A new French life in Bordeaux (Part Two)

In Part One of my interview with Clare, we learn why it had to be France for her family, we read her excellent pre-departure tips, she shares the decision-making process which led them to Bordeaux, and hear how her children adapted to life in a new country and language.

Today, we discover if the family's French journey is set to continue and her advice to other families who are dreaming of a new life in France. 

Clare can be found on Instagram @mme_cabernet_franks. If there is any chance that you might one day find yourself in or near Bordeaux and keen to do a wine tour in the area, I would highly recommend that you follow and save Clare's details. 

Please enjoy Part Two of our interview:

Now settled in France, what does a typical day look like for you?

My husband works remotely and I’m currently in the wine tourism off-season, so we have a fairly relaxed time during the week. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, we get up for family breakfast and one of us walks the kids to school for an 8.30 am start, then swings by the boulangerie on the way home. We then work on our businesses - I’m starting up my own independent, bespoke wine tour guide business in 2025, as well as planning to take on some freelance work while I’m developing my business. We often go out for walks together while the kids are at school, heading to the beautiful Jardin Public or out along the Garonne riverfront with our newest family addition, a cocker spaniel pup named Pépite! At 4.30 pm, one of us walks Pépite over to get the kids from school - fresh croissant/chocolatine in hand for goûter (afternoon tea), naturally - and Adam helps with homework and makes work phone calls while I make dinner. It’s a fairly normal evening family routine, but when the marché de Noël (Christmas market) is on, we’ll take an evening walk through there, or through the city under the beautiful Christmas lights. Bordeaux is such a vibrant city that it almost always has some fun exhibition or festival to see or explore. 

Wednesdays are pretty packed, with a French tutor for Flynn first thing (there’s only so much we can do to help him with his French homework!) and then soccer training for the boys in the afternoon. Similarly, Saturday mornings tend to be based around soccer matches and afternoons for birthday parties of their friends (typical family stuff, whether in France or Australia). Sundays/weekends generally are spent heading to the open-air fruit and vegetable markets in the morning for our fresh produce and meats for the week, and afternoons exploring new parks or hiking trails with the kids and the dog.

On days when I’m working as a wine tour guide, we have breakfast together and then I head out to get the van. I then meet my group of lovely, relaxed tourists at the Office de Tourisme and drive them out to the medieval village of Saint-Émilion, or to the Médoc region. As I drive, I tell them a bit of the history of the region and how it became a world class winemaking area. We stop at a few chateaux throughout the day to tour the wine-making facilities and see how the wine magic happens, then they have a tasting. At lunchtime on Saint-Émilion days, I take the clients on a 15-20 minute tour of the village and tell them some of the history and point out my favourite lunch and shopping recommendations. I then spend a couple of hours wandering the village and exploring the surrounding streets myself. It’s such a great job!

 

Honestly, I can’t work out how we both managed intense full time careers, parenting and managing a household in Australia. Life here definitely feels like it moves at a slower pace, but we also feel equally as busy as when we lived in Australia and worked so many more hours.

 

Do you have any stories that you are able to share with us: moments that have been truly joyous, difficult, rewarding, funny etc.

 

We have had so many incredible moments! 

 

Our first day (back) in France, when we went to the best local boulangerie and grabbed 3 baguettes and 4 croissants and sat together, devouring them in the sunshine as we discussed how amazing French baked goods are. 

 

Attending our first parent-teacher interviews and being able to understand 90% of what the teacher (speaking slowly) was saying - not to mention hearing how well the kids were doing in school already. Going to apéros after kids parties and making friends with their French parents - we’ve spoken mostly Franglais but have shared wonderful times and many laughs with them and are really feeling accepted into their French friendships. 

 

The moments where I’ve realised I can now communicate properly with people in French - whole conversations - albeit a tad stilted and not the most extensive vocabulary, but actually being able to speak French after only taking it up at 40 years of age has been such a rewarding accomplishment.

 

I think our best day was, after driving the 2.5 hours down to the Pyrénées on a whim for an overnight stay, going hiking in the mountains the next day and stumbling across a massive paddock with about 300 white cows with cowbells clanging and gorgeous, gentle giant Percheron mares and their foals wandering freely. We spent about 3 hours just taking it all in, having a little picnic and patting those beautiful horses. It was truly the most magical afternoon. 

Less incredible moments have been watching the kids struggle in the early weeks at school - we spoke to our oldest son’s teacher, explaining that he was struggling to make friends (hoping she would assign a kid to look out for him at break times). Her response? “Bahhhh oui, mais c’est normal. Il ne peut pas parler français.” Another memorable moment was crying in frustration to a woman on the phone regarding the share car service, after getting stuck with a car with a flat tyre and trying to get her to let me just take the other share car that was parked there too “Non, c’est pas possible. Vous avez réservé ce véhicule et vous ne pouvez pas le changer” - we’ve all been there, right? Dealing with the French pace and state of administration has been a steep learning curve. Saying goodbye to expat friends who spent a year here and then moved home has been really tough too. 

Overall, the good has outweighed the bad by far. The day-to-day experience of living the European and particularly French lifestyle has just been a real pleasure and we feel happy and settled here. We originally thought that 6-12 months would be enough to know how we felt about staying here long term, but we were really only hitting our stride at the one-year mark and over 18 months later we actually feel really settled now. 

Is your French journey set to continue?

 

Absolutely! We’re currently arranging to sell our home in Melbourne and are actively looking to buy a limestone country manor or old farmhouse here in the Bordeaux region! 

