June 7, 2025 • 14 mins
Annabel Langbein, the famed Kiwi cook behind many iconic recipes, is on her own adventure in France.
She and her husband Ted have bought a farmhouse in the south of France, and are currently staying there while they renovate their home.
She says it was a 'stressful' journey trying to secure a place in France, but it was worth it.
"All of France is foodie, but what I really love about this particular area is that the markets are just incredible - and pretty much most of the growers are all organic and the quality of the food is just so good."
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News talks'b one.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Of our most loved Kirby cooks, is on a French
adventure that I think is just a romantic dream for
so many people. Annabout Langbine and her husband Ted have
brought a farmhouse in the south of France. They are
living over there while they renovate their new home. Annabelle
has been sharing updates on her Instagram and I thought
best to get her on to talk about how this
has all come about. Annabel Langbine, bonjour.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So nice to who.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Your French is. Good, isn't it well?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I think a French person wouldn't say it was good,
but I can make myself understood.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Good. Good. Now this move has been a long time
coming for you. When did the dream of a house
in France start for you?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I think probably about eight years ago Ted was going
I think we should buy a house in France. And
we have been coming here for probably thirty years because
I had a very dear friend who was a very
very clever cook, Daniel del Per, and she lived about
an hour and a half from here, so we sort
of had got to know the region really well, and
(01:17):
then we started looking and we just we must have
looked in eight years at about eighty houses, and we
were about to give up, and then this house just
came up through the real estate agent. And it transpired
later that she had had Christmas at this house for
(01:38):
twenty years because they were her parents' best friends. All
I felt like serendipity.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Absolutely eight years to find the right property. What was
that search like?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Like?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
What was the main problem with most of the properties.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
The main problem was that my gorgeous husband wanted to
buy an enormous chateau in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Right expectations.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, we looked at quite a lot of those, and
then we did actually put an offer in on one,
and the next morning I thought, oh my god, I'm
going to be sick. And I said to him, wouldn't
it be a good idea if we withdraw our offer
now rather than wait for the because you get ninety days,
a ninety day period where you can withdraw. And he
(02:26):
looked at me, said, what do you mean with draw
our offer? And a lot of toys came out of
the cod well. Now we have this place, and it's
an old farmhouse. But it's really charming and it's not
in the middle of nowhere. It's fifteen minutes to the
(02:46):
airport and you can fly direct to London. But we're
in absolutely bucolic, these crazy frogs that sound like strangled magties.
But I can see one house from the distance and.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
That's all fantastic. This house. Though, as you say, a
chance fined and then you had to make a very
late night sort of rushed off the site unseen how
nerve wracking is that.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Well, of course Ted was horrified because he you know,
he loves a deal, so he thought he was going
to be able to, you know, wrangle a price. But
the thing in France is if you put an offer
and at the asking price, they have to accept it.
But the trouble was that some Americans had put an
offering about twenty minutes after us, and it didn't have
any conditions whereas ours did. So we jumped on a plane.
(03:44):
It was the middle of the Olympics. It was so
stressful and we kind of got down here and now
offer was going to expire about twenty four hours after
we arrived, and Ted being Ted said to me early
in the morning the next day Oh, we're just going
to look at another property. Oh my gosh, what he said.
