long summers. And with so much space around us to breathe deeply with no pollution. You should see the night skies!
I live a quiet life with my dog and three cats. After some reflexion I have realised that our nature is disappearing because of our gardening and farming methods. So, now, much of the garden has been left for the wild flowers and weeds to proliferate and the garden is full of tens (if not hundreds) of species of butterflies, moths, lizards etc and there are deer and hare in the garden first thing in the morning. At night, we have bats and glow worms and several species of owl. I even spotted a turtle dove last week. So, yes, I have a wild garden - but still lots of room for badminton and croquet.
I have also converted the smaller of the two swimming pools into a wildlife pond planted with water lilies and other aquatic plants. Some goldfish and a carp were put in two years ago and now there are many more! Such fun to watch and they feed from the hand.
I live on-site and I am here to help, but never to intrude.