Oh, we came to France 12 years ago, November
2011, probably the wrong time of year because it was very cold. It came about because I
went on holiday with my soon to be husband and we came to France, sat in Port Cremona
in the south of France and thought, Yeah, we would like to live in France. So it took about
two and a half, three years to find a place. After many searches on the Internet,
we were looking in a different area, but we ended up here because it seemed the
perfect place. Airport nearby. So for friends and family traveling not too far from the sea
and in the center of France. So. And love the countryside. Perfect place and the perfect set
of buildings. We found. Ready to do the dream. Wow. That was another whole episode. The property
had been empty for seven years. There was no glass in the windows. There was no evidence of a toilet
or bathroom, no kitchen. It was a complete shell. I don't think anybody been upstairs for 20
years, we reckon. And there was attached barns that looked right for developing as well.
So it was a renovation project from the get go. We lived in a caravan for nine months with
three dogs. And yeah, we just kind of delved in and committed to renovating for at least two
years so we could have a live, livable place. Originally and what followed was to have a jean
put out a baby. That's what we were looking for. A group of buildings that we could develop into
a BnB plus land that we could have animals with. The dream was also to have alpacas. We didn't
have any at the time. We didn't come over with any. We just came over with two dogs at the
time, and then we acquired another dog while we were here in the first six months. So
originally, yes, it was definitely going to be a BnB and have animals as a bit
of an attraction and add on to the BnB. Quite a few hairy moments. When you
were the husband that will climb, many think and put himself on the line
then? Yes. Like balancing on beams of, like, 20 foot in the air, taking roofs
down, having to cut trees that then for the wrong way. And then he attaches a
line to it to make it go the right way. And it still the line snaps and it goes the wrong
way. Having to round when he's got a beam attached to a tractor and it starts rolling and I have to
run out of the way. Yeah. A lot of hairy moments. I may step in my foot on a few garden implements
thinking I'm going to end up in hospital. But take the boot off and there's
nothing happened. So it's just the image that made me scream. Yeah. A lot of hairy
moments, getting things stuck in my hair, expanding foam was a good one, bent down to
sand, something not realizing it. Just put some foam in something and the foam attached
to my head and started expanding on the hair. And it took him 2 hours and lots of
conditioner to peel out someone to cut my hair. So, yes, some good and
funny moments. Lots of funny moments. Finances, they were tight. So we bought the
house. We left us with a minimal amount. We were determined to do it and we were
expecting a little bit more money to come through. That didn't happen. So we
ended up with 200,000, £200, €200 left in the account. And that was panic time. It's like
we haven't finished enough to open as it may. What do we do? So for three days,
we couldn't actually talk to each other because we didn't know what we
were going to do. And as by chance, somebody that we met out here had a renovation
business and we happened to go to Braco Britomart for just to look at supplies because we
were looking to buy I would buy anything. The guy asked, our friend, if Trevor could
fix some bathrooms and immediate reply, Yes, he can. And that's where it started that
Trevor then thought it would have to be laid on plumbing while he was out here. But
that's become another avenue and it's been very successful as plumbing out here and carried
on his 50 years of plumbing now out in France. And that got us through and helped
us progressively and beyond to be finished and then open. And now
he carries on plumbing even more. The chambre d'hote originally
opened as three bedrooms, so we had two double rooms and a family
bedroom. Then we developed a barn next door and that gave us a separate dining area,
lounge area and another family bedroom. We realized the market was within the families,
so we were great for one night stops for families traveling from Spain, Belgium, Holland, Italy,
coming here. Then we realized, let's just take a step back. I think COVID happened. We took a
step back a bit, so we closed down for two and a half years during COVID. But then we opened up
and what we did, we opened up as a family bedroom and kept the shop out separate from the main
house, which was really workable and was very, very popular with the families because
they felt they had their own space. So we became quite a stop off point for a
lot of families and returning families even return from holidays, but also return in the
next year. And then we acquired and we built another bedroom and another barn and that became
another double room, a very large double room, and that became very popular and eventually.
Yeah, right. And got up to 9.8 on Booking.com. Very pleased. Yeah. A lot of people along the
way have remained friends and have loved it. Who? When I started, when I first came out here,
I joined a small painting group. We kept meeting in the gallery down the road and that was lovely.
And I started with the acrylic sets. I thought, Yeah, I like acrylics. Then I became got
back into watercolor Scotland at school. I always thought was wishy washy, but saw few
demonstrations, videos and realized how strong watercolors can be, but also unpredictable, which
is what I loved. And then because we've got the alpacas, we caught them after the first lot were
three males. We got those after being here for six months. We didn't even have a proper
flushing toilet, but we still got alpacas. As my husband points out, we've got the alpacas.