(04:07):
Oh it's not the provirinance got all the land. I
amazing view. Anyway, we turned up and it possibly the
most horrid place that out of us ever seen. So
that was incredibly lucky. And then we came here and
we both literally stepped over the front door and looked
at each other and went, oh, my god, this is
(04:28):
our house. We both said it.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
This is it? Where about in the south of France
is it? And why was that part of France your
choice for a second home.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
So we are in the southwest, so Bordeaux is in
our twenty car drive out to the coast. So we're
near a town called Bergerac. And because this lovely friend
of mine, Danielle, drew me here in a way, because
(05:02):
we used to flat together when I was in my
twenties in New York and she was a divorced French
farmer living in New York. And we made this wonderful
friendship and we continued right through, you know, before I
was married, and then when I was married, and we
brought our children here were when they were little, and
(05:25):
so there was this wonderful familiarity with the area, and
it is I mean, all of France is foody. But
what I really love about this particular area is that
the markets are just incredible and pretty much most of
the growers are all organic and so and the quality
of first is so good. And it's the heart of
(05:50):
duck and firegar and amazing cheeses. And you know, you
can drive an hour one way and there's rock for
and drive another way in our another way and it's
the turn and drive another hour and it's the heart
of these incredible goats cheeses. And it just goes on
and on and on, and I'm getting fatter and fatter.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And you growing a lot at your property as well.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
No, we're not growing anything. We're growing weeds, lots of
mulberriese some fruit trees that are in desperate need of
some love. But the garden probably has been let go
for i'd say about ten years, so it's a pretty
big mission.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You're now, I think about seven weeks into a renovation,
is that right? How's that going?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Well? We have an animal in residents which is called
a pine Martin, and if you look up pine Martin,
it is a quite cute, little looking little animal that
looks a bit like a weasel but apparently has needle
(07:03):
like teeth and razor like razor like claws and incredibly vicious.
And it started out you could hear it clambering around
in the ceiling. And then when we were way this
week and we came home and the pine muntain had
come down the chimney into one of the living rooms
and pete and chat all over all the sofas, and
it smells like a skunk because it's got this horrible gland.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So it was just like, ahha, the glamorous life of
living in the south of France.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And about the countryside.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
So what do you do about your around your pine muntin?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Your friend there, I write a novel about it at
this right, so I hilariously went off to the hardware
shop and all the men in the hardware shop came
over to told me how to make this trap work,
because it's one of those traps where you put a
dried prune in the trap and you have to leave
it for five days so that there's no smell of humans,
(08:01):
and then the pine muntain goes in and the door
falls closed behind it. The troublers Martin hasn't wanted to
go in the trap, so Tear has now put the
trap in the attic.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
You got a tricky tenant there in a bell. Oh
my goodness. Look, just just going back to the actual
purchase of the property. You know, you finally found this
house after eight years and you've got this offer and
then you knew it was the place for you. What
is the process like then? Is it literally great? You
signed the contract and it's all no.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, it's about one hundred and sixty nine page document,
all in French, and it goes through a special type
of lawyer that's called a no tear and it takes
so you have a ninety day regardless of who's doing
the deal or what house you're buying, it always is
going to take ninety days. And during that period you
(09:00):
the vendor the purchaser are allowed to withdraw your offer,
but the person selling house isn't allowed to withdraw their offer.
So it's very much in the buyer's favor. But you
have to go through to check that there's no asbestos
or termites or b and they're very well, they're being French.
(09:23):
They are incredibly bureaucratic, but they're very There's a lot
of boxes to tick. And the thing that was lucky
for us is that Ted has an IRIS cassport, so
he's an EU citizen, so we don't get biffed out
after ninety days.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Brilliant. I mean it just it does sound like a
dream and a balance. I know it's been a dream
for you for a long time. How does it feel
now to finally be living it.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
It's actually really exciting. But I wake up every morning
and I am thrilled to be here. We both love
the house. I mean, it's a lot of work. It's
been a lot of work. It's one of those things
where I first came to understand the idea of a
can of worms, because you just opened something and then
you're go, and then three days later you might emerge
(10:12):
from that particular cupboard. So it's an unfolding life. And
I can see that Ted is he has the same
rhythm that he has in what Okay. He's bought himself
a tractor and a weed eater, and he's given me
the weed eater and lots of tools, and he's out
(10:32):
doing his garden thing all day and I am looking
at things like it's actually a really charming house. So
in terms of furnishings, and we're not doing a huge renovation.
