Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles

Christophe Gay was born in a château in Burgundy that his father bought in 1966 for less than €10,000. It was in a state of ruin and needed a huge amount of repair, which Christophe's father who was very handy with a number of trades and worked as an electrician on the railways, continued to complete throughout his lifetime with his own hands. Christophe often assisted his father and got the bug to renovate his own château, wh...

Susan Hays has called France home for a couple of decades and after living all around the world, she agrees that she is living her dream life in the Charente Maritime. 

She says life in a small French village has given her children a similar slow childhood to what she experienced in 1970s England and the way she painted the picture of their current life for me was just so beautiful. I was transported to a French village momentarily ...

I have talked briefly on the podcast before about Mont Saint Michel, but given I had never been there it was only really in relation to how it was one of my Dad’s favourite places to visit in France. Mont Saint Michel in Normandy on the northern French coast is somewhere my Papa visited many times as well as the Channel Islands and Saint Malo, but it was Mont Saint Michel that he would rave on and on about to me! It also happe...

Many Aussies dream of travelling through Europe. Some as young adults possibly backpacking, some with kids in tow and others are patient enough to wait until they can travel solo après children with friends in the same situation, or a spouse/partner. My recent guest did both! Trudy Walker travelled first with a girlfriend for 3 weeks and then when her friend Fiona went home her husband Dave arrived. So much fun was had by all! Trud...

Katherine Watt made the move from the US to Paris and Montmartre about 6 years ago. She loved her community in Paris, her block, her apartment and thought she would always stay there. But late last year she got notice that the owner wanted to move back into their home so she made the decision to move to the town she had previously only visited for vacations, Saint Malo.

So Saint Malo is up on the Bretagne coast, not far from the bor...

On Bastille Day I sat down with the gorgeous Meika Woollard to munch on a table full of pastries and chat about her recent first visit to Paris. It was wonderful to hear about Paris from the perspective of someone visiting for the very first time, and also through the eyes of a Gen Z! Older Francophiles like me will no doubt have memories of our childhood dreams of Paris, so hearing the magic Meika experienced on her first visit th...

Recently I spent a couple of months in France and through some upcoming podcast episodes I’ll chat about various experiences I had. 

This episode details some things to consider when setting about planning and heading off on a road trip in France. For those who have listened to the podcast before or if you follow the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles on Instagram you will be in no doubt about how much I adore a French road trip! So much so t...

Madelyn Byrne is the founder and visionary behind the apartment rental business Paris Perfect. She grew up in a military family as an American but also a global citizen. as her father was stationed in Italy through some of her childhood. Working in London after College, Madelyn took a skiing weekend break in France with a friend and met her French husband, Philippe. Loaning out Philippe's Paris apartment to friends when  worki...

Kate Veach and her husband Nathan were already living a life very connected to France with a French restaurant in Geelong outside of Melbourne, Australia but always dreamed of living in France, so just prior to COVID they made the decision to get serious about achieving their dream. They knew they loved Burgundy so drew a circle around Beaune with a limit of an hour travel distance and found their dream property 56 minutes from the...

When Adrian Leeds first visited France on a European trip with her not-yet-husband in 1979, she knew right then that Paris was a place that fed her soul.

Since that time over the last 28 years she has built a business that is devoted to assisting Anglophones from all over the world to turn their dreams of moving to France into a reality. The Adrian Leeds Group is now the go-to company for finding out all the details and pitfalls of ...

Friend to the Loulabelle's podcast Ruby Boukabou chatted on the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles a few weeks ago to give me an idea of what to expect at the Cannes Film Festival but nothing could prepare me for the level of craziness I found when I finally got there! There is glitz and glamour but also just squillions of people! This chat is half way through the festival and includes Ruby's and my discussion about a couple o...

Catherine Berry has appeared on the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast previously way back in episode 39 when she chatted about her own life story of taking her family to live in France in the area around Annecy. Catherine wrote the first of her books about that experience, But You Are In France Madame.

In this current chat Catherine shares her expertise about Annecy, the largest town and capital of the Haute-Savoie department in...

Ruby Boukabou has been on the Loulabelle's podcast a number of times and now she and I are headed to the wonderful Cannes Film Festival! Ruby has been attending as a journalist since 2009 and will lead me through my first experience of the Festival. This year Ruby and I will be sharing daily all the fun from the festival on our YouTube channel "The Cannes Couch". We'll be chatting on the couch with a cuppa and p...

Sara Marner divides her heart between her holiday home in Normandy and her Melbourne life. After a 2008 visit to her husband's English family, Sara with her husband and kids took a three week drive through France and fell in love with the countryside and the lifestyle. They then bought an historic home in the middle of a quaint village an hour or so from Paris in the "Parc naturel régional du Perche".

Returning twice ...

Recently the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame celebrated an anniversary no one would have wished for or expected a number of years back. On 15 April 2023 it was 4 years from the devastating fire that tore through the roof of Notre Dame and started years of renewal and restoration.

In this podcast chat with Paris resident and historian Claudine Hemingway, she spoke with me about the processes of the restoration as well as ways to st...

A number of years ago Emily Lawrence Gazal brought her family from Bondi in Sydney Australia to live in Chatou 20ish minutes from the centre of Paris. 

Emily knew her great grandmother was French but her grandmother would tell her no more. She didn't really know the story further down that branch of her family tree. Interestingly the other branches for Emily are all English speaking, which is sometimes the way. As Eng...

Lindy Viandier is an accomplished author who has written about her wonderful home Les Libellules in Burgundy which she has owned for around five years with her French husband.  In this podcast chat with Loulabelle', she shares her view of Burgundy, not just the well known but she delves deeper under the layers of history and tradition. 

Burgundy is southeast of Paris, encompassing the area around Dijon, Beaune and another beaut...

Ann Dennis is an artist and interior designer who is passionate about interiors, art and antiques. Many of us Francophiles benefit from by following her socials with exquisite and sumptuous designs shared consistently. I so loved delving deeper into her French inspired story with this podcast chat.  

Ann grew up in a family who valued French design elements. Something as simple as dining by candlelight with linen instead of paper na...

I'm not exactly sure of the origins of all the differing types of brocante markets in France, but it seems that most regions have little antique markets or at least a brocante stall on weekends in the summer. Some brocante fairs are huge whereas others are mostly like a small car-boot sale, but gorgeous antique finds can be found regardless.

I chatted recently with the wonderful Emily Gaudichon about one of her topics of expert...