Customer Reviews

A Castle in the Backyard: The Dream of a House in France

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
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What a total delight this book is. After five years of visits to Provence, I decided on exploring the Dordogne. None of the guidebooks on the market connected me so much with an area as did this beautifully written volume by Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden. Their descriptive writing had me share their agonizing search for their dream house, slowly getting to know their neighbors, and especially their frustration of seeing the idyllic village turn into a tourist mecca. The ending came too swiftly. I could have enjoyed a few more chapters, a sort of never-ending story. Perhaps we will someday be blessed with a continuing volume.

Having driven through the Dordogne and being a closet Francophile, I was thrilled to read this book. A very easy and pleasant look at life in the French countryside. It's not so much about buying a home and the perils therein; it's not a string of amusing anecdotes -- it's really a wonderful memoir of finding a second home and making the community a second family. I'm ready to go buy my own piece of the dream in this gorgeous and intriguing part of France. If you are interested in French country living or the thought process of establishing a second home in Europe, you will enjoy this book.

The title might lead the reader to think that this book is about how to buy real estate in France. It does provide some very helpful tips in that regard, but the book goes well beyond buying real estate. The authors provide insight into how cultures can interreact. The book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the nuances of the French as well as getting eyewitness tour of the Dordogne region. The book is educational, poignant at times, funny at times and always a joy to read.

A Castle In The Backyard: The Dream Of A House In France is a wonderful memoir of Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden (both of whom are Professors of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison), who found their summer dream home to be a little stone house in the shadow of a great French castle. A Castle In The Backyard is highly recommended reading as a richly textured remembrance of a home and a land steeped in centuries of tradition and lore, as well as the eclectic and diverse variety of the people who embody its spirit.

For many people, the opportunity to travel the world is one of the great pleasures of life. You are able to experience different cultures, sample gastronomic delights, and see how others live. The ultimate adventure is to actually purchase a house in another country and live there part of the year. Most of us who regard a trip to Pewaukee or Door County as an exotic vacation will never experience this firsthand. We must content ourselves with books in the armchair travel genre. Authors such as Frances Mayes and Peter Mayle have enchanted readers for years with their adventures abroad. Recently two married local authors have released a book that stands with the very best of these travel books.

Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden are professors of English at UW-Madison. In 1985 they purchased a small house in the Perigord region of France. Every year since they have used it as their summer home. The end result of this is their excellent book, A Castle in the Backyard: The Dream of a House in France. It is filled with delightful stories of the village of Castelnaud, of fixing up their house, of eating the local delicacies, and of the charming inhabitants of the village. Essentially everything that is good about a travel memoir is in this book. There is great humor to be found here as well as perceptive thoughts about France and the French people. If you a traveler yourself or a fan of great travel literature, you owe it to yourself to read A Castle in the Backyard.

I read this book piece by piece on my commute to and from work. I read quite of few of the "escapist" books, especially the ones where one escapes to the south of France. This one was particulary enjoyable and engrossing. I constantly found myself complaining that my commute was too short. You really feel like you're there with them. The only bad aspect to the book is the fact that it makes me want to do the very same thing as them even more, and my means to do it hasn't improved! An absolute pleasure to read!

after watching the late news, I pick up A Castle in The Backyard as my reward after a long day. It's my escape hatch into the loveliest part of France! In my mind, I can experience life in a small French village with Michael and Betsy, visit the surrounding areas, gaze at the quietly meandering river, eat delicious meals, visit prehistoric caves and make new friends. Only after treating myself to a few chapters each night, can I go to bed happily and peacefully, just knowing that such a place exists. Whatever will I do when I finish this wonderful book? I suppose I'll just have to travel to the Dordogne myself!

very entertaining book about buying a vacation home in France. I love sw france--the food, the villages, the people. This book is about an American couple from Wisconsin--looking for a house in SW France-- buying a house and then living there for the summers. They become friendly with the residents of the small village. They tell of how they were invited to dinner parties ---the food that was served-- the people the conversations etc......Its great! I really enjoyed it.

Like Mayle's YEAR in PROVENCE and Mayes' UNDER the TUSCAN SUN, this title follows a couple through the pleasures and pitfalls of buying a vacation home in a lovely, exotic locale. Draine and Hinden, both professors at UW Madison, purchase a home in southwest France. Much more low-key than the Mayle and Mayes books mentioned, CASTLE in the BACKYARD has considerably fewer pages devoted to construction pitfalls and perils as well as a cast of much less colorful characters. All in all, CASTLE seems like a much more realistic story than other tales of buying a dream home in a dream location, which in my opinion, made this tale a bit less compelling a read.

This book is a charming joy. The authors' successful search for a modest summer home in France will take the reader on their own dreamy journey, exploring what it would be like to live in a French country village and to succeed in making friends with the villagers. Great insights into what rural French folks are really like, and how to make them your friends. The book also underscores the importance of finding what is truly important to you in your life.