I'll put a new kitchen in and I'll fix up
one of the bathrooms. It's huge. It's got nine bedrooms
(10:53):
and nine bathrooms, so I haven't even got down to
the downstairs bathrooms yet or bedrooms.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I know that you've commented in the past, Center Belle,
that there were times. We know, throughout your career you
worked too hard. How good is it to have hit
this point in your life where you have the freedom
to do this. You know that hard work is paid
off to allow you to get there.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Lucky and I don't take it around it and you
sort of pinch yourself and go. You know, we all
know life can change on a dime. And so one
of my friend's mothers once said, you need to look
at these years. Your kids have sort of left home
and they're making their own way in the world, and
you know, you've still can walk around without meeting a
(11:38):
walking stick, and you know you can. You've got lots
of energy, and there your golden years because you know
a lot of your responsibilities that you have when you're
a working parent, you're jiggling and juggling, and there are
just enormous demands on you from every angle. And now
I do feel very privileged that I can. You know,
(12:00):
I'm still doing some work, but I'm kind of doing
it in a way that it fits in with my life.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
No, it's and it's lovely of course this move. The
reason behind this move is that you're closer to your parents,
your children of course, who are both living in Europe,
which it must be wonderful to have them closer to.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
It's just wonderful. Roses coming tomorrow for the week. And
it's sort of like Sonny, you know, she's in Lisbon,
so she flies to Bordeaux and then jumps on the train.
Sean is in London and he can fly directly in
from London City Airport to Berterrack. So it is fantastic
to have this connection, you know, because it was too
(12:40):
hard for them and for us if they were coming
out to New Zealand just say that Christmas. Well, by
the time you've got there and recovered from the trip
and then had Christmas and then it's sort of time
to ground and go home again. And it's such a
long haul. Whereas if we can be based here for
sort of five and a half months a year. We
(13:03):
can build a creative rhythm in our lives, do things
with our kids, have adventures, get to know some of
the locals. Hopefully my French will get to the point
where I'm actually really fluent on it. In this most
amazing history around here, we're on the Route de la Resistance,
and on the eighth of May nineteen forty four, exactly
(13:26):
a year before the end of World War Two, there
was a huge thing with the Resistance and the Germans,
and just about three hundred meters from our house as
a monument where four Resistance sighters were killed, and you go, gosh,
it was only eighteen years ago. It's quite extraorinary.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Oh and about really nice to hear about where you
are and what you were up to. Thank you so
much for your time today.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Oh I'd lovely to talk to you. You take good
care for.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
More from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin. Listen live
to news Talks there'd be from nine am Sunday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News talks'b one.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Of our most loved Kirby cooks, is on a French
adventure that I think is just a romantic dream for
so many people. Annabout Langbine and her husband Ted have
brought a farmhouse in the south of France. They are
living over there while they renovate their new home. Annabelle
has been sharing updates on her Instagram and I thought
best to get her on to talk about how this
has all come about. Annabel Langbine, bonjour.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So nice to who.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Your French is. Good, isn't it well?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I think a French person wouldn't say it was good,
but I can make myself understood.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Good. Good. Now this move has been a long time
coming for you. When did the dream of a house
in France start for you?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I think probably about eight years ago Ted was going
I think we should buy a house in France. And
we have been coming here for probably thirty years because
I had a very dear friend who was a very
very clever cook, Daniel del Per, and she lived about
an hour and a half from here, so we sort
of had got to know the region really well, and
(01:17):
then we started looking and we just we must have
looked in eight years at about eighty houses, and we
were about to give up, and then this house just
came up through the real estate agent. And it transpired
later that she had had Christmas at this house for
(01:38):
twenty years because they were her parents' best friends. All
I felt like serendipity.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Absolutely eight years to find the right property. What was
that search like?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Like?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
What was the main problem with most of the properties.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
The main problem was that my gorgeous husband wanted to
buy an enormous chateau in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Right expectations.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, we looked at quite a lot of those, and
then we did actually put an offer in on one,
and the next morning I thought, oh my god, I'm
going to be sick. And I said to him, wouldn't
it be a good idea if we withdraw our offer
now rather than wait for the because you get ninety days,
a ninety day period where you can withdraw. And he
(02:26):
looked at me, said, what do you mean with draw
our offer? And a lot of toys came out of
the cod well. Now we have this place, and it's
an old farmhouse. But it's really charming and it's not
in the middle of nowhere. It's fifteen minutes to the
(02:46):
airport and you can fly direct to London. But we're
in absolutely bucolic, these crazy frogs that sound like strangled magties.
