Marshes in Charente
The Marsh family Andrew, Hilary and their four daughters Alexandra, Alycia, Eléonore and Hannah lived on their dairy farm in Newport, Shropshire, England, until December 1998 when major changes came to their life. If any one had said to us in January 1998 that we all would be living in France by the end of that year we would not have believed them. Andrew and Hilary had first thought about living in France some eight or nine years previous. However the time was not quite right then and the idea was put on the back burner, and only thought about in dreams. We continued to spend our holidays in France, keeping in touch with our friends and enjoying the French way of life.
Agriculture then became so difficult for the family in England, and with other factors taken into account, and after much thought, that once again we turned our thoughts to living and farming in France, and making our dreams come true. After much heart searching and careful consideration about taking the family away from friends and family and starting a new and exciting life we decided that we would investigate this idea.
We first came to look at farms in France in July 1998, with our agent George Lidbury Eurofarms, during the few days that we were in France we saw five farms ranging from the Vosges to Normandy to down into the Charente and then into the Creuse. There was a mixture of types of farms from suckler beef cattle to dairy and arable.
We came back to England with much to think about, enthusiastic with what we had seen. We liked two of the dairy farms that we had seen these were in Normandy and in Charente both farms had plus and negative points. We decided that we needed to see the one in the Charente again as this was the one that we really liked although it was farther away from the ports.
After a little more investigation we realized that if we were serious about being a young farmer in France then time was very short, and that we needed to make up our minds very quickly. We needed to be installed before 19th December 1998. It was a pleasant feeling to know that we were wanted and that we would be valued members of the community. So different from England, where farmers were and still are the bogey men and the government does not care about rural issues.
People were very helpful and put themselves out to make this deadline possible. So our date for taking up the farm at La Vergne Grand Madieu was 16th December 1998. It was decided that the family farm would be sold and that the young Marshes would take the challenge of moving to France. So The Marshes in Charente were born.
After spending the winter renovating La Commanderie we welcomed our first guests at
Gites at La Vergne in March 1999 since then we have renovated La Petite Maison and launched bed and breakfast in The Chambres d'Hotes Annexe .
Today entering our eighth year everyone is still telling us that we did the right thing, compared to farming in England. We do not regret our move and we enjoy live to the full. We take an active and full part in our community. To be honest from time to time one can feel isolated living in such a rural location, however we do not feel that this presents a problem for us, as we all enjoy each other's and our own company. We insist that there is time and energy to spend exploring our hobbies and recreational activities. We have made many new friends.
