Martin Calder (1)

A Year in Provence, but with an indecipherable dialect, and the author is the one doing all the hard work instead of paying locals to do it.

A Summer in Gascony is a travel book with a difference. It relates Martin Calder’s summer experience as a stagiare or temporary worker on a farm and auberge in the village of Peguilhan. His time was spent doing everything from cooking in the auberge restaurant to shovelling sheep poo to winnowing the grain.

Peopled with wonderful characters - Jaques-Henri the farmer and his long-suffering wife Marie-Jeanne; fascinating locals and a veritable host of interesting visitors - the book cannot show more help but hold you from beginning to end.

If you want an education with a difference in the history, geography, and culture of this little area of Gascony do not pass this interesting book by. Not only is Martin Calder a beautiful writer but you will also be rewarded by his talent as an artist - his lovely black and white illustrations are an added treat at the end of each and every chapter. show less