We had wool coming off them. And after a couple of years, like, Oh, what am I going to do
with this wool? So I was looking around, looking on ideas and I did start to learn, but
I did learn to spin so I can process the wool, different carding machines, spinning
machines that I can spin with. But I wanted to say a bit more creative because
I can't it can't knit or crochet. I can't. So I looked at more things to do with wool
and I came across the hanging fairies, which started as the fairy. Then I just loved how
the fairies were. But then, funny enough, a guest in the BnB was here during an exhibition, local
exhibition, and she was a wet felting artist and she noticed I'd done some paintings and I had some
paintings in the wool, on the walls, in the BnB. It's like I mentioned, I was looking for an idea.
She's if you can paint, I think you could do some wool. So we actually spent an afternoon in my
workshop together and her husband videoed it for their website and showed me how to wet felt
sort of one on one with her wet felting, which was amazing. And I was hooked, totally hooked
and then realized the art of needle fountain. We have to do a little bit needle felting in the
fairies and realize I could create pictures by sitting and just needle felting. So the two came
together. The way it felt in the needle felt in not sure what you like most, but but also still
creating with wool and colors. I love the colors. Research. Lots and lots of research. I thought
I'd done plenty of research and luckily I had done plenty of research and it was a dare I say, a bit
easier in those days before the dreaded Brexit. But it's still possible. But lots of research
find the perfect house that you're happy with for us. France gave us opportunities
that we would not have had in England. It gave us options which I loved, and
we've explored quite a few options. Find what's right for us. Found our little
niche. Look, Trevor is still working, but in a different kind of way. And we've got
our space the fields, the dogs, the animals, the alpacas and lots of friends out here.
I find the right area that suits you. You thinking, oh, great, great value that l
surrounded by nothing that would be fantastic for us. But actually it turned out that we
preferred being in a hamlet rather than be stuck on a hill on our own. Because it
could get lonely out here and it can get lonely out here. Especially when
COVID hit. It was very lonely time. But that for me boosted my craft. And in my head
mentally, it's like I have now time to boost it. And that's what kept me going. But I was certainly
do a lot of research before coming out here and have a back up plan. If you can't do this, what
could we do instead? That could work better, and luckily we could fall on Trevor's
skills as a plumber that kept us going. But eventually, when he retires, this
will now be our plan C I suppose, or D even that we've gone into, because be
willing to change and explore other avenues, which is what we've done as well. Oh, the
laid back lifestyle for us suits us very well. Mentally, even visiting England is too much,
is too much, too many calls, too many people. Great to see friends of family, but
here is the space. Even during COVID, I could walk around my fields and fill space
out in traffic. I love that. I love driving in France. Whether it's to get back, there's
still hardly any traffic. Even to Bordeaux. There's hardly any traffic compared to England.
A Yes, you make allowances that sometimes are shops closed for lunch, but that's like
going back to the old days, which I love. And your work day works round that. I'm in
time to see family and friends, so when we do, our family and friends visit in it's quality
time. I love that. But also seeing friends out here spend good times with friends out here as
well and you get to know who people are properly, which I love. Yes, the properties are changing
slightly apart from it's been ripped out already. We've got in mind Salisbury going to be using
for double bedrooms and from a BnB it would now be a retreat and four workshops to share the
craft of felt in what felt mainly to begin with, hopefully going down the route of needle crafting
and maybe painting. I feel paint is a bit more personal, so I don't feel comfortable
at the moment with teaching painting. People have asked me to, but I prefer to
demonstrate the technique of felting and see what people create because every piece
is unique and nobody knows what's going to come out. So I do like the craft of the
wet felted side of things to demonstrate. So that's the idea here. Build up my shop,
try to sell and share the craft of felting, but also share the experience in
France, the local countryside. What we've done here, what we've achieved
here, which to me I feel we've achieved a lot and our friends say we have, but sometimes
you have to pinch yourself to know that you've actually done it and we did do it and we're
going forward with it. So that's the plan is retreats and workshops. Have you right. So when
people arrive we can offer a pick up service. So from a local train station limoges
we have all this to train but there is a an airport at the most we can pick
people up from. So once you arrive here, you can basically drop your bags in a double
bedroom slightly still French inspired rooms, décor wise, you can drop your bags,
enjoy a nice meal out on the terrace. Luckily we get some good summers here. The weather
can be hot, but that's fine. Just to relax, be with people that share the kind of same ideals so
even just learning, if you never done it before, it's still a step by step course. If you've
done it before is still with like minded people. I just share the week of being with
people that hopefully can have a laugh with. I got to chat with them. Even if you want
to sit somewhere comfortable to read a book, we've got loads of nooks and crannies surrounding
the area, different terraces outside. If you want to do a painting while you're here, I have
the supplies. So a workshop and a studio. So everything everything's do craft and is
basically here. There's lots of things that I've bought has been looked at and says
wise like it will come in handy one day. There's a stock of everything here. So yeah, I
just hope to share a, a comfortable experience and a welcoming experience and a knowledgeable
experience with people when they arrive here.