Category Archives: The adventures of living life in the French countryside

Cherishing The Changes of the Season: The Charabang Outing.

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Posted by in Change is a coming, For the live of dogs, Goodbyes, Learning and Evolving, My family and other furry creatures, My home, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, Reflections, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The seasons

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Autumn has never enthralled me more than since moving here. I have written about it So often.

Autumn is a time for letting go, and no more so than this year.

So last Sunday, before I returned to work for what I thought was going to be a long stint, I realised that when I returned home in October the evenings would be dark, and the opportunity to sit in my garden on these warm autumn evenings would be passed; that this would be the final weekend evening ever when I could savour my garden as she began her preparation to move from summer to autumn. Because all things are changing.

It has been incredibly warm here for September, with the temperature in the early thirties most days, so as the sun went down RD and I decided to take a walk around our garden, and savour what we have, at times, taken for granted.

Off we went up the chemin (ooh matron!) that divides our main garden from our field behind our barn, as the sun started to set. Needless to say the Welshies were with us, excited that mummy and daddy were walking around the garden with them, as if they wanted to show us all the things we might miss. Like the crab apples, and Cobb nuts, crunching beneath our feet.

As we passed Daisy (fondly known as Pussy Upsey the Bond Villain ) she watched with interest…

And not put off by Welshies at all decided to join us on our walk. She is fondly known as ‘cat Dog’.

Up she came behind us, stalking the serial killer known as Wiglet (she is a Bond villain after all!) not put off my Wiglet’s penchant for killing small things, because Daisy is a bit of an oompa loompa!

As we walked on to the field behind our barn, with its newly repaired roof (the boy done good) the sun set reflected onto the old building, built in 1812, it shimmered in the sunlight, as if knowing that yet again it was being left behind. That building must have so many stories to tell. We are going to become part of it’s history now.

As we stood taking in the sunset RD reminded me of the fabulous view from just over the horizon of the field behind us. In five years I had still not walked down to see it. I will make a note to do that when I get home.

I looked at all my beautiful animals, and was reminded of just how much they love us.

I savoured the sunshine, and thought of all those beautiful creatures who we have lost in the last five years, poignant memories, the kind that make you smile with tears in your eyes. Autumn reminded me, as always, of the things we take for granted.

I realised then that I rarely show you the view from this side of our garden, or the sun setting from this angle. So time to share this walk with you, with all who have followed this adventure with me. From the fields surrounding us, to the old statuesque oaks, standing so tall in our garden. They will give someone else shelter next year.

I miss my home….

Rosie

Feeling Strangely Calm

12 Saturday Sep 2020

Posted by in Belief, Change is a coming, Learning and Evolving, Making our own way, new adventures, New Paths, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

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See the source image

So a few days ago our lovely immoblier contacted us to say that it may not be possible to convert our barn into a dwelling. We had never advertised the house in such a way as to imply it could be, but the people who have offered are keen to convert. The implication is that this may affect the sale. But strangely I feel very calm. We feel very calm.

As you know RD has been working on our house and I have not actively sought work for him this year (it is difficult enough but add Covid to the mix and it is virtually impossible.) However over the past two weeks he has been contacted direct re working for people in the area. Not least at one of the most beautiful places he has ever been asked to work.

We visited with trepidation but our fears were quickly allayed because the people are very nice. There is no agenda, just really nice people. He also has other work lined up from previous clients so now it is raising questions about our way forward.

Now as you all know we believe that life shows us the way, and the fact that so many people had contacted RD we decided that if he worked it would enable him to employ someone to help him with our barn roof now that his good friend has returned to the UK for good. (A poignant time when he said goodbye, as change so often is.)

We also believe that when life sends you such a strong message you really do have to listen. So for the first time in a long time RD is working very locally for lovely people in a fairytale setting. But it does now put pressure on us re the move as I am still working in another country and due to the wonderful Covid I have to spend six days of my time without pay and away from home, whilst I isolate. Is this best for us?

Something to consider, given the messages we are being sent.

So back to the house sale. We had an offer on our house within ten days of it going on line, with a whole influx of emails from people who wanted to view it. In fact still want to view it, even though it is under offer. We know that the location of this house is second to none. It is down a two kilometre lane, that finishes where our house is. No through traffic, in a national park, with as you know stunning views. No amount of money put into a house can change it’s location. So when asked if we would agree to wait until the people find out if they can convert the barn, we declined. We cannot live in limbo, packing everything away ‘just in case’ and then find that they are going to pull out, and we have to start all over again.

We know that this house and it’s location is worth every penny, so if they decide that the conversion of the barn (which can never be fully guaranteed until you go through a long process) is a deal breaker it will be back on the market. Tout suite.

Another thing we have learned: Our Worth!

Rosie

So Here We Are

28 Friday Aug 2020

Posted by in Change is a coming, My home, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

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So here we are, having a glass of wine and a beer in our home. I am back in France.

We have just signed the documents agreeing to sell our home. It’s time to move on.

I have shed a little tear, I am sure there will be more to come. But for now, despite the stormy weather, it is good to be back in my ‘for now’ home.

