Turn Mill, Turn: The Story of an Anglo’s Attempt to Restore a Mill in Southwestern France

"Turn, Mill, Turn" recounts the cautionary tale of author Alan J. Yates's bid to restore a mill in southwestern France. We all have our dreams-our castles in the sky. Some of them have been harbored for a long time in the deepest recesses of the soul. Most of these dreams may never be fulfilled. During the long, cold Canadian winters, Yates dreamed of resting his weary bones in a sleepy little village in southwestern France. He longed to spend his retirement writing in a restored water mill, inspired by Schubert Lieder and romantic literature. Fluent in French after living for two decades in Quebec, Yates set out to realize his dream. He expected to blend seamlessly into French rural culture. But things don't always go as planned, and his long-pursued dream turned into a nightmare of bureaucracy, escalating costs, outrageous local characters, gossip-mongering, and outright bigotry. What should have had all the makings of an enchanting "Year in Provence" turned into a bitter, yet hilarious introduction to French rural life closer to a contemporary but outsider's version of Chevalier's classic satire on French village life, "Clochemerle-les-Bains."