Return to the Olive Farm

After sixteen months of travelling round the Mediterranean in search of the ancient secrets of the olive tree, Carol returns to her beloved olive farm in the south of France, to her husband Michel and his burgeoning family. However, the homecoming celebrations are overshadowed by disturbing discoveries.

The plight of the honey bee has become an international crisis and Carol is faced with unsettling news about the hives on her own olive farm. While the multinational companies are pushing for 'bigger, better, bumper' crops, a small band of farmers and ecologists are calling for a halt to many of the modern farming malpractices that are endangering the planet. Carol is amongst them. But it puts her own farm, her idyll, under threat. At what point do you turn your back on all that you believe in and all that you have been fighting for?

“I found this the most absorbing of Carol Drinkwater's reports from her Provence Olive Farm, a sink or swim account of attempting to free the farm and its inhabitants from the dangerous chemicals needed to bring an Olive crop to fruition.”

A spellbinding memoir

CHOICE
A passionate book about confronting difficult environmental issues GOOD BOOK GUIDE

Drinkwater is a rare writer who tackles other people brilliantly...Vibrant, intoxicating and heart-warming

SUNDAY EXPRESS

One cannot resist Drinkwater's courage and joie de vivre, nor the enormous appetite and enthusiasm for her subject

-- Wendy Holden DAILY MAIL

The new leader of the pack

THE TIMES

She writes so well you can almost smell the sun-baked countryside

BELLA

Beautifully written with a great sense of humour, it captures perfectly the dreamy atmosphere of the South of France and its people

WOMAN & HOME
I love Carol Drinkwater's Olive Farm series about her life in Provence. I read them on the beach, thinking how wonderful a summer in France would be -- Jane Brown GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
-- Sue Baker LOVEREADING.CO.UK
A passionate book about confronting difficult environmental issues. GOOD BOOK GUIDE

Actress Carol Drinkwater is best known for her role as Helen Herriot in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. Also an accomplished novelist, she has achieved bestselling status with her much-loved memoirs, The Olive Farm series. She is currently working with UNESCO on a lavish documentary series inspired by THE OLIVE ROUTE and THE OLIVE TREE.

After sixteen months of travelling round the Mediterranean in search of the ancient secrets of the olive tree, Carol returns to her beloved olive farm in the south of France, to her husband Michel and his burgeoning family. However, the homecoming celebrations are overshadowed by disturbing discoveries.The plight of the honey bee has become an international crisis and Carol is faced with unsettling news about the hives on her own olive farm. While the multinational companies are pushing for 'bigger, better, bumper' crops, a small band of farmers and ecologists are calling for a halt to many of the modern farming malpractices that are endangering the planet. Carol is amongst them. But it puts her own farm, her idyll, under threat. At what point do you turn your back on all that you believe in and all that you have been fighting for?

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