The Olive Farm

Author: Carol Drinkwater
Published: June 25, 2002 (Penguin)
Category: Memoir/Travel
Rating: 7/10

I hit one of those romance walls again, where I can't bring myself to read another romance and have to read something from a different genre. It's like sorbet in the middle of a meal for palate cleansing.

Carol Drinkwater is a British actress and writers, best known for her work playing James Herriot's wife in the UK television series based on his books. In The Olive Farm, she recounts her crazy decision to buy a rundown olive farm olive farm with her fiancé Michel, a French film/TV producer. They'd only known each other a few months and were living separately in France and England, and they weren't rich either, so all of Drinkwater's friends and families thought she was insane for considering the purchase.

Drinkwater's descriptions of life on an overgrown olive farm are beautiful and I know it sounds cliché, but they made me feel like I was standing on her terrace and looking over the wild olive trees and orchard in the heat of southern France. I loved her stories about harvesting the olives and the pressing process. The book isn't just about the olives, but also about her and Michel's growing love and becoming a family.

However, I was annoyed often with the obstacles Drinkwater described. Most of the time, it was about how they didn't have enough money, but I thought they threw their money around irresponsibly. Why buy all these flowers and hundreds of rose bushes when there are more important things to take care of, like a leaking roof? While it is so romantic to buy this house on impulse, I kept thinking that the two of them weren't prepared for owning a summer home that needed so much work. During the summer, Michel flew down from Paris every weekend to be there, and oftentimes, Drinkwater would fly there from England. Just think of all the money spent on airfare!