From the end of the XVIIIc the population declined. Even the arrival of the railway and the porcelain industry didn't help and agricultural mechanisation further reduced the essentially peasant inhabitants, down from 985,000 in 1891, to 730,000 in 1962. In the first world war 110,000 men from the Limousin were killed, one and a half times the national average, mostly young and the fathers of children who were never born. The legacy persists. The Haute Vienne is the least fecund department in France; in 1993, 140 communes in the Limousin registered no births, but recently, attracted by low property values, (and an agreeable ambiance, to which we can testify), people,admittedly often retired, are immigrating to a region which will increasingly depend on tourism.

Yet, in such a rural setting, many folk traditions, even some superstitions redolent of Georges Sand (who spent much time in the Creuse), have managed to survive into the 21st century. The ancient folk songs, called 'chabrettaires', still ring out at local fetes. Fascinating and serene, rich yet unspoilt, the Limousin offers its own brand of quality time. Finally, though the region is the least industrialised in France, there is no more high-tech factory than that of Legrand. which has hundreds of patents in electronics, and the Limousin has also produced the most important Frenchman of all, the President of the Republic!