Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Ep 43 - Finding dragonflies & dreams, renovating a 300 year old maison in Burgundy!

www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com

Lindy  Viandier chatted to me about her journey from being a nurse in Wales to renovating a 300 year old maison with her French husband in Burgundy.

Lindy recalls her mother wearing ‘Evening in Paris’ perfume when she was a child. It came in a tiny midnight blue flacon. The label had the French translation, ‘soir de Paris’ and the name ‘Bourjois’. Lindy said, "To me this was the height of glamour and fuelled my desire to visit Paris, so when I had the opportunity to visit aged 17, I was thrilled and immediately fell under her spell." 

Skip over a lifetime in between and Lindy's daughter requested to have a French exchange student come stay. It turned out to be a cultural exchange with both the teenager and her father who Lindy ended up marrying!

They now live between Paris and Burgundy, although Lindy is spending much more time in the country house these days. Lindy has called the house ‘Les Libellules’ meaning dragonflies as the house has a pond with an abundance of wildlife.

Lindy chatted to me about her experience renovating her 300 year old home. As an avid viewer of Escape to the Chateau DIY I was hanging on every word! Lindy said, "let’s just say insects feature heavily, as do crumbling walls, and some interesting discoveries." Lindy felt connected to the house straight away, love at first sight, right from when she saw a photo on a property website. 

Hear Lindy's suggestions for choosing a property in France and more about how her life has changed from a very fast-paced existence in a major city, to living in a sleepy little hamlet where one could walk from one end to the other in ten minutes! The friendships she has made, the sense of strong community in the French countryside, the living without almost all mod cons a whilst renovating the house, living an almost entirely French life married to a Frenchman. Her journey is fascinating and beautifully familiar at the same time. Maybe that's just because I've dreamed about such a life so often in my own mind!

With a regular LFF feature of a French recipe and some French music, this is a wonderfully warm chat to help feel as if you've momentarily floated to France. 

Bonne journée et à bientôt mes amis. 

Loulabelle xx

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Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
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FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
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Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website