...in Saint-Aignan. We had been here less than a year, and had sold our San Francisco house exactly one year earlier. An old friend from California was visiting, and I remember that the weather was especially nice right then. This morning it's cold here, and again the weather forecasts say to expect rain most days next week.
The population of Saint-Aignan has declined over the past 20 years, from 3,500 to 2.900. I think that's because everybody has a car these days, and people want to live in the countryside rather than in a crowded town. More and more houses are being built all around the area, and the population of our
département (county) overall, which is centered on the small city of Blois, has grown over the past 20 years.
The population of Saint-Aignan has declined over the past 20 years, from 3,500 to 2.900. I think that's because everybody has a car these days, and people want to live in the countryside rather than in a crowded town. More and more houses are being built all around the area, and the population of our département (county) overall, which is centered on the small city of Blois, has grown over the past 20 years.
I wonder if the prevalence of working virtually, from home, is part of the reason for the more recent rise in population in the countryside. Also, just the accessibility to so many things, thanks to the Internet, that you used to be cut off from if you lived in the countryside (mostly in terms of buying, I guess).
ReplyDeleteI'm not much in touch with the current work world. I don't know how many people in France work at home. I'm sure the internet has made many more things accessible. It certainly has for me. I wouldn't be as happy living here if I didn't have a good internet connection. I spend hours every day on line.
DeleteI wouldn't mind living in the town as long as I had a small garden. The size of St. Aignan certainly seems manageable.
ReplyDeleteSaint-Aignan covers 18.5 sq. km. (seven sq. miles) of land and has a population density of 153 people per sq. km. The village we live in has about 14 sq. miles and a population density of 36 per sq. km. A lot of its land is planted in grapevines. Still, and lot of new houses have been built here over the past 20 years. There are many more gîtes and AirBnB rentals now than there were 20 years ago. The same is true of Saint-Aignan.
DeleteMany apartments in Saint-Aignan are being converted to vacation rentals for people who want to go to the Beauval zoo and also see the Loire Valley châteaux. The people who rent them have restaurants an cafés withing walking distance, and I think there are shuttles that they can take out to the zoo so the don't have to worry about parking.
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