“Every home should have at least a pair of Cypress trees at the entry. One at either side of the gate, so that when you cross your threshold, the boughs brush the outside world and all its troubles from your shoulders.
“It’s rare to see a home here without Cypress trees to welcome you. They symbolize sweeping away all external concerns and worries.
“You’re home… leave the rest at the gate.” This was the explanation Robin gave me about these ubiquitous trees as we villa-hopped across Gascony in the Gers region of southwest France. Most homes here, even the most modest, are entered via a long driveway, bordered by Cypress on both sides. If not anallée, there are always at least those two token trees for this reason.
As we passed through his own gate of Cypresses and pulled into his villa’s courtyard, thunder rolled endlessly over the hills in the distance, unaccompanied by any visible clouds, rain, or lightning.
Some unseen storm is playing out somewhere nearby… but in the valley Villa Traddure is nestled in, the sun shines bright, warming the stone patio and the pool. I’m glad for a sunhat even in early June.
Minutes later, a glass of chilled wine in hand, I swing in the hammock, watching butterflies and bees dance around the flower beds that easily rival botanical gardens I’ve visited.
This is how Robin and his wife Clare spend their days… or at least their weekends and evenings.
Indeed, the Dunipaces keep plenty busy during the day, with renovations underway in the villa when I visited. A big family visit is expected shortly after my departure (meaning the work needs to be done on time), and Robin has been working the last few years to create a holiday rental company that has organically branched out into offering relocation assistance to future expats. When they invited me down for a tour, singing praises of their adopted part-time home, a place Robin described as “the Tuscany of France,” and everything it could offer expats or retirees like themselves, I leapt at the chance.
