Porsha Bella Jewellery

 

Sarah-Jane, it has been lovely connecting with you. Thank you for participating in my occasional series, 'Australians in France.' Can you tell us about yourself and your French connection?

Bonjour Catherine,

Thank you so much for inviting me to be part of your blog series. I’ll do my best to answer your questions with complete honesty, because I suspect my experience of life in France is probably a little different from the stereotypical expat story!

I’m married to a wonderful man called Jack. Back in Brisbane, Australia, we had a large machinery and manufacturing business, which we spent far too many hours working in. Seven days a week and 16 hour days were not unusual!

It afforded us a wonderful, privileged life. We designed and built our dream home, owned some rather incredible supercars, and spent our spare time indulging our shared passion for cars, motorbikes and pretty much anything involving motorsport.

After 15 years in the business, though, I suddenly realised I wanted something that was just for me. So I embarked on a Goldsmith course and spent five years doing night classes and weekends learning the traditional techniques of handcrafting jewellery.

I absolutely loved it.

At the time, jewellery making was simply my hobby. I sold a few pieces and created quite a few custom designs for friends and family, but I never imagined that it would eventually become my career.

 

Interestingly, I had no real connection to France at all, other than visiting occasionally during our motorhome holidays. We did, however, fall completely in love with the French Alps, particularly Haute-Savoie. I can remember saying almost 20 years ago, “If we ever win the lottery, this is where I want to live.”

Well, we didn't win the lottery, but about five years later we found ourselves selling almost everything we owned, keeping only my jewellery making and Jack's extensive business tools and a few sentimental things that would fit into half a shipping container.

Then we bought two one-way tickets from Brisbane to France.

We said some very difficult goodbyes to friends and family and boarded that plane with absolutely no idea what was ahead of us.

We also flew our two dogs with us, and if I'm completely honest, I was far more stressed about them flying than I was about anything else!

Thankfully, we all arrived safely.

 

You ended up buying and renovating a house in France. Was it in the Haute-Savoie? What advice would you give to other families who are dreaming of buying in France?

Initially, we planned to spend three months in a holiday home near Bordeaux because we both loved the city. We found a tiny village between Bordeaux and Toulouse, which was a wonderful base for exploring both cities.

We looked at a lot of properties, but nothing really captured our hearts.

Through a bizarre series of circumstances, those three months eventually turned into almost four years, during which we rented a haunted house.

And not haunted in a fun way either!

 

Although we loved being close to Bordeaux and Toulouse, we realised that the area wasn't quite what we were looking for. There was a large English-speaking expat population, and we actually wanted the opposite experience. We also discovered that the climate wasn't for us. The summers felt too hot and too long, while the winters seemed relentlessly grey & rainy.

So we started looking towards the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which was where we'd originally imagined ourselves living.

We viewed 36 houses.

By that point, I was done.

We eventually resigned ourselves to the fact that perhaps we'd never buy a house in France and simply continued renting in the south. For six months, we didn't look at a single property.

Then one day I opened leboncoin and had another look at houses in the region we wanted.

And there it was.

My dream farmhouse.

 

We viewed it within days and made an offer that same day. Three months later, we were moving into an incredible farmhouse built in 1798, which had been abandoned for five years.

It was officially classed as “barely habitable”, which, let me tell you, was extremely accurate!

With my love of interior design, Jack's ability to do almost anything and some rather inventive solutions, it wasn't long before a few rooms started to feel homely and loved. We've now been renovating our home for eight years, and we're still not tired of it.

 

The separate bread oven building, which dates from 1796, has been converted into my purpose built jewellery workshop. I absolutely love working in there.

My advice to anyone considering buying property in France is to have a LOT of patience.

Be brutally honest with yourself about how much renovation you can handle and, importantly, how much you would actually enjoy. The paperwork is never ending and the legal process can be lengthy, so don't expect things to happen quickly.

Be prepared for everything to take at least three times longer than your original estimate.

And get very familiar with the French phrase “c'est rustique”!

When you start renovating centuries-old stone houses, nothing is straight, square or symmetrical. You either learn to embrace the rustic results or you'll drive yourself completely insane.

You are the force behind Porsha Bella Jewellery where you create unique pieces of wearable art from your studio at home. On your socials, we see you at work and hear tales of your craft. It is fascinating, but clearly hard work. What is the Porsha Bella story?

In 2018, I decided it was time to get serious about my jewellery and officially register my business in France.

This was a gigantic step for me. I was very familiar with business structures in Australia, but I had absolutely no idea how anything worked in France. It was a baptism of fire.

Part of the process involved a mandatory five day course about owning and running a business, followed by an exam on the final day.

