It’s been almost 4 months since the last blog post, the longest time ever that we have not written about our travel experiences, and I don’t really know why.
Maybe because when we left Spain and landed in France it took just a few days for us to feel like we were at home, and nobody writes about being at home! The mind shift was instant for us all and really weird, but the house we swapped into gave us an instant feel of home, our neighbours (and owners of the house) became immediate friends and the surrounding countryside gave us a feel of familiarity and ease.
Our neighbour Corine then offered to get the kids into the local school for us, helped us meet the headmistress and the Mairie, and then talked us through the paper work and hey presto, all was done. The children attended French school for 1 month and loved every minute of it, immediately integrating with their peers and teachers. Then they were introduced and invited to join the local riding club, we attended the village lotto and met the locals in the process and became regulars at the Friday night village Moules Frites nights! After our month’s stay we were offered the opportunity to rent the house long term from the end of August and we jumped at the chance.
Maybe because when we left Spain and landed in France it took just a few days for us to feel like we were at home, and nobody writes about being at home! The mind shift was instant for us all and really weird, but the house we swapped into gave us an instant feel of home, our neighbours (and owners of the house) became immediate friends and the surrounding countryside gave us a feel of familiarity and ease.
Our neighbour Corine then offered to get the kids into the local school for us, helped us meet the headmistress and the Mairie, and then talked us through the paper work and hey presto, all was done. The children attended French school for 1 month and loved every minute of it, immediately integrating with their peers and teachers. Then they were introduced and invited to join the local riding club, we attended the village lotto and met the locals in the process and became regulars at the Friday night village Moules Frites nights! After our month’s stay we were offered the opportunity to rent the house long term from the end of August and we jumped at the chance.
La Maison Bleue is now our home for the next 9 months!
In our 4 months here in France we home swapped in 4 different properties (one a chateau) and house sat one property for 2 months, taking care of the gardening duties and other odd jobs for the owner in return for accommodation.
Crayfishing outside the Chateau we stayed in!
We have seen countless chateaux, castles, towns, villages, hamlets and visited friends in Bordeaux and Corberre. We have seen Le Tour De France, visited a raspberry festival, attended horse racing, Dan’s parents have come to stay with us and we have visited beaches, lakes and rivers and even taken a day trip to Spain to the Dali museum. We have been wine tasting, played Petanque, archery and table tennis, climbed through trees on ropes and zip lines and watched the Olympics and European championships.
Ice Creams and Coffee with Nanny and grandad in Couillere South East France.
Dan turned 40, Kaitlyn turned 11, Sophia turned 9 and everyone has been working on their French, talking to our neighbours for 10 minutes a day seems easily the quickest way to learn!
