THE dream of a sun-drenched life in a home surrounded by rolling meadows lured Evelyn and Robert Lund to the hidden hamlet of La Veaute in southern France.

For the former Darwen couple, a ramshackle yet picturesque farmhouse would be the perfect place to live out a long and happy retirement.

Animal-lover Evelyn, 52, sold her house for around £100,000 and took with her a monthly pension of more than £1,000, left to her by her first husband.

She would have enough space on the 75 acres for her entourage of pets - ponies, horses, chickens and cats - while the 400-year-old stone house, bought for just £44,000, would be perfect for her beloved - and growing - family.

The picturesque spot, protected from civilisation by a maze of country roads and shared only by a turreted chateau, was idyllic.

But the tragedy of Evelyn is that the dream turned into a nightmare which ended in her death.

The mother-of-three and grandmother-of-five was found dead at the bottom of a murky lake on the back seat of her 4x4 Toyota Landcruiser in October, 2001.

The macabre discovery came after a chance sighting when the lake had dropped to its lowest ever level - 18 months after she had been reported missing by her 51-year-old husband.

There are, as yet, no concrete conclusions as to what happened to Evelyn, the daughter of Roisin and Fred Wilkinson, of Cotswold Avenue, Rawtenstall.

And, tragically, the same can be said for how she died.

The couple's farmhouse, named by Robert as Fin Voyage, meaning Journey's End, was searched from top to bottom in April 2000 in a bid to answer some of the questions.

And the huge lake where she was found, lac de la Bancali, on the route out of Ralmont in the direction of Raysaac, Teillet and the couple's home, was the scene of the biggest police investigation ever to be carried out in the French Tarn region.

The inquiry, carried out on both sides of the Channel, is still on going.

Forensic experts continue to study the body and vehicle in Paris. In Castres the public prosecutor, chief investigating officer and gendarmes work behind closed doors to find some answers.

But the death of the lady in the lake remains a mystery.

No one line of inquiry has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Was it accident, suicide or murder? The police still don't know.

Husband Robert, a former tree protection officer for Blackburn with Darwen Council, has lived under the finger of suspicion.

He admits he is the prime suspect and was taken into custody at the nearest town by gendarmes in Castres in both April 2000 and December 2001, and quizzed at length over his wife disappearance.

But both times he was released without charge.

He has always maintained his innocence - even mounting a campaign with local friends to get the case of his wife, known to him tenderly as 'Ev', moved forward.

For years he had lived in a Darwen council house in Anyon Street with regular contact with his brother in Rochdale.

His first childless marriage to Stephanie Bufton-Wood ended in divorce after 12 years and he lost both his parents to heart problems by the age of 25.

The last person who is believed to have seen Evelyn alive is her best friend in France, Marianne Ramsey, who lives with second husband Alan in nearby Lombers.

According to Marianne, 58, Evelyn was a positive woman - inspired to move forward with her life - the day she disappeared.

At this stage in the inquiry there are still more questions than answers in the public domain.

But one thing is certain, Evelyn was a well-loved and caring woman, and she herself would never have predicted before moving to France, that her Fin Voyage would be an untimely death.