I didn't understand a single word.

Not one.

Thankfully, the lecturer apparently wanted to maintain his 100% pass rate and helpfully gave me the answers during the exam!

Once I received my official business registration, I was off and running.

 

But the story of Porsha Bella actually started many years earlier.

During one of our French motorhome trips, we wandered into a tiny backstreet antique shop in Lyon. Inside, I discovered something that completely changed the direction of my jewellery making: antique French buttons.

 

They were little works of art, covered in intricate designs and carrying an extraordinary amount of history.

The shopkeeper told me that some of the buttons had come from his great grandfather's French military coat from World War I. Others had belonged to field medical personnel, while some dated back to the 1700s and had been worn on the uniforms of staff working in the homes of French nobility.

I was enthralled.

Of course, that little tin of rusty, tarnished buttons came home with me.

That's when I decided to replace gemstones with buttons as the feature of my jewellery.

 

I launched Porsha Bella in 2012, but nobody really understood what I was doing. I didn't sell a single piece of button jewellery.

I seriously considered abandoning the idea and going back to more traditional gemstone jewellery.

But something in me wasn't prepared to give up on it.

At that stage, jewellery was still a hobby, so I didn't particularly care whether it sold or not. I simply loved the concept.

 

Then in 2014 we moved to France.

And in 2018 I registered the business here.

Then came 2020.

As you probably remember, online shopping suddenly became enormous, and Porsha Bella took off. I sold every single piece I had in stock and suddenly had demand for much, much more.

Finally, people were beginning to understand what I had seen in those old buttons all those years ago.

Today, Porsha Bella is all about “wearable history”. I work with French antique buttons dating from as far back as the Napoleonic era, right through to the 1990s, as well as vintage designer buttons from Chanel, Dior, YSL, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Prada.

 

Many of the designer buttons come from a remarkable collection belonging to a woman in Paris whose mother was a head seamstress for several major French fashion houses. She worked in the industry from the 1920s until she retired at the age of 80 and meticulously catalogued the buttons, including what garments they had been used on and any other information she knew about them.

I also have a wonderful gentleman in France who attends the famous Paris fashion auctions and regularly finds extraordinary buttons and handbag hardware for me.

 

I then transform these forgotten pieces into one of a kind earrings, bracelets, pendants, rings and charms.

Everything is handcrafted using traditional Goldsmith techniques, with solid sterling silver, 18ct gold and gold vermeil.

What I love most is knowing that I'm not simply making jewellery. I'm giving these little pieces of French history another life.

I have buttons from Napoleon's soldiers.

Honestly, that still blows my mind.

These things were destined to sit forgotten in a tin, slowly rusting away. I get to turn them into something that can be worn, appreciated and passed on.

If you'd like to see what I do, you can visit my website at porshabella.com or find me on Instagram @porshabellajewellery.

So fascinating. Do you speak French? I talk frequently with families who feel that their French would not be sufficient for living in, working or buying in France. What are your thoughts about the level of language required?

Honestly?

Don't worry about not speaking French.

I arrived in France knowing approximately five French words. I couldn't read or write anything in French.

Twelve years later, I'm only marginally better!

Part of the reason is that I was once expelled from a French language school in front of 25 other students because the teacher decided the beginner class was too advanced for me. She told me I'd never be able to speak French and would probably be better off going back to Australia.

It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life.

It genuinely scarred me and completely destroyed my confidence and my desire to learn the language.

I'll be honest: I don't enjoy learning French. I don't like speaking it and, given the choice, I'd happily avoid it altogether.

Unfortunately, moving from an area with a large English speaking expat population to the middle of nowhere in the Auvergne meant I eventually had to accept that French was rather important!

So I hired a private tutor who is a native French speaker, and I've slowly been relearning.

I'm still not fluent, but I can now hold a reasonable conversation and muddle my way through most situations.

I do think learning some French before moving here would be beneficial, though. Not because you need to be fluent, but because life is considerably easier when you can communicate with the people around you.

And if you're planning to live in a rural area, I'd say it's even more important.

Do you enjoy living in your small French village?

This probably isn't what most people want to hear, but this is my reality and my lived experience.

As a foreigner, I don't think you'll ever be completely accepted into French village life. People can be wonderfully pleasant and cordial, but you'll always be the outsider to some degree.

You need to be comfortable with that.

I didn't move to France to make new friends or become an integral part of a community. I moved to the Alps specifically because I wanted no neighbours, no traffic and very little social interaction.

I'm an introvert.

I'm socially awkward, I can't stand small talk and I have genuinely been known to run three kilometres out of my way on my morning run to avoid accidentally bumping into someone I know because  I'll have to stop and talk to them!

