EXPERT Tursday


Villeréal’s annual bodega attracts thousands of merrymakers


annual bodega in the village, where the entire centre is blocked off to traffic, food and drink stalls are everywhere and 18 different groups, marching bands, dance troupes, acrobats and entertainers have been booked from 6pm to the small hours. We’re expecting over 5,000 people which, for a town of only a thousand, is a very big deal indeed. I, however, will get an early night.


FRIDAY I walk into town mid-morning feeling much better. The square is calm, there’s no litter or breakages, and almost no people. Our street cleaning staff have excelled themselves again, just in time for this afternoon’s vintage car rally, tomorrow’s market and Sunday’s brocante. Villeréal has a well-earned reputation as the liveliest village in the area all year round, and it takes a lot of effort from a lot of people to make it look so effortless. Charlotte joins me for a


coffee overlooking the market hall and church. “So you’re not working today then, Neil?” and I reply I am not, I’m focusing on getting better and staying away from computer screens till Monday, as they are still giving me headaches. “That’s probably all for the


best,” she says, before adding “so you’ll be able to finish my pergola this weekend!”. ■


pain up my back. “How about Charlotte’s Shame?” I counter, in a perfectly reasonable foul mood under the circumstances. So she drives over another one. We arrive at our destination,


a barn for conversion, but not like any conversion I’ve done before. The building sits on the rim of a bowl valley with the most perfectly idyllic view over the fields and woods beyond. My client, a sports car collector, has asked for a contemporary design with plenty of glass to take in the view and an integral four-car garage visible from the sitting room, more of an art gallery than a garage like mine (or probably yours, dear reader) which is full of bikes, firewood, recycling bins and a fridge freezer but absolutely no cars.


“Villeréal has a well-earned reputation as the liveliest year-round village in the area”


I’ve come up with an


upside-down design with the bedrooms dug into the hillside, one of them with a grassed roof forming a lawn for the open- plan kitchen diner upstairs. Up-to-the-minute frameless glass balustrades keep the view uninterrupted while stopping people falling into it. It’s a rare opportunity to flex my design muscles and I’m pleased with the way I’ve responded to the brief. Let’s see what the client has to say about it…


THURSDAY A mixed response as it turned out; he was enthusiastic about the design, less so about the expected cost. But he bravely told me to continue and he would try to find another piggy bank to smash. Charlotte let me sleep on the way back, I’m still not right after my fall and she avoided as many potholes as she could. So, I’m taking the rest of the


day off to recover, all the more necessary as tonight is the


Vintage vehicles in a vintage village FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS:November/December 2023 73


Neil Vesma’s architect practice is at Villeréal near Bergerac Tel: 0033 (0)6 75 84 71 76 neilvesma.com


Friday


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