But I can see one house from the distance and.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
That's all fantastic. This house. Though, as you say, a
chance fined and then you had to make a very
late night sort of rushed off the site unseen how
nerve wracking is that.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Well, of course Ted was horrified because he you know,
he loves a deal, so he thought he was going
to be able to, you know, wrangle a price. But
the thing in France is if you put an offer
and at the asking price, they have to accept it.
But the trouble was that some Americans had put an
offering about twenty minutes after us, and it didn't have
any conditions whereas ours did. So we jumped on a plane.
(03:44):
It was the middle of the Olympics. It was so
stressful and we kind of got down here and now
offer was going to expire about twenty four hours after
we arrived, and Ted being Ted said to me early
in the morning the next day Oh, we're just going
to look at another property. Oh my gosh, what he said.
(04:07):
Oh it's not the provirinance got all the land. I
amazing view. Anyway, we turned up and it possibly the
most horrid place that out of us ever seen. So
that was incredibly lucky. And then we came here and
we both literally stepped over the front door and looked
at each other and went, oh, my god, this is
(04:28):
our house. We both said it.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
This is it? Where about in the south of France
is it? And why was that part of France your
choice for a second home.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
So we are in the southwest, so Bordeaux is in
our twenty car drive out to the coast. So we're
near a town called Bergerac. And because this lovely friend
of mine, Danielle, drew me here in a way, because
(05:02):
we used to flat together when I was in my
twenties in New York and she was a divorced French
farmer living in New York. And we made this wonderful
friendship and we continued right through, you know, before I
was married, and then when I was married, and we
brought our children here were when they were little, and
(05:25):
so there was this wonderful familiarity with the area, and
it is I mean, all of France is foody. But
what I really love about this particular area is that
the markets are just incredible and pretty much most of
the growers are all organic and so and the quality
of first is so good. And it's the heart of
(05:50):
duck and firegar and amazing cheeses. And you know, you
can drive an hour one way and there's rock for
and drive another way in our another way and it's
the turn and drive another hour and it's the heart
of these incredible goats cheeses. And it just goes on
and on and on, and I'm getting fatter and fatter.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And you growing a lot at your property as well.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
No, we're not growing anything. We're growing weeds, lots of
mulberriese some fruit trees that are in desperate need of
some love. But the garden probably has been let go
for i'd say about ten years, so it's a pretty
big mission.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
You're now, I think about seven weeks into a renovation,
is that right? How's that going?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Well? We have an animal in residents which is called
a pine Martin, and if you look up pine Martin,
it is a quite cute, little looking little animal that
looks a bit like a weasel but apparently has needle
(07:03):
like teeth and razor like razor like claws and incredibly vicious.
And it started out you could hear it clambering around
in the ceiling. And then when we were way this
week and we came home and the pine muntain had
come down the chimney into one of the living rooms
and pete and chat all over all the sofas, and
it smells like a skunk because it's got this horrible gland.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So it was just like, ahha, the glamorous life of
living in the south of France.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And about the countryside.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
So what do you do about your around your pine muntin?
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Your friend there, I write a novel about it at
this right, so I hilariously went off to the hardware
shop and all the men in the hardware shop came
over to told me how to make this trap work,
because it's one of those traps where you put a
dried prune in the trap and you have to leave
it for five days so that there's no smell of humans,
(08:01):
and then the pine muntain goes in and the door
falls closed behind it. The troublers Martin hasn't wanted to
go in the trap, so Tear has now put the
trap in the attic.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
You got a tricky tenant there in a bell. Oh
my goodness. Look, just just going back to the actual
purchase of the property. You know, you finally found this
house after eight years and you've got this offer and
then you knew it was the place for you. What
is the process like then? Is it literally great? You
signed the contract and it's all no.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, it's about one hundred and sixty nine page document,
all in French, and it goes through a special type
of lawyer that's called a no tear and it takes
so you have a ninety day regardless of who's doing
the deal or what house you're buying, it always is
going to take ninety days. And during that period you
(09:00):
the vendor the purchaser are allowed to withdraw your offer,
but the person selling house isn't allowed to withdraw their offer.