So village life and I aren't exactly a natural match.

 

Here, everyone knows everyone else's business. The village gossip can be extraordinary, particularly because it doesn't necessarily need to be remotely accurate before it starts circulating!

I think the final nail in our coffin came when we built huge solid gates and a solid fence across the front of our property so nobody could simply “pop in” unannounced.

I enjoy my privacy. I enjoy my peace.

I rarely participate in village activities. I make an appearance at the annual Christmas market and the village clean up weekend, and that's about it.

And honestly, I'm perfectly happy with that.

 

For me, France became a way of becoming completely comfortable with being introverted. Not speaking the same language, not knowing a single person and being removed from the life I'd known in Australia gave me something I didn't realise I needed: the opportunity to truly get to know myself.

I became comfortable with silence.

I discovered a resilience I didn't know I had.

The Australian version of me and the French version of me are almost unrecognisable.

My life in Australia was loud, busy and outward facing. I was networking, talking to strangers and constantly “on” for 25 years.

Eventually, I realised I couldn't spend the rest of my life stuck in Groundhog Day.

France gave me the opportunity to step away from that.

Our lifestyle here is completely different from our Australian one. We live a very simple, almost deliberately frugal life.

We buy secondhand furniture. We grow our own vegetables. We mend things rather than replacing them. If I want a new crockery set, I'll go to the local brocante and find a beautiful vintage one.

Even my wine glasses came from an antique shop.

And I love that.

I love that, too and thank you for your honesty. As you say, a raw version of French living isn't always what people sign up for when they move to France. 

What is your favourite time of year?

Without question, autumn and winter.

The Auvergne is famous for its spectacular autumn colours, and every year I still find myself stopping to admire them.

But winter is something else entirely.

When the deep snow arrives, the silence is extraordinary. Walking through the forest with snow covered pines towering above you, with barely a sound anywhere, is both eerie and incredibly beautiful.

Then the sun comes out and the snow turns into a sea of sparkling diamonds.

It is magical.

You are living a life of choice and it sounds special. Am I right? 

I think what makes my life here so special is something incredibly simple.

For the first time in years, I was able to exhale.

I could drop my shoulders.

I could stop worrying about keeping up with everyone else and simply be content with the world immediately around me.

There is no pressure here to have the newest phone, the biggest television or the latest whatever. Nobody really cares what material possessions you have.

I'm surrounded by forests and crop fields. I have my wonderful husband, my dogs, my workshop, my old farmhouse and a very simple life.

And I have discovered that I don't actually need much more than that.

We only get one shot at this life.

So my advice would be: be uncomfortable. Be a little crazy. Follow the dream you've been thinking about for years.

Make it happen.

If you're determined enough, you'll find a way.

Sometimes you just need to throw caution to the wind and say yes.

And that's exactly what we did when we bought those two one way tickets from Brisbane to France.

Thanks so much, Sarah-Jane. You recount your story with such passion, which I am sure transfers itself into your jewellery. I look forward to staying in touch. 

To follow Sarah-Jane’s journey, view her wonderful creations and support her business, head to Instagram here, Facebook here or Sarah's website here

PS If you have just found your way to me,  here are the links to all my books: French series Italian series

And, as always, you can find me on Instagram here.

 

  

Back to Burgundy

 

Burgundian countryside

Kate, it is hard to believe that it has been nearly two years since we last chatted about your French journey. At that time, you and your husband, Nathan, were navigating visa constraints and travelling back and forth between your homes in Australia and France. However, following you on Instagram, I know that there has been an exciting development in your French lives of late. Tell us more.

Thank you so much for reaching out to me and again being interested in our life here in France.

Things have definitely changed for us over the past two years. We made the decision to sell everything in Australia……our French restaurant, our house, our car and we packed everything up into two pallets worth of belongings and shipped them all to France.

Just reading this back it sounds quite crazy and a lot of people probably think that we are, but we followed our dream of living in France permanently, and without any children or family ties in Australia it was not a huge decision to make and we just did it!! We of course miss friends in Australia but so many have come to visit us and it’s just wonderful to have time here with them and to show everyone our day-to-day life, why we chose to be here and what we love about France. Its great to have one to three weeks with people to slow down and chat and catch up whereas when they lived around the corner we would just have quick get-togethers but we really have had quality time with friends here, and we know we will in the future when more of our beautiful friends around the world visit us.

It was really exciting for us when our shipment from Australia arrived. It was like Christmas and we got to unpack some really special pieces of artwork, books, photos and things that meant a lot to us to merge our two lives together and cement our life here.