 

And finally, would you recommend the experience of living in France to other families?

 

100% yes! We love the pace of life here, the beauty of the architecture and medieval villages, the gorgeous, green countryside free of deadly snakes(!), the fresh food and, arguably, the best bread in the world. The butter is outrageously good too - especially the cristaux de sel de mer (sea salt crystals). Not to mention the access to visit so many wonderful countries in Europe. Life in France feels like it is more family/friends/happiness-centred than it did (for us) in Australia. France is certainly not a capitalist heaven, so there’s no feeling of competing for who works the longest hours and makes the most money and drives the biggest car. On the contrary, most friends here work part time, drive a car that’ll get them around safely and enjoy their free time out in open spaces or going to art exhibitions etc. Even if only for a year, if your heart longs for France and you can afford it, I say ‘go for it.' 

 

Thanks so much, Clare. I look forward to staying in touch and, once more, if you would like to follow her journey, 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

Australians in France - Chateau du Jonquay Part 2

Chateau du Jonquay

In Part 1 of Jane's story, which I shared in my last blog, Jane tells us of the stroke of luck that led to the purchase of their beautiful castle, Chateau du Jonquay (above). Here is the beginning of the story again, along with a continuation of our interview.

You have bought and renovated a property in France – Chateau Du Jonquay in Normandy. Why did you choose Normandy for your French home? 

It was more of a case of Normandy chose us! We had visited almost everywhere else in France and never had been to Normandy, when a friend invited us to come and spend a weekend with them and attend another friend of their’s annual party. It turned out the friend was a New York interior designer and his chateau was for sale. So pretty much by the end of the party Steve (my husband) had decided to buy it, as he had fallen in love with it. I liked it too but I thought we were actually looking to invest in an apartment, so it was a bit of a shock! We really did fall under Chateau Jonquay’s spell!

Might there be a renovation story or two that you could share?

Naturally, there are many, many renovation stories! In some ways I feel like we have been continually renovating since we bought it 9 years ago. Initially we had to replace the roof as it was leaking and we added a bathroom to the 3^rd level. Then we bought the farmhouse next door when it came up for sale and renovated that. It had been the original stables to the Chateau so it was lovely to put them back as one property. Renovating the farmhouse was loads of fun as I invited 10 Australian girlfriends to come and visit, drop in and paint or restore the garden so I didn’t get lonely. It was in very bad shape, but when I look back I can’t believe how much we achieved in just 4 months. The French tradies loved turning up each day to the babble of the Aussie girls working away, up ladders, stripping back 10 layers of wallpaper, trying to explain to tradesmen that you need a wallpaper steaming machine – I'm not sure I even knew what that was in English!  Our french language improved enormously, particularly the vocabulary for anything to do with renovation! We then decided to do a more major renovation on the Chateau by adding a conservatory, new la cornue kitchen, which then led to refurbishing the whole ground floor. We also added another bathroom, the list goes on. It was like opening a can of worms, literally – once we opened up the walls there were actually small animals nesting in them!

What advice would you give to other Australian families who dream of buying their own special place in France? Do you have any practical tips regarding the purchase process?

I would try and buy a house that has been renovated, as they are inexpensive to purchase but to renovate is costly. It is way less expensive than Australian costs but it is still better if it has been done. Particularly bathrooms, they seem to be the hardest thing for me. Finding good tradesmen is not easy but once you do the French are wonderful to work with and in Normandy they love Australians. They cannot believe anyone would fly so far to experience living in their country! The purchase process was very easy really, but was greatly enhanced for us as my husband is very good at reading and speaking French.

I would do as much homework as you can, but as a venture I highly recommend it. It has been one of the most exciting things we have done. I would also only buy if it is a secondary property and you leave enough in the budget for fixing maintenance issues, as the buildings are so old the issues are constant. I also think you need to keep a sense of humour about you otherwise you would go mad!

Chateau du Jonquay (sleeps 16) and Petit Jonquay (sleeps 8) are available for holiday rental. How would those who were interested find out more?

They are both available for rent either separately or together. Click here for photos, rates and information.

I also offer an additional service of tailor-made itineraries for groups who would like to stay for a week with restaurant bookings and suggestions of things to do and see around Normandy.

It is also available for parties. We have a lot of people who book the castle for celebrations; however, it is also really enjoyable just for families who love the heated pool is to relax around.  

In addition, I am very excited about a collaboration I have with Radiant Pantry on a project called Fit.Food.France.

Fit.Food.France is a 5-day program of yoga, meditation, hikes, healthy French food, market tours and cooking classes with a live-in health coach.  We have 2 weeks available for 2019. 

For 2020, we are expanding the program to include other interests. For those who would like to know more, join our mailing list via the website to be kept up to date or contact me via the website: Fitfoodfrance.com

Are you working on any other projects at the castle?

I am constantly working on projects for Jonquay, mainly because not only do I love the building (renovating is my passion) but also because I have fallen in love with Normandy as an area. We like the weather as it never gets hotter than 32 and it is very green and lush which reminds us of Melbourne.

The next project is our 400-year-old cellar under the castle, that was uncovered during the last renovation. Oh, and we have a few windows to replace!

Thanks so much Jane for sharing your story. Bonne continuation and good luck with fit.food.france. Let us know how it all goes.

Click here if you'd like to read Part One of Jane's interview or here to purchase a copy of my
family's French story, 'But you are in France, Madame'.