If its something different you are after, then look no further. Pack your bags and head off towards the tiny village of Junas-Aujargues, 10 miles to the west of the magnificent Roman city of Nimes in the hot and balmy department of the Gard in southern France. And once there make your way to the old railway station, now converted into a restaurant by its proud owner, Peio Rahola, who bears more than a passing resemblance to that burly and bearded king of the tenors Placido Domingo. Then tuck into the delicious Catalan cuisine of Can Peio: escalivada by way of entrée (red peppers, aubergines and onions soaked in olive oil), morue des nonnes catalanes (cod with spinach, pine-nuts and raisons) for the main course, followed by rhubarbe aux fraises et à la menthe (rhubarb served with strawberries and mint) for dessert. All served up with a smile via the hatch of the old ticket office and into the main dining area, once a waiting room for passengers on the now defunct Nimes-Le Vigan line.

Rahola is one of a growing number of French property buyers tired of paying extortionate prices for small, shoddily constructed apartments, setting up home and shop alike in disused railway stations instead. Large or small, rural or urban, old terminals have thus been enjoying a new lease of life in France, Rahola just one of many hopping aboard for the great station sell-off, his restaurant hidden amid a dense tangle of olive groves and vineyards. This extraordinary chef-cum-entrepreneur is quick to point out that it hasn’t been all plain sailing, so to speak. But he must certainly be doing something right. Why else would one athletic customer have pumped his handcar along the rails all the way from Nimes in order to lunch there, the telltale squeaking of his vehicle drowned out by a symphony of cicadas?

Peio Rahola knows all about cicadas. And so he should too. A professional entomologist by training, he spent 12 years working in various research laboratories in the south of France before being informed that due to cutbacks in government funding his services would no longer be required. Which in turn meant signing on the dole. Not a particularly pleasant predicament for a 30 year old married man with a 2½ year old son.

He might well have grown up in the north of France - but Catalan flows through every bone in his large frame. Fleeing from Fascism and Franco his parents were political refugees who, having left their homeland through circumstances rather than choice, went out of their way to recreate the world they had left behind. This included not just speaking Catalan at home but a daily diet of anchovies, aubergines, peppers and olives.

Almost a decade ago Rahola was looking for suitable premises in which to begin his new catering venture, when a friend informed him that the station at Junas was for sale.

"When I saw it for the first time it was sad and sinister, dingy and dark. The walls were black, water was running everywhere, creepers covered the building - after all it hadn’t been lived in for almost a quarter of a century - well, it just looked awful. Anyway I went to the local mairie and asked a few questions. I don’t really know why. Out of curiosity, I guess. They told me to contact the SNCF. When I returned with my wife to view it for a second time, it all seemed so different. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining - there just seemed to be a magical atmosphere - the high ceilings, the ticket office and so on. And in my mind’s eye I could see my restaurant right away. Then I was informed about the price - 300,000 francs (£30,000). It was so cheap I went and signed for it right away."

Not that it was an overnight success. Far from it. The restaurant was extremely remote and difficult to access. Tucked away just a stone’s throw from the sleepy town of Sommières, it is hardly the sort of place you are likely to stumble upon by chance. Nor was Rahola’s Catalan cuisine, tasty though it be, known or appreciated in the area, least of all by the local population, who tended to view the couple as eccentric outsiders. Then the banks, initially enthusiastic about the prospect of funding the restoration of the old railway station, had a change of heart and on several occasions threatened to pull the plug when they totted up the desultory daily takings, especially during the quiet winter months.

"What saved us was an article in the Midi Libre", Rahola recalls with a large sigh of relief. "Because from that moment on we became known. Whereas on some Sundays we were doing 2 places for lunch - well - suddenly we went up to over 30."

Although railway stations have been on sale since the 1930s in France, in the past 5 years the SNCF - French national railways - has seen a surge of interest from buyers anxious to escape the rat race and move into spacious locations in the countryside, but without spending large sums of money, dozens of properties having been sold this year. As for the Raholas’ station at Junas, it was built in 1882, a typical whistle-stop on the old P.L.M. (Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean) lines. These were the heydays of the railways - there were lines everywhere - all around the nearby Cévennes and Camargue. In fact at one time there used to be no less than 42 trains per day at Sommières - now there are none. Then came an additional blow for Rahola when representatives from the SNCF came along to reclaim the old railway lines themselves, selling off the metal as scrap to Korea.

"If there is anyone else out there thinking of buying a disused railway station and converting it into a restaurant" he concludes, "I would say go for it. After all, life is short, and you have to pursue your dream - even if others might brand it as a folie. Do be warned though - running a restaurant is bloody hard work. Long hours and with often little in it remaining for you."

If, having read Rahola’s health warning, anyone remains interested in purchasing a property (some of the best are to be found in Brittany and around Montpellier), then start scanning the local papers - or make contact with the SNCF. Do not delay though - with less than 2,000 railway stations left, treasure hunters should hurry while stocks last.