In saying all that, cementing our life here has been a little bit challenging (to put it ever so mildly) with the French bureaucracy. The French are definitely known for excessive red tape and we have experienced these challenges and frustrations firsthand.

Kate and Nathan in front of their new home in Burgundy

Visas … I suspect that this might not be your favourite word. Where are you up to with this process?

We arrived on a tourist Visa which gave us one year to be here without working. During this year, we drew up our business plan to open a small cooking school in our home and to conduct small bespoke food and wine and cooking tours around the Burgundy region. We filled out all the relevant financial and health documents and since then we have been waiting for over a year for our right to work and then we had to fight to extend our visa for three months and now that is just about to expire. We’ve extended it for another three months, all this without hearing any updates or progress reports on our carte de séjour which means we would have the right to work and have healthcare etc in France.

But in saying all this, we would still encourage people to follow their dream to move to France if that’s what they would like to do, but to enter into it with an endless amount of patience and infinite financial resources in case they also have to wait a long period for a positive outcome to their Visa application.

Summer lunch with friends

Even without the right to work at the moment and the uncertainty of our permanent future here we feel as if we still have to strive forward with the process and be patient and be positive. So with that in mind, we have made yet another somewhat gutsy move you could say, and bought a bigger home in a wine village to create our cooking school with accommodation. We sold our beautiful little cottage here in the countryside of Burgundy and will be moving closer to Beaune which we believe is the wine and culinary centre of Burgundy.

It was a really big decision to sell our picturesque little stone country cottage in the Morvan national park. It was a fantastic holiday house surrounded by beautiful countryside, but it was a little more challenging to live there year-round. We also feel that for our clients, we can provide a better tour experience closer to markets and wineries and we will renovate this new house specifically to offer cooking classes, wine tastings, a small on-site brocante and accommodation.

You had some wonderful advice and practical tips in our last interview for anyone who was dreaming of buying their own place in France, did it make this second purchase easier?

Renovating decisions

We enter this new (and huge) renovation more confidently than when we tackled our first home, La Petite Maison, as over the past two years we have developed friendships and relationships and now have access to quality trades people. Renovating in France is incredibly challenging as I’m sure it as it is in many parts of the world and we have found it terribly hard with our limited French to talk about technical parts of the renovation with electricity and plumbing and that sort of thing. It was extremely hard to even get trades people to come and give us a quote for work and then there are the horror stories of people telling us that we would be charged tourist rates instead of local rates so we were only sceptical with some of some of the quotes that we received. But luckily now we have reliable and exceptional trades people that we get to work with on this new project. My advice to anyone buying a property here and renovating it is to get the advice of neighbours or local people and try and get referrals from them. A lot of tradespeople also will not travel far for work so will only work within a village and a very small radius around that village, so it really is best to talk to the locals about who they trust and recommend.

Having lived full time in France, organised renovations, and participated in village and social activities, your language must have had a work out. How is your French now?

Teddy

Our French has definitely improved over the past two years mainly out of necessity but also out of a desire for us to be able to communicate with our friends and now we are comfortable in nearly all situations and social environments. People may have seen on Instagram that we bought a puppy about six months ago and locals are very amused when they realise that Teddy is bilingual. All his commands he understands in both French and English so if he has one of our French friends looking after him, he can understand them and then also us when we forget to use French. 😆

To finally wrap this up I would say that we are very happy with our life here and with our decision to move here permanently. We’ve had some stressful times lately with the prefecture and our Visa status and how slowly that is moving along, but we couldn’t wish for more beautiful friendships and relationships  and we continue to embrace French culture, its food, wine and lifestyle and we absolutely love hosting our friends from all around the world and sharing with them all that makes France so special and so enviable for many. We truly feel lucky to have had the opportunity to make this move and to create a new chapter in our lives…

Wow, from one leap of faith to another. At the moment, you are burning both end of the candle having moved full steam ahead with your renovation. Your project looks both exciting and exhausting ... and fun to watch from the sidelines and see the wonderful progress that you're making. 

I look forward to staying in touch and wish you both the very best with your new ventures. 

 

If you would like to follow her journey (highly recommended), Kate can be found on Instagram @la_grande_maison_burgundy/

Nathan and Teddy at home in France

And for another French-Australian story (mine 😊), please find below links to my 5 books (including Books 1-3 in my 'French at Heart' series). With thanks.

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase.

• But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps
• Weaving a French Life: An Australian story
• Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir
• With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s
• Talk and Play with your Child in French

A new French life in Bordeaux (Part One)

Clare, it has been lovely connecting with you. Thank you for participating in my occasional series, ‘Australians in France.’ I can relate to so much of what you have written - and I am sure that anyone who is thinking of a move to France will appreciate your thoughts on your experience so far. 

