I am Helen and I live in France. I moved here in 2004. Our home is in the Poitou Charentes
I wear many hats – wife, mother, teacher, renovator of old houses, and more recently , blogger and writer.
I have wanted to write for some time and blogging has allowed me the accessibility to writing I was looking for.
Having a laptop in the corner of my kitchen helps as well.
My master plan was to write about food. I do that. More recently I have wanted to write about other topics, so I do that too.
Currently I write for Flavour Magazine and French Property News.
I want to write a book about my experiences here, as I have a story worth telling to others.
That’s all. Please read my blog as often as your busy lives allow. Thank you.
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Blog Catalog
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12 responses so far ↓
Hilary // August 6, 2008 at 3:08 pm |
Congrats Holly, can’t wait to get my cap and gown!! xx
evie pajimbla // August 10, 2008 at 5:13 pm |
you guys look cute together xxxxxxxx
realfoodlover // September 9, 2008 at 10:07 pm |
I am thrilled to be on your blog roll and also to be connected via your daughter, Holly,who did a stint at the Soil Association before she went to Flavour. Genius, eh?!
Gail // January 27, 2009 at 12:31 am |
Hi Helen,
We have a maison secondaire on the border of 87,86,16 my husband Derek is from Abertillery so I was delighted to see you have family there. We love our little corner of France and hope to spend more time there when we eventually retire we also love food and cooking so am looking forward to trying out some of your recipes. I am reading this at half past midnight as I cannot sleep, so will catch up with the rest of your blog tomorrow.
Best Wishes
Gail
aurelius1 // January 27, 2009 at 6:49 am |
Small world – I am also from Abertillery – my Dad’s family all come from there – Wayne is the family name – quite a big clan of us
I visit my aunt there once or twice a year, and my old family home in Cwmfelinfach.
They say the world gets smaller as you get loder……..how true!
I am getting motivated once again to write in my blog, as my daughter has asked me to write for a food magazine called flavour (LINK ON THE BLOG).
Nice to hear from you
Suzanne Noble // February 24, 2009 at 3:00 pm |
I came across your blog and thought your bloggers might be interested to know that Hambleden Herbs are having a special 50% off sale of all their products in the Antony Worrall Thompson range ( http://www.hambledenherbs.com/awt/). What’s more if you put the code Blogger05 in the promotional code, they’ll take another 10% off. There are some lovely mixed herb grinders in the sale, vanilla and chocolate sugar, and lots more, not to mention some delicious recipes care of Paul Clerehugh of the famous Crooked Billet gastropub.
Hambleden are a small, organic herb and tea company based in Wiltshire. They started as a family business about 25 years ago and many of their herbs come from exactly the same producers as when they first began.
In particular, the Russian Tmin is really good and my kids seem to love it on just about everything – from crispy potato skins to chicken and even steak.
Anyway, as a blogger myself (albeit of a very different kind), I know that you must get loads of emails so I’ll leave this one with you.
Good luck with the blogging.
Kind regards
Suzanne
Nehal // March 17, 2009 at 2:29 pm |
Hi Helen!
I help run the restaurant search site Urbanspoon and we’ve recently started covering London. I wanted to introduce you to the site.
We pull together restaurant reviews from the newspaper critics (Evening Standard, Independent etc) as well as reviews from food bloggers. For example, here’s our page on Barrafina:
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/560905/restaurant/London/Barrafina-Soho
One of the main things we’re trying to do is to help people find out what bloggers have to say about restaurants. I was wondering if you would be interested in showing your restaurant reviews on Urbanspoon when France is added or perhaps from when you return to the UK and visit any? Users will see a teaser of your review on our site, and we show a link to click through to your blog and read the full review.
For instance, if you wanted to add a post on a meal at Tamarind, London, here’s a page that explains how it works:
http://www.urbanspoon.com/e/restaurant_link/570649
Thousands of new people will see your blog posts every month. Check out our blog leader-board for more details:
http://www.urbanspoon.com/blogs/52/London.html
In any case, I like your blog and I wanted to say hello! We’re just getting started in London — any feedback you have is much appreciated.
Thanks!
Nehal
http://www.urbanspoon.com
Tony // March 25, 2009 at 12:42 pm |
We also have a maison secondaire in the 85 region (Vendee) and agree 100% with what is said. You speak to so many people who have burn their bridges in the UK and then wish they hadn’t done so. We downsized to a small property in the UK and had a bungalow built in the Vendee which means we can spend 6 months in either place. It is a wonderful life and have no regrets. Sorry but my family are from Chirk in North Wales!!
aurelius1 // March 25, 2009 at 12:46 pm |
I am from South Wales………small world! I didn’t mention that on my “about” page of my blog – perhaps I should add it on?
Sarah // March 25, 2009 at 3:09 pm |
Hi
I came across your blog via the Telegraph article. I live in Charente Maritime and agree with what you say about doing research before seeing an enormous ruin and falling in love with it… just look again in the middle of winter. Luckily for me I am realistic enough to have bought a modest place.
I have been here 2 years (2 years in Carcassonne before that) and run a small veg box scheme… mainly because I grow far too much for my own needs. I don’t make a great deal of money doing it, but I love it so it makes it worthwhile. I give my customers recipes with the veg box some of my own and some from a site called ‘www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk’ – worth a look.
As for my French it improves every day, and the more it improves the more I feel at home.
I enjoyed reading your blog, and may pop in from time to time… good luck with life in France.
Sarah
Basil Howitt // March 27, 2009 at 1:26 pm |
Hi Helen
Nice to come across you site.
Having now lived in the P.-O. permanently for well over 5 years (after 16 years of 2nd home ownership) , I must say you are absolutely right. The first priority of anyone planning to live here is to master the basics of French. Without reasonable fluency you are sunk – though I would add that the French will bend over backwards to help you if they can see you are making an effort with their language.
I write my own blogs in a series called Lives and Livelihoods in the Languedoc-Roussillon. Your readers can find them here:
http://www.expatica.com/fr/common/search.html?phrase=Basil+Howitt
Cheers
Basil
frances // May 30, 2009 at 5:29 pm |
I visited your blog and I was wondering if I can recommend it. Although ours is not a humor website, we can all use a good laugh in this world where there are a lot of things not to laugh about. I am sure my visitors would appreciate websites like yours. Let me know if this is ok. Thanks for your time and take care.