Tomorrow we are having a BBQ for all our fabulous French friends and neighbours, and two English friends that we didn’t realise were there, all the time. Here is to a party to celebrate the last five years.

Just a little teaser, I used to swim in this river, right by the bridge.

And I spent many hours under a bridge just like this catching tiddlers in the glen that flowed down from the mountain.

Ireland has so much to look forward to.

Exciting times. But right now, I am going to enjoy the hear and now.

Rosie

Oh! Just to make you giggle our buyers thought we are religious! I think it may be my vintage bleeding heart statue of Jesus.

You can call us many things but religious is not one of them.

😉

Rosie

Bittersweet…..it’s sold

23 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by in My home, new adventures, New Adventures, New Paths, poignancy, Reflections, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

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Nearly three years ago I wrote this post in which I said how I come to realise how much our home had replenished me. How a house is not a home, it us the people in it. I will need to remind myself of this in the next three hectic months, because we have sold our house. Only the second viewers have placed an offer that cannot be refused.

Life really has shown us the way as we had always said it would. It is time to move on.

The feeling is bittersweet.

RD and I were talking the other day and we both cried. I said how I had realised now, how we had struggled for so long living here that at times we had failed to see what we really had. But then I look back over my old posts and I know that is not the case. There has been do much positivity, and we have truly learned to value the simple things.

The opportunity to move on, given to us so quickly is bittersweet because we had yearned to live in France for so long, it was our dream and now our dream has ended.

But time to start a new adventure.

I cannot wait to go home on Friday and sit in my garden with those I love.

Thank you all for your kind and wonderful comments.

Rosie

Poignant Times: No Going Back ….

20 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by in Change is a coming, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

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https://www.frenchestateagents.com/french-property-for-sale/view/114748ADR53/house-for-sale-in-ambrieres-les-vallees-mayenne-pays-de-la-loire-france

So here it is. Our house in all her glory, now for sale on the internet and generating a lot of interest.

Why wouldn’t it? The location of our house is second to none, set amidst the rolling valleys of the Parc Normandie, at the very end of a dead end road, with no traffic.

God she is going to be hard to replace (a small tear came to my eyes then.)

But as I am writing this I know that selling up and moving is the right thing to do. I cannot be away from my family constantly on a long term basis, and I will have been away this time for weeks. Albeit with a fabulous client.

Even in paradise we all need money to live.

Over the five years I have been writing this blog I have written about change so often, and how we should not fear it, because it is the only constant we have. So I know this change is right for us, using all we have learned from this adventure to enhance the next one.

And boy! Have we learned a lot!

But I know that with my current job I will only have six weeks at home for the remainder of the year, and for me that is too long away from the ones I love. I also believe that life is too short.

I know that there is a high probability that this is the last summer in this beautiful place. That when I left last time would be the last time I saw the bales of hay waiting for collection from my bedroom window.

That it will be the last time we will sit in the late sunshine, drinking wine and watching the swifts teach their babies to catch the insects in the evening air.

So when I go home I am going to enjoy every sunny evening for the two weeks I am home. I am going to cherish that ‘here and now’. I will catch the sunrises…

and I will raise a glass to the sunsets.

And I will remind myself that Ireland will offer me more of the same, only different.

Poignant Times

Rosie

Poignant: The Beginning of the End

29 Wednesday Jul 2020

Posted by in Change is a coming, Goodbyes, Learning and Evolving, My home, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, Us

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The For Sale Board is on the gate, marking the beginning of the end for this adventure.

As I sit here in my garden writing this post, the pool is bubbling away, and it’s currently just over thirty degrees at 7pm in the evening, RD is just doing a little shopping and the Harley Pup is patiently waiting to be splashed.

The bees are buzzing around. butterflies are fluttering by, our garden looks lovely, all ready for the pictures that have been taken to sell this house and take us away from here.

Five years ago I dreamt of what I am doing right now, writing a blog in the sunshine, with a light summer breeze, listening to the pigeons, surrounded by tranquility . This place has healed me.

It seems strange that the For Sale sign is now in place.

We have deliberated long and hard, we know it is the right decision, but on an evening like this evening, it feels a little poignant.

Cherishing the moment.

Rosie

Poignant Times: Notre Voisins. Our Neighbours

25 Saturday Jul 2020

Posted by in a sense of community, Change is a coming, Friends, laughter & giggles, My home, new adventures, People, poignancy, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The good life

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These are the flowers that our lovely neighbours bought for us because we had invited them to a soiree last night. As I sit here this evening I still have a slight hangover after much hilarity was had. But more than anything I feel a sense of poignancy.

I have written often about our neighbours, mainly Mark and Nadia and their friends and ours, Michelle and Martigne, how they have helped us so much in our time here. We have been truly blessed.

Last week we were approached by them regarding the option of buying the barn and the land behind it separately from the house. We fully understand why: they are concerned re who buys our house, and whether they will allow Mark to park outside the barn, as we do, or will put a fence up, or quite simply not be part of the community as RD and I have been.

Our attitude has always been that we are blessed to live in France and as such should do our best to get on with our French neighbours. When in France do as the French do.