Clare can be found on Instagram @mme_cabernet_franks.

Please enjoy Part One of our interview.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your French connection?

Although I’ve dreamt about France for much of my life, I had never been here before 2019! In 2019, I took long service leave from my work as a government lawyer in Melbourne, and my husband, Adam, and I packed up a few suitcases, a pram, travel cot, a car seat, a booster seat and a couple of backpacks and headed to LA and Europe for 4 months with our just-turned-2 year old and almost-5 year old children! Were we crazy? Maybe. Was it worth it? Absolutely. People kept telling us how hard it would be to travel for 4 months with 2 small children. My response? “It’s hard in Melbourne. I’d rather be having a hard time with 2 small children in the South of France!”

 

We visited my family in Ireland, went to London, Copenhagen, Berlin and then headed to Paris. We hadn’t booked the last 7 weeks of our stay in Europe and planned to do 10 days in Paris, a week or so in Aix-en-Provence and then head to Switzerland (via Annecy), perhaps Vienna or Italy and then back to LA for time with my in-laws, then home. We ended up loving France so much that we spent the entire last 7 weeks in France! 

 

As soon as we got back, we started learning French on Duolingo and Babbel, eating French food as much as possible and searching out the best croissants in Melbourne! 

 

What was it that prompted you to head to France with your family? How long did you anticipate staying originally?

 

We returned to Melbourne in mid-January 2020. At the time, there was increasing talk of a novel virus coming out of China - we had no clue at that time how much it would impact our lives and future. We spent the next year and a half in some level of lockdown (Melbourne had the longest in the world at that point), with the kids unable to go to daycare or school for most of 2020. The only real plus was that we were able to put a lot into our savings while we weren’t spending $500 a week on childcare fees, or anything on eating out or doing fun activities! 

 

Sadly, in late March of 2020, my wonderful mother-in-law passed away from pancreatic cancer. Andrea was not quite 70 when she passed and had only retired from work 2.5 years prior, after her diagnosis. She wasn’t able to travel during that period, so we took the kids to LA to visit as much as possible. Between the epic Melbourne covid lockdowns and the loss of Andrea, Adam and I felt like life was so short and the future so uncertain that we wanted to make the most of our lockdown savings. Over a bottle of wine and a French meal one evening, Adam said “you know, we could live in France for a year with that money” I responded “uhhh YEAH WE COULD! When should we leave?” *Adam tried to back out a few times after that conversation, but I was intent on making it happen and kept reminding him that it was his idea! 

 

For inspiration, I immediately started reading all manner of ‘we-packed-up-our -lives-and-moved-to-France’ books, the first being “But you are in France, Madame”! 

 

To undertake a trip such as yours there must have been a fair amount of preparation. What were some of the things on your pre-departure to-do list and do you have any hints for families who might be thinking of doing the same thing?

 

I’m lucky enough to have an Irish parent and had taken out my Irish citizenship in my 20s. As such, visas weren’t an issue for us. I immediately applied for the children’s Irish citizenship and discovered that between Brexit and Covid, the wait was going to be nearly 2 years! We got some advice on the type of visa Adam would need (titre de séjour) and then we started planning in earnest. We decided to rent out our house (to come back to) but to sell all our furniture, the car, etc. Because the kids and I have EU citizenship and Adam was entitled to a 5-year titre de séjour, we decided that if we liked life in France and could find work, we’d stay as long as we were happy here.

 

We started the boys in French lessons, signed ourselves up for a weekly online session with a French tutor on Preply, put sticky notes around the house with the French word for what it was ‘la chambre, le miroir, la toilette, la porte, la fenêtre’ - they were everywhere! We also made a million lists of things we needed to do/sell/buy/organise, One for leaving Australia, one for living in France. Ticking off those boxes was very satisfying! I looked up websites with useful information about moving overseas - especially to France. We looked into healthcare, school (we considered International, private and public schools), remote work opportunities, etc. I also joined a few ‘Australians in France’ facebook groups and posted with some questions about their moves and anything we needed to know. People in those groups were really helpful and I found some others who were also planning a year in France at the same time, so it was really nice to be able to discuss planning details and challenges with them.

 

My top tip is honestly to get a good relocation agent. Unless you’re fluent in French, you really need someone who can speak to immobiliers (real estate agents) about rentals, give you advice on rental (or sale) contracts, fill out school application paperwork (if kids are going to a French public school) and all your utilities contracts, and help you set up all your other paperwork - carte vitale, etc. It’s worth every penny you’ll pay them, just for the stress-reduction alone! We also leased a car for a couple of months, which you can arrange from Australia in advance.

