Since I moved here five years ago house prices have gone up dramatically. Gone are the days when £100,000 would buy you a château and 70 acres. Now you’d be hard pressed to get a two-up two-down on a housing estate for less than that.

There is one notable exception though. Tucked away in the idyllic national park of the High Languedoc is a region where not prices are not only falling, but those trying to sell are finding it impossible to do so. This is because two local mayors were the only ones in the whole of the Hérault to agree to a landfill site right in the middle of the nature reserve.

Locals are facing the possibility of a hole in the ground stretching XX by XX and 30 trucks a day negotiating the windy roads through Medieval villages to get there.

Understandably they are up in arms. Simon Fletcher a landscape artist and architect has lived in the region for over 25 years. He is at the forefront of the local opposition group Pave dans la Mere. “

The site is apparently necessary because the region is 10 years behind the rest of France when it comes to recycling household waste. The plan is it will run for eight years until the local councils have got it together to supply everyone with bins which they separate their rubbish into. According to local geologist Cornelius Mende, it is a terrible spot for such a site. “