So it's very much in the buyer's favor. But you
have to go through to check that there's no asbestos
or termites or b and they're very well, they're being French.
(09:23):
They are incredibly bureaucratic, but they're very There's a lot
of boxes to tick. And the thing that was lucky
for us is that Ted has an IRIS cassport, so
he's an EU citizen, so we don't get biffed out
after ninety days.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Brilliant. I mean it just it does sound like a
dream and a balance. I know it's been a dream
for you for a long time. How does it feel
now to finally be living it.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
It's actually really exciting. But I wake up every morning
and I am thrilled to be here. We both love
the house. I mean, it's a lot of work. It's
been a lot of work. It's one of those things
where I first came to understand the idea of a
can of worms, because you just opened something and then
you're go, and then three days later you might emerge
(10:12):
from that particular cupboard. So it's an unfolding life. And
I can see that Ted is he has the same
rhythm that he has in what Okay. He's bought himself
a tractor and a weed eater, and he's given me
the weed eater and lots of tools, and he's out
(10:32):
doing his garden thing all day and I am looking
at things like it's actually a really charming house. So
in terms of furnishings, and we're not doing a huge renovation.
I'll put a new kitchen in and I'll fix up
one of the bathrooms. It's huge. It's got nine bedrooms
(10:53):
and nine bathrooms, so I haven't even got down to
the downstairs bathrooms yet or bedrooms.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I know that you've commented in the past, Center Belle,
that there were times. We know, throughout your career you
worked too hard. How good is it to have hit
this point in your life where you have the freedom
to do this. You know that hard work is paid
off to allow you to get there.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Lucky and I don't take it around it and you
sort of pinch yourself and go. You know, we all
know life can change on a dime. And so one
of my friend's mothers once said, you need to look
at these years. Your kids have sort of left home
and they're making their own way in the world, and
you know, you've still can walk around without meeting a
(11:38):
walking stick, and you know you can. You've got lots
of energy, and there your golden years because you know
a lot of your responsibilities that you have when you're
a working parent, you're jiggling and juggling, and there are
just enormous demands on you from every angle. And now
I do feel very privileged that I can. You know,
(12:00):
I'm still doing some work, but I'm kind of doing
it in a way that it fits in with my life.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
No, it's and it's lovely of course this move. The
reason behind this move is that you're closer to your parents,
your children of course, who are both living in Europe,
which it must be wonderful to have them closer to.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
It's just wonderful. Roses coming tomorrow for the week. And
it's sort of like Sonny, you know, she's in Lisbon,
so she flies to Bordeaux and then jumps on the train.
Sean is in London and he can fly directly in
from London City Airport to Berterrack. So it is fantastic
to have this connection, you know, because it was too
(12:40):
hard for them and for us if they were coming
out to New Zealand just say that Christmas. Well, by
the time you've got there and recovered from the trip
and then had Christmas and then it's sort of time
to ground and go home again. And it's such a
long haul. Whereas if we can be based here for
sort of five and a half months a year. We
(13:03):
can build a creative rhythm in our lives, do things
with our kids, have adventures, get to know some of
the locals. Hopefully my French will get to the point
where I'm actually really fluent on it. In this most
amazing history around here, we're on the Route de la Resistance,
and on the eighth of May nineteen forty four, exactly
(13:26):
a year before the end of World War Two, there
was a huge thing with the Resistance and the Germans,
and just about three hundred meters from our house as
a monument where four Resistance sighters were killed, and you go, gosh,
it was only eighteen years ago. It's quite extraorinary.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Oh and about really nice to hear about where you
are and what you were up to. Thank you so
much for your time today.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Oh I'd lovely to talk to you. You take good
care for.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
More from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin. Listen live
to news Talks there'd be from nine am Sunday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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