 

My other top tip is ‘you can’t start clearing out your worldly goods too soon!’ We were packing up and still doing op-shop runs on our last day! We decided early on that we’d take only 4-5 large suitcases, much like you, Catherine. Furniture is just that and there’s plenty of amazing furniture in France, likewise clothing/fashion! We sent a suitcase of special things to mum’s house (along with the dog and cat) and shipped over 3 boxes of useful items, such as Adam’s woodworking tools and baseball gear, my Kitchenaid mixer and horse riding gear (the essentials!) and some special photos/paintings etc. Everything else could be easily bought here (and believe me, we’ve accumulated plenty of stuff already!)

 

How did you choose where you would live? Does this area live up to your expectations?

 

Initially, we thought perhaps the stunning Annecy could be a good option. We absolutely loved it when we visited in 2019, but ultimately decided that 2 people born in desert cities (Adelaide and LA) were probably not quite ready to live in the Alps winters! We considered Lyon and Montpellier, initially, before Adam googled “best places to live in France with children” and Bordeaux popped up. We struck Lyon off the list when we decided we couldn’t live 5 hours’ drive from the beach, and Montpellier off the list when I put my foot down and said that my pasty ginger self had spent enough of my life covered from head to toe in sunscreen and wasn’t really very suited to the Mediterranean life! 

 

Bordeaux was the perfect in-between. It’s a stunningly beautiful city (it truly is a mini-Paris), it’s close to beautiful countryside, medieval villages and also to the beach. The city also has a very green-thinking mairie. The public transport is excellent, a lot like Melbourne, people walk/bike/scoot everywhere, and there are wonderful little potager gardens along the riverside, as well as fruit trees in the local parcs. We adore Bordeaux and her surrounds. The weather is generally pretty good (although 2023 summer left a lot to be desired - it rained SO much.) and the beach is less than an hour away, so our little Aussie hearts are satisfied with that.  

 

Thankfully, I didn’t have to continue life as a lawyer here in France. One of the many benefits of Bordeaux is the amazing wine region! I gave up lawyer life and was lucky enough to score a job as a wine tour guide for the 2024 tourism season (March-October). I quickly learnt as much as humanly possible about wine-making, tasting and the wine history of Bordeaux, as well as some general history, and started driving tourists to Saint-Émilion and the Médoc for wine tours and tastings. It was such an incredible way to get to know the area and the wines of Bordeaux (and make some euros at the same time). I also made some truly wonderful French friends - I was one of only 3 non-French guides in the team. They’ve helped me with my French, wine and food knowledge and all manner of things - even with translating medical speak at 11pm on a Wednesday when our son ended up in hospital! 

 

You have two children. How easily did they make the transition into French living? Can you tell us a bit about their experiences of school, making friends, adjusting to new routines, food etc?

 

The boys were our biggest concern regarding the move. Our oldest was 8 and our youngest 5 when we left Australia. The oldest had a very close friendship group since childcare days, and it was truly heartbreaking to be breaking them up. We also had to leave our dog and my beloved cat behind, neither of whom would have handled the journey well at all - especially if we were to return after a year and they’d had to spend 8 weeks in quarantine. Saying goodbye to their beloved pets was excruciating.

 

Initially, we started the boys off in an international school. Again, if we only stayed in France for a year it felt a little kinder for them to spend half their week in French and half in English, to have friends in similar situations to them who they could bond with over that experience, and for us to have some expat friends too. Unfortunately, the school we chose had only just opened the new campus we’d chosen and the administration wasn’t great, so we ended up moving them to a French public school after only one term. They made friends with a lovely boy from that school though and our families have become really close. 

 

Adjusting to French school was tough, especially for our eldest. The language was exhausting for them and they’d often spend the evenings having meltdowns over minor things and crying, which is not normal for our boys. However, we were lucky to have a school that had an international section so it has a wonderful French language catch up program. The boys had 6 hours a week of intensive French classes and our youngest even scored above average in the National school testing in January (after only starting there in November!). 

 

Our oldest son struggled to make friends as the grade 4 kids already had strongly-established friendships. The youngest was fine as he started in CP (first year of primary school), so all the other kids were only just starting and making new friendships too - he’s also very talented at soccer, so he was a popular pick for the lunch time teams! Within about 3-4 months, their French was good enough to keep up with their peers and they were both feeling comfortable at school. It was great when they started swim lessons at school too, their friends were all blown away by their prowess in the pool - they’re pretty good by Aussie standards, but impressive compared to the rest of the world! 

