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The eyebrows shot up.
'We had two grape vines in the garden,' I added quickly.
His eyes popped out.
'What about an agricultural degree?' he asked.
'No, we have masters degrees in economics and finance,' I said.
Ellie watched him suspiciously, sensing his discomfort, while he made urgent notes on the
page in front of him.
'How many employees do you have helping in the vineyard and winery?' he asked at last.
'None. We can't afford employees. Anyway, the property is small enough for Sean to farm
on his own.'
'Not even part-time?' he gasped, wedging his hand under his chin to stop his mouth from
gaping open.
'No... But we have a neighbour who is giving us lots of useful advice,' I said hoping to
save him from cardiac arrest. 'He told us to contact you.'
His eyebrows were now within a whisker of his hairline. There were a few minutes of
silence wherein he sought to regain control of his facial parts. Ellie watched him intently,
finding the drama of his expressions very entertaining.
'There is nothing we can do to help you,' he said eventually, delivering a massive blow to
our hopes of aid money to help keep our leaking ship afloat.
Seeing my dismay he tried to explain his position.
'You need an agricultural degree from a French university to get onto the young farmer
aid programme, or you need to do a university equivalent programme in Périgueux.'
I started to ask something about the programme.
'It's in French,' he said, stopping me in my tracks and making it clear he didn't consider
my language skills up to the level required.
'I thought your organisation was here to help farmers, especially new farmers, like us,' I
said bitterly.
'I think there is someone who can help you in the vineyard. I'll give you the number for
Cécile Bernard, she's our vineyard advisor for your area.'
We thanked him despite feeling that we got nothing from the exchange except depression
at our lack of farming credentials. The young farmer programme opens the door to layer
upon layer of aid, something he didn't explain. By not being on it at the start, we were ex-
cluded from benefits that multiplied through the system.
Fortunately, we got more than we realised when Cécile Bernard became our advisor.
