Carol Drinkwater

The author describes how she and her husband purchased an abandoned olive farm in the south of France and how their hard work transformed it into a thriving, productive farm, bringing new peace and meaning into their lives.

A Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France

The Olive Farm

Lexie 

THE OLIVE FARM is television actress Carol Drinkwater's lyrical account of a new life in France; about her house Appassionata and the trials and tribulations of acquiring an olive farm, restoring it, farming the olives, overcoming the heartaches of taking on a 'new' French family and understanding slowly the workings and lifestyle of a vivacious Provencal community. THE OLIVE FARM opens the door on a bustling Mediterranean world using Carol Drinkwater's old abandoned villa as the gateway to it. The book explores the local landscape, the various al fresco jazz festivals, the colourful carnival in Nice, the local cuisine, meals around an oval wooden table, the cycle of olive farming and pressing, local wines, Carol's bizarre friendship with a toothless Arab gardener, hours whiled away in magnificent hammock lugged all the way from northern Brazil because its colours were an exact match for the slatted wooden shutters, and Picasso's museum at Antibes. It is a celebration of Appassionata and its wonderful olive-groved, sun-drenched world and its unlikely cast of characters.

A Love Story

Laura Mauler

Pierke Bosschieter

"All my life, I have dreamed of acquiring a crumbling, shabby-chic house overlooking the sea. In my mind's eye, I have pictured a corner of paradise where friends can gather to swim, relax, debate, eat fresh fruits picked directly from the garden and great steaming plates of food served from an al fresco kitchen and dished up on to a candlelit table the length of a railway sleeper..."When Carol Drinkwater and her partner Michel have the opportunity to buy 10 acres of disused olive farm in Provence, the idea seems absurd. After all, they don't have a lot of money, and they've only been together a little while. THE OLIVE FARM is the story of the highs and lows of purchasing the farm and life in Provence: the local customs and cuisine; the threats of fire and adoption of a menagerie of animals; the potential financial ruin and the thrill of harvesting their own olives - especially when they are discovered to produce the finest extra-virgin olive oil...

The Olive Farm A Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France

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