 

It really took a whole year for our oldest to feel truly accepted into the friendship groups, though. As a parent, it was so painful to see him struggling when he’d been so settled with his friends back home in Australia. However, it’s also been one of the most wonderful things to watch him become bilingual and create secure friendships with French kids at school. They’re both really thriving now, which is such a relief and a joy to see. We’re so proud of how hard they’ve both worked to become fluent in French in such a short time and to overcome the challenges of not only starting a new school, but in another language. 

 

As for food, initially they didn’t like the French school lunches and ate mostly the endless pieces of baguette with butter for lunch. But now they eat almost everything they’re served up there and are super picky about their cheeses.. a comté (French cheese made from unpasteurised cow's milk) simply MUST be aged for at least 18 months and they love a nice goat’s cheese too!. Rest assured that whenever there is a grève (strike) - every term at least, they get a Vegemite sandwich and caramello koala or killer python in their lunchbox!

 

Oh and their favourite thing about school in France? No school on Wednesday. 

Thanks so much, Clare. I look forward to sharing Part Two of our interview soon where you reflect on some of your more memorable moments, and let us know if your French journey is set to continue. Until then, Clare can be found on Instagram @mme_cabernet_franks

And for another French-Australian story (mine 😊), please find below links to my 5 books (including Books 1-3 in my 'French at Heart' series). With thanks.

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase.

• But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps
• Weaving a French Life: An Australian story
• Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir
• With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s
• Talk and Play with your Child in French

La Providence in Provence ... discover the good life

 

Nancy, it has been lovely connecting with you. Thanks for participating in my occasional series, ‘Australians in France.'

Can you tell us about yourself and your French connection? 

I spent most of my life until now living in Australia but took a big mid-life leap last year to come and live permanently in France. In my own defence, there was some logic to the decision. For the previous few years, I had been working for the Alliance Française (a French language and culture centre) and my husband is French. But the real decider was that I fell utterly in love with a crumbling farmhouse in Provence. It was La Santonne that signed the deal for me.

 

You have bought and are renovating a property (La Santonne) in France:

 

·      Do you live in France or spend some of the year there?

I live there…or to be more exact, right now I live in a mobile home in front of our house La Santonne.

 

·      For many, choosing to buy in Provence would need no explanation, but why did you choose Revest-du-Bion? 

If you are someone who believes in the power of the stars, then I would answer that I was led there by them. But the more rational answer is that a real estate ad landed in my inbox, I took one look at the photo of the property, was lovestruck and found myself on a plane three days later headed for France. In the meantime, I had discovered that La Santonne is actually in the town where my father-in-law was born. Some would say it “was meant to be.” My husband calls it “la Providence.” It does read like a fairy tale and I’ve written the whole story in my blog that I’ve just launched. 

 

·      What advice would you give to other families who dream of buying their own special place in France? Do you have any practical tips regarding the purchase process? What do you wish you had known before you signed for your French home?

It’s really important to be in contact with a notaire – a French conveyancing lawyer – before starting the purchase process. There are English speaking notaires in Australia who specialise in helping Australians buy in France. So I highly recommend tracking one down in Australia and making contact before going to look at property in France. I also organised a surveyor to check the structural integrity of the building before I made an offer. He was quite some guy … I’ve written about Monsieur Pierre in my blog.

 

·      Was your intention always to renovate in France? 

Kind of…but not to this scale! The house hasn’t been lived in for 26 years. It is officially uninhabitable and we are undergoing a huge renovation to bring La Santonne back to life again. Frankly, it’s much more than I expected to take on. But I fell in love at first sight and threw caution to the wind! That said, we had always intended to buy a property large enough for us and to set up an AirBnB to welcome guests to the region, so we had known there would be some renovation required…just not this much! It is quite a project and you can follow the unfolding renovation on the La Santonne Instagram account.

 

·      You plan to welcome guests to enjoy your French life. Can you tell us what they can expect?

The motto of La Santonne’s logo is “Discover the good life in Provence!” and that is exactly what we offer. We can show you where to go for good food, good wine and good company as you relax in the stunning surroundings of La Santonne. Guests will be staying in the old Shepherds House, which is at the West end of the La Santonne looking out to the Mont Ventoux, often with our ponies grazing in the foreground. This fully self-contained space will have a woodburning stove to cuddle up in front of in the winter months and a fully equipped kitchen so you can cook with the regional organic produce we can arrange to be delivered to your door. 

