It’s a lifestyle thing!

The Gers - uncovering the little known pocket of south west France

Duck, fois gras, armagnac and the swashbuckling musketeer D’Artagnan, are some of the things Gers is best known for but then again, the department is not very well known at all! Not even by the French! 
Whilst it shares its natural beauty and long hot summers with the likes of Provence and Dordogne, with a headcount of just over 190,000, it’s the least populated region of France, possibly Europe with around 30 people per km square. It is why those who live here enjoy a true sense of peace, calm and tranquillity.

Let there be light

At certain times of the year, the light is extraordinary. Long shadows are cast by a soft amber hue that wraps itself warmly around Gers’ valleys and hillsides setting its charming sandstone buildings a-glow. It’s a feast for the eyes as well as the soul and why so many artists and creatives are drawn here, each taking inspiration from their surroundings. 
The lushly landscaped region sits a couple of hours north of the Pyrénées and both the Atlantic and the Med can be reached within 3 hours. There’s a speedy train from Agen in the north, just over the border in the Lot et Garonne. It gets you to Paris in under 3.5 hours. 
As to airports, depending on where you are in a department that spans 60 miles east to west, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Tarbes are the closest, each between a 1.5 and 2 hour drive. Bergerac and Carcassonne are also options depending on the time of year and the destination.

Summer’s lease is not at all short

The winters are short and rarely brutal and spring skips into action towards the end of February with autumn stretching itself out until temperatures start to dip in November. This is when wood or pellet burners come in to their own and the opportunity to cosy up inside is no great hardship, There is rain, there needs to be to support the crops, but it’s sporadic, not seemingly endless like in parts of the UK!
Come the spring, Gers wakes up. There are roses festivals and fetes such as at Blaziert and the Plus Beau Village of La Romieu just outside Condom (incidentally six Gascon villages fall into this ‘oh so pretty’ and ‘well worth a visit’ category).

Scratching the itch for flea markets

Lovers of antiques and 'old stuff' will be spoilt for choice with a cornucopia of rummaging opportunities. Fources, an exceptional medieval destination complete with chateau and moat, kicks off its bi-monthly brocante in April when its central rather circular ‘square’ brims with stalls pedalling antiquities and bric-a-brac. For people just setting up house, it is a treasure trove of unique French finds and curiosities as are the region’s many vide greniers (meaning 'empty attic') and vide maisons (empty house) with the latter held usually when people decide to sell up and move on.
There are flower festivals too and it is around springtime that serious attention is given to potagers (vegetable gardens). Most people even with the smallest amount of outside space seem to want to try their hand at growing food at home and yet the local produce markets are deliciously good!

Markets aplenty

You can visit a market pretty much every day of the week if you are prepared to travel. Owning a car is essential although driving around from village to village across ridges and through tree-lined roads is a joy and being stuck behind a tractor for a few minutes is par for the course,
Gers is a principally an agricultural area. There is no big industry and without any motorways or major roads running through it, it’s devoid of air and noise pollution. The soil is naturally rich, mostly clay-based and coupled with a mellow climate this ‘land of plenty’ produces all-year-round.

Little Tuscany

Its landscape is verdant and gently undulating and with the deliberate absence of hedges, you can see as far as the eye will allow adding to a feeling of space and tranquillity. 
Views, vistas and colours are continually changing as farmers rotate their crops from wheat to barley, sunflowers to oil seed rape.
Gers is affectionately known as ‘little Tuscany’ and it’s easy to see why. Cypress trees are dotted around the landscape, some stand tall like sentries, lining driveways to magestic chateaux, As well, at every turn you’ll glance a charming medieval village perched on a hilltop.

The choice is yours

So many medieval villages and bastide towns have an old-world Tuscan charm about them. There’s Sarrant, Lavardens, Larressingle, Montréal-du-Gers, La Romieu, Lectoure and Saint-Clair in the north, a section of the region often referred to as ‘the golden triangle’ such is its beauty.
 Further south you’ll find Simorre, Eauze, Castelnau-Barbarens and Bassoues. Auch is the capital and is where most of the prefecture-related paperwork takes place.
Each differs in terms of the style of the architecture and the services they offer from tabacs and boulangeries to doctors surgeries, gyms and cinemas. 
It is proximity to facilities like these that help determine the type of property people choose so that it suits their stage of life and way of life. A townhouse or village cottage, a farmhouse with land or a stately maison de maitre with elegant windows and high ceilings. These styles of home can all be found in the Gers. It’s simply a case of finding one that’s right for you!

You’ll also find genuine warmth from the locals, known as gersois or gersoises. They are friendly and patient particularly when it comes to deciphering badly spoken French usually by just arrived anglo gascons! And, given their laid-back nature, it seems they too are enjoying life in the slow lane!