Living part time between our homes in Australia and France over the last ten years has given my family the chance to see and do lots of things that we'd never dreamt of even doing before we bought our French holiday home in our farming village of Brittany.
We've shared snippets of our French Life over the last few years on the blog and in this article I've put a number of stories together to give you our very honest experience of the good, the bad and the honestly weird side of living in France. Enjoy ...
12 Years of Living in France
You may know that recently I spent time at my second home in Brittany, France and if you follow my blog or social channels, you'll know it's been some time since I was there due to Covid travel restrictions imposed by the Australian Government.
I spent time with friends, worked hard cleaning and doing jobs around the house and garden, as well as a good amount of antique furniture shopping and I visited some charming little villages not previously explored by our family. While there I also reflected on what the last twelve years in France has meant to our family and how it has changed our lives. I thought I'd share my reflections with you all.
French Village Life and Making New Friends
This story is how we meet one of our neighbours in an unlikely way when Paul (my husband for any new readers) got sick. It was was driving me crazy. Normally, I am quite a kind and understanding person but in these circumstances I was a bit short of empathy and well, a wee bit cranky.
Let me explain, every time we head to France to reside in our second home, we have plans of what house maintenance work we will do, gardening projects that we'll complete, new villages or towns we'll visit with the kids and catch up dates with our friends.
The French Resistance in Côtes d'Armor
Once we left Germany and the further west we headed into France we noticed the increasing stares of pedestrians and other drivers towards us. I couldn’t work it out as I didn’t think we screamed “tourist” from within a vehicle.
Fair enough when we all piled out of the car to get supplies from the boulangerie (bakery) or fill up with fuel at the Carrefour petrol pumps and open our mouths, we told the world we were tourists, but otherwise, what was with the stares! And apart from being tourists we were not doing anything noteworthy, different or illegal.
Monsieur All About and His French Aixam Car
Living in France continually surprises us with the new things we learn. Let me tell you about one of the men in our village called Monsieur Yves, or as we dubbed him, Monsieur All-About. Monsieur All-About drives a very tiny car, which we later learned was an Aixam. Monsieur All-About seemed to drive in circles around the villiage all the time. Round and round he went.
We'd see him drive past our house, drive past the local shop and make a turn at the intersection either choosing left or right. We'd see him again a short time later regardless of his left or right turn, and this time he'd stop at the shop and pick up a baguette, and then be on his merry way.
The Funnier Side of Living in France - Too Much Toilet Paper
Do you run out of toilet paper at your home? We do. That is, we do at home in Australia but not at home in France. In fact, in France we have way too much loo paper. Why this anomaly you are wondering?
Well, it all started nine years ago. Yep, that’s right we have had too much loo paper for nine years in France.
I’ll fill in the details because this incredible excess stemmed from actually being highly organised people, not weird toilet paper collectors.
When You Wish Upon A French Lavoir
Our village has its own lavoir and fountain on the easterly outskirts and it was a constant point of interest for our children when they were much younger. On our first trip to the house, when we were moving in, we found an old photo showing the village deeply covered with snow and our imaginations went wild with white Christmas images [...]
Our French Life: The Unwanted Guest
Having a holiday home in the French countryside is a wonderful thing. We experience at a grass-roots level the changing seasons, fresh local produce and farm related activities such as harvesters and tractors regularly rolling through the narrow village streets, traffic jams made up of cows crossing the street and the jovial gathering of the local farmers for their nightcap at the nearby Tabac [...]
The French 'Chocolate Sausage'
Young Thomas had been asking for a 'chocolate sausage' for a few days whenever we went exploring and we kept telling him that sausage rolls and pies were not a French thing and he would have to have quiche instead. He kept insisting he wanted a sausage and we kept buying him a traditional quiche, which after a chest fallen glance in his patisserie bag, he would eat.
This day we headed to le vieux ville of Saint Brieuc with its ancient cobbled streets and elegant stores to make a few purchases and enjoy the Christmas store decorations and [...]
The Year New Year's Eve Came Early
A New Year's Eve Party is always on New Year's Eve isn't it? Are you sure? Read on...
Now you have to understand it was the very first time we stayed at our house in Brittany, and actually, in France at all. After three weeks of busy renovating, furniture assembling and gardening we were exhausted. We’d been to French department stores, French hardware stores, French supermarkets and had learned to accept that things were very different in France and while everything was possible, it all just [...]
Our French Life: The Year We Forgot Christmas
On our first Christmas Day spent in France, and the first at our nearly acquired home, we decided the occasion befitted grand traditional French fare. The anticipation of preparing, cooking and eating in temperatures closer to 7⁰ filled our minds as we revelled in the fresh food purchasing at markets and the meat purchase at the neighbouring village's butcher.
Our Story: Aussies In France
Our Story #4: Aussies in France is a memoir of incidents and observations of our life in France, like the importance of the 'right' Saint; the power of a stick pin; styled by a French supermarket and "Madame, your chimney's on fire" [...]
My Story #3: Living In Rural France
Today I want to share with you a story about friendship, renovating in France and neighbourly love. Earlier this month when I was in France it was a busy time: we built a new garage.
This was not a spur of the moment decision but rather a carefully planned activity. Our home has not previously had a garage and with each holiday we have said "must build a garage [...]
My Story #2: Location, Location, Location
Interested in buying property in France? So just how do you go about choosing where to purchase overseas property? Unless you have visited an area or country many times, or have family in the region, this is the part that can be very overwhelming. Just where do you start your search?
My Story #1: It Has To Be France
Can I pin point my conscience decision to purchase a holiday home in France? No, I don’t think there was a defining moment, rather, a slow building of an idea which gained momentum with each book and TV reality show that showcased others relocating to France.
Travel and French property magazines had me imagining myself in beautiful villages and even redecorating the houses I liked in the ‘For Sale’ sections […]
