We first went to Eourres, a little village perched in the mountains. It was known by my friend who had heard of it because a couple from our hometown had moved there. He had seen a reportage of them about 2 years ago and hardly remembered the name. We googled it, obviously, and found out at the time it was "only" 60 km away. It took us 1h30 to get there, as in this region, we don't count in km but in driving time. Indeed the roads are narrow and windy.

 

Eourres was known to be an alternative village. We could feel a difference as soon as we hit the village "door". A sign says: "visitors park and go by foot, this village is pedestrian friendly only". So we parked ! How about that for a good idea? We walked up the path to the village, only about 50 metres uphill. There, another sign says "Eourres, star-friendly village". Only later in the day figured we out that at some time in the evening all public lights are switched off, leaving it all dark, and in fact, full of stars, free of light pollution. It must represent rather nice energy saving at the same time. All along this path to get to the village, the inhabitants had all agreed on planting fruit trees. I can imagine in a few years only, each one of these trees will produce virtually free and at-hand's-reach yummy fruit, while walking from the carpark to your home. It has only been 50 metres, I feel I quite like this place and these people I haven't even met. Yet, I am on for many more surprises.

 

At the entrance of the village, there is a bus stop like area which shows all the anounces from the village, a co-carring board for outter travels, offers and demands of help, exchange, equipment and a free clothes box. Little things, yet it can make life more enjoyable and people more connected.

 

Here is indeniably some positive community building at work. We go around the little village, in search for the couple we knew nothing about. We finally find the woman and, sharing the same hometown, she is keen for a talk. We go in her family size straw bale and earthen plaster home they built for themselves.

 

Her and her husband had an interesting story-path. They had fought a ciment factory near our hometown in Belgium they happened to live by. It started to run its production burning toxic wastes, which was without any doubt polluting the air and the nearby inhabitants such as them. They fought 4 years doing all they could to tell the world about it, to change things, to try to stop the pollution and the health hazards it would produce on not only the nearby inhabitants but also the people living in homes built with the ciment containing traces of the toxic wastes. They fought long and hard. And when all resources had been thrown in the game, they decided just to leave and seek nature and to build a life that would make sense. Instead of fighting against something, they would ride the alternative: to create what one wants to see in the world. And so they did, sold their house, moved to the south of France, bought a little section in this perched alternative village, the first they heard of, and built themselves a strawbale home with earthen finishes, all the most natural and healthy. And they didn't stop there, now our host's husband is teaching the strawbale building codes as a job and they work on passing on norms about both straw bale building and earthen finishes in France, all of it in order to spread the natural building as a normality. They also started a primary school, a non-profit organization "Sens et autonomie" that gives training and conferences in permaculture and natural building among other very interesting things.