I found this the most absorbing of Carol Drinkwater’s reports from her Provence Olive Farm, a sink or swim account of attempting to free the farm and its inhabitants from the dangerous chemicals needed to bring an Olive crop to fruition, the culprit  - the olive fly who can devastate unprotected crops. It is the bees that point the way to the dangers, dying in their thousands, they lead the author on a quest to determine her future, stay or go, fight or give in. An absorbing read that reveals the state of organics in France, the stifling bureaucracy that growers have to deal with and behind the political rhetoric how little help to struggling organic growers is available.

 The Olive Farm series:

1. The Olive Farm
2. The Olive Season
3. The Olive Harvest
4. The Olive Route
5. The Olive Tree
6. Return to the Olive Farm

Like for Like Reading:
Je T’Aime à La Folie, Michael Wright
Instructions for Visitors: Life & Love in a French Town, Helen Stevenson

Synopsis

After sixteen months of travelling round the Mediterranean in search of the ancient secrets of the olive tree, Carol returns to her beloved olive farm in the south of France, to her husband Michel and his burgeoning family. However, the homecoming celebrations are overshadowed by disturbing discoveries. The plight of the honey bee has become an international crisis and Carol is faced with unsettling news about the hives on her own olive farm. While the multinational companies are pushing for 'bigger, better, bumper' crops, a small band of farmers and ecologists are calling for a halt to many of the modern farming malpractices that are endangering the planet. Carol is amongst them. But it puts her own farm, her idyll, under threat. At what point do you turn your back on all that you believe in and all that you have been fighting for? This is the story of how Carol and Michel struggle with some difficult choices, and how they decide to deal with the unavoidable disappointments and inevitable responsibilities that come with running an organic farm.

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About the Author

Carol Drinkwater was our Guest Editor in May 2011 - click here - to see the books that inspired her writing.   Best known for her role as Helen Herriot in BBC Television's All Creatures Great and Small (for which she was awarded The Variety Club Television Personality of the Year Award), Carol Drinkwater has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as both an actress and writer. During her acting career she has worked in film, television and theatre. Her credits include working with Laurence Olivier at the National Theatre and Stanley Kubrick on A Clockwork Orange. Carol is the author of six bestselling memoirs: The Olive Farm, The Olive Season, The Olive Harvest, The Olive Route and The Olive Tree and Return to the Olive Farm. Carol is currently working with UNESCO on a lavish documentary film series inspired by her two most recent books, THE OLIVE ROUTE and THE OLIVE TREE.   The series is both travel and history based and will follow an Olive Heritage Trail around the Mediterranean Basin. The aim is to celebrate the cultural heritage of this sacred tree.   Author Photo © Michel Noll More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation