Icy morning walk around Loubejac

IT has struggled to get above freezing across most of France this past week, here in the south of the Dordogne morning temperatures of -9C have almost become the norm.

But with the snow and ice meaning little traffic on the road, the school bus has not run for the past two days, there is a chill stillness to the countryside.

With wisps of smoke rising from chimneys and a small herd of cows huddled around a bale of straw, you feel a long way from the busy world of the 21st century.