 

Our part of Provence – high on the Plateau d’Albion and in the midst of lavender fields – is off the beaten tourist track. We offer a more authentic experience of Provence life where farming is still the predominant activity and tourism hasn’t overtaken the landscape. The local markets are a riot of colourful produce and the surrounding countryside is incredibly diverse – everything from rocky mountain ranges to gorges with aqua blue rivers running through. My husband Patrice grew up in Provence and knows all the hidden spots only the locals know. We can share these with guests through our bespoke itinerary service where I put together a program based on clients’ interests. These can either be self-drive itineraries or guests can take advantage of the fully guided service. This is where I act as chauffeur and interpreter meaning that guests experience the real Provence by being able to chat with the locals and truly relax by not having to drive on the winding roads of the region. An extra glass of wine at lunch won’t be a problem! This is the real way to safely get off the beaten track and discover the real Provence.

 

To give you an idea of what the experience is like, here is a testimonial from one of my recent full-service tours:

 

“The beauty and history of Sisteron, the majesty of the Gorges de la Méouge, the richness of Valley de Touleronc, markets in Banon, a picnic, morning tea in an organic bakery known only to the locals (I can’t give it away), exploring perched villages and walking in the shadow of Mont Ventoux are what I chose and only some of what Nancy’s tours offer. It was an unforgettable day and I would never have discovered half of these perfect places without Nancy’s guidance. A magical experience!”

 

 

Do you speak French? I talk frequently with families who feel that their French would not be sufficient for either living in or buying in France. What are your thoughts about the level of language required?

Yes, I speak French close to fluently…although the gender of all the nouns is still a weak point! It has definitely helped having a level of French enabling me to talk easily with the locals and make friends. That said, I don’t think my level is necessary for people not living permanently in France. For those intending to buy a holiday house and spend chunks of time there, basic French is enough to get by, especially if you are in areas where many people speak English (not mine!). But for a truly authentic experience, I do feel the more French you have, the more you can engage with the world around you and truly connect with the culture and people. And as someone who used to run a French language school, you can’t expect me not to encourage people to learn the beautiful language of French!  

 

 

I love to hear of different village traditions and stories. How have you adapted to life in your village and your village to you? 

I live opposite a tiny village of just 400 people and have become known as the Australienne with the huge black dog. Standard poodles are surprisingly uncommon in France and so the pair of us make quite an impression apparently! At the same time, given my father-in-law was born in the village, I often get told by locals “I knew your father-in-law”…even the mayor mentioned this to me when I went in for the official visit that is customary when one moves into a village. He then added that they used to hunt regularly together and gave me a big smile. So it’s like I’m half an alien and half a local. 

 

One little thing that I love in village life is the clock bell that rings at every hour and half hour from 5am to 11pm. I feel it accompanies me throughout the day. It’s a steady presence that reassures by its regularity and tradition. It’s probably been ringing for centuries.

 

 

If you can’t live in France, what do you think is the best time of year to visit? Apart from your wonderful place in France, do you have any favourite French villages or towns that you would recommend to other families?

I would definitely say May and June are my favourite months where I live. The beginning of spring sees the wild flowers blooming all through the fields and the previously bare tree trunks and branches push forth an amazingly rich array of shades of green. Everything seems to glow. The word stunning seems hardly to suffice.

 

Although Provence is home, there is another region of France that remains close to my heart: Alsace. In the north east and on the border with Germany, this area has a very different architecture and culture to the rest of France. It’s famous for its Christmas markets resplendent with colourful decorations, mixed spice Christmas treats and little wooden cabins selling all things perfect for the festive season. I spent 3 months living there with my children and we all have such happy memories of our winter in Alsace.

 

Can you tell us just one thing that makes your life in France special?

The feeling that life is beautiful here. When I wake up to the pink glow behind the Mont Ventoux, or sit with a coffee in the bustling market at my local town, banter with a stall-holder, or put the world to rights with the farmer I buy my hay from, then at the end of the day gaze out across the lavender fields with a glass of wine in hand …I feel there could be no more beautiful way to live than here.

 

 

Thanks so much, Nancy. Your comment "the feeling that life is beautiful here" resonates completely with me and I'm sure it does too with my readers.

If you would like to follow Nancy's journey, discuss a tour or enquire about one of her two apartments for rental (beginning in 2024) Nancy can be found on Instagram. Her blog, more photos and details can be found here

I look forward to staying in touch and thanks again for sharing your French life with us.

Catherine's books (including her books celebrating her French-Australian life) below.

The links should take you to where you need to go, wherever you are in the world, to make a purchase.

Merci mille fois

But you are in France, Madame: One family, three children, five bags and the promise of adventure living in the French Alps

Weaving a French Life: An Australian story

Love, fear and a return to France: A family memoir

With bare feet and sandy toes: Growing up in Australia in the 1960s & 70s