Last night we invited them all to a soiree, only this time we also invited Lucie and Manu our other set of neighbours. They have always been friendly but reserved (or is that us that have been reserved? As the good old British tend to be at times!) We had a fab night and our lovely neighbours told us how they would be so upset to see us leave. in fact they do not want us to leave, they want us to stay. They told us how they were so happy in how we had fitted in with the community and they are now so worried about who will live here next.

I cried, they cried, I have tears in my eyes now. What a fabulous thing for people to say to you, to feel about you, and I know that RD also feels very sad.

The Barn sale probably won’t come off, but that doesn’t matter we still had the opportunity to spend time with these people who have become our friends. So much so we are having an end of summer BBQ at the end of August.

I think it is fair to say that both RD and I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility. RD said today how our decisions make such an impact on others, like ripples in a pond.

I have just written in my journal..

‘A lot of change, a lot of things to consider, a lot of people’s lives will be affected when we move. I just didn’t realise how much. ‘

Rosie

Wiglet, letting Marc know she loves him

Remembering To Enjoy The Here and Now

21 Tuesday Jul 2020

Posted by in Change is a coming, Learning and Evolving, My home, Simple things, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The good life

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Morning sunshine 2020

So on the back of the last post from what will be a series of posts reflecting on what we have learned from the past, here is the first post from the series about the Here and Now.

I am so aware of the fact that this may well be our last summer here (I never assume a definite I am not doing the driving ) but I know it’s pretty likely. We have taken the weather for granted over the years, the sunny mornings and the fabulous views, and have often sat inside drinking our tea; but today the morning is beautiful and we are sitting on our terrace, drinking our tea, and treasuring this moment.

It’s so easy when we make plans for the future to jump headfirst into them and forget about where you are, and enjoying the moment. I know it is something I do, and by writing a series of blogs about enjoying what we have here, and all the poignancy that entails now we know we will be saying goodbye, I hope will keep me grounded.

Enjoy your day. It’s all you have.

Rosie.

July 2020 Pays de Loire

What Have We Learned: You can only ever make decisions based on the Here and Now .

20 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by in Change is a coming, Learning and Evolving, mental health, new adventures, New Paths, Reflections, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The background story, The continuing adventure, Us

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Larchamp 2013

Seven years ago I took this photograph of the pretty sundial we used as a table at a beautiful gite we were vacating in. I still love this picture today, one of tranquillity and stillness.

At the time I took it I was just about to move from an incredibly stressful job to what I didn’t know at the time would be the job from hell. I didn’t realise just how stressed I actually was at that time, so when I then became ill with stress the following year, to us the obvious place to live in France was the region where this picture had been taken. We made our decisions based on how we felt at that time.

Now, after living in this place for five years the people who ran the gite have moved back to England, in fact many people who we have met along the way have moved back to England.

Over the years we have come to realise that is part of an adventure like this: change, not for ‘change sake’, but because we evolve, and part of evolving means that we move forward to pastures new. At the time we make our decisions they are the right ones at that moment in time, based on how we feel at that moment in time. Just as we did after our fabulous holidays in this region.

When RD and I moved here we were both burnt out, literally. My brain had been addled dealing with high levels of human emotion every day. I needed peace, I needed to step out, I needed tranquility and this place offered us all that; and it healed me. But moving on I am better, despite only realising and accepting recently that I will never go back to the person I once was; and as I write that I wonder why I thought I would, because you can never go back, you can only ever go forward.

So now we are healed we have also learned that we are not ready to retire, and we are not ready to slow down quite this much. Going back to work, and interacting with some of the fabulous people I have met has also shown me that. RD has realised that he misses the interaction with other colleagues, he misses working as part of a team. We miss nightlife, and having the opportunity to interact fully in our community.

Language is a barrier, never believe that it isn’t. Language dictates, to a certain degree, the people who you have to interact with, as opposed to those you want to. I cannot emphasise enough the huge impact not knowing a language will have when you undertake an adventure like this. There is an upside also though: you can (I won’t say will because some never try) learn the fabulous art of improvisation, and the other fabulous art of mime! And the best people we have met during this time have been French people.

So seven years ago, when the picture in this post was taken I was a very different person (not least that I can speak a little French now). I was fighting against my feelings of fear and entrapment. Going on this journey has stopped all of that, I have learned who I was, and who I am, and I know there is a ‘who I am going to be’ somewhere in the future.

More to come.

Rosie

My home in the evening sun

Just Chilling

19 Sunday Jul 2020

Posted by in Change is a coming, mental health, My home, new adventures, New Paths, Simple things, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The good life

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It’s been a busy few weeks. New propositions have been raised regarding our barn and the terrain behind it, meaning we might be in a position to move sooner than we thought. Watch this space, life will show us the way.

The thing that has been the most exhausting has been the mental acrobatics required when considering a move to another country: the logistics so to speak. This time we want to ensure that we use the lessons we have learned to make the best decisions we can.

But for now, after early apero’s with our neighbours we are going to chill before a busy week. In twenty-five degrees plus, my sun-bed is calling me for a snooze.

I am sorry I have been away so long, my brain had to recoup, on to our new adventure.

Rosie