The FRENCH  dream. Such a romantic idea. A small stone-built farm. A few outbuildings, land and space to BREATHE. Somewhere to grow vegetables and fruits, maybe a few vines.  Perhaps rear a few animals.

At 35 years old, we had just started a FAMILY and we wanted to give our children a really special upbringing. So we took the plunge and bought our first home. A run down 16th Century Périgordian Farmhouse with some beautiful outbuildings, 10 hectares of land and the most beautiful view we could ever have dreamed of.

Some said we were BRAVE, others said we were MAD. Only time will tell who was right! We just Fell in LOVE with the place; the house, the local village, the valleys, the FLORA and FAUNA, the history and, of course, the architecture. Of course, having given up both of our jobs we knew we were going to have to get CREATIVE in order to make ends meet.

Fortunately, shortly after moving in we started noticing some very strange plantations growing nearby. They were composed of  HOLM OAKS peacefully swaying in the breeze and surrounded by beautiful terrestrial ORCHIDS. After asking some of the neighbours what they were, we were delighted to discover that our little farm was in fact built on top of a diamond mine. A Black Diamond mine.

HOME, potentially the birthplace, of the most famous truffle in the world, the BLACK DIAMOND, the Périgord Truffle (Tuber Melansporum) is a funny looking underground mushroom, prized for it’s captivating aroma that sells for around 1000 euros a kilo. We then realised that perhaps we should be growing some of these funny little evergreen oak trees too!

Just four months after moving in, and two months after the birth of our second son, we planted our first 50 inoculated truffle trees in the field just above our house - the perfect TERROIR for this notoriously elusive fungus. Thankfully, being surrounded by around 20 truffières (truffle plantations) and being lovingly nudged along by some of the locals, our hopes were high.