Why did we buy this old french house? Regrets & Mistakes? | Episode 6
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Ever wondered how a kiwi family ended up renovating an old house in the heart of France? Today's video is a special one, where we dive into our personal journey that led us to this house by the river - yes, the one that floods in winter! We share the good, the bad, and the heartwarming reasons behind our choice.
It's not all about the past though; we've also run into an unexpected challenge - our floor is too high! Follow along as we problem-solve, dealing with our first proper renovation mistake.
Jack's off on another kitchen-finding adventure (with some unexpected twists and turns too) to get the final pieces we need to achieve Becs' dream aesthetic.
So join us for a cup of tea or coffee, settle in, for another video full of renovation, design, and a slice of our 'why' here in wet but beautiful France.
☕️Keep us caffeinated (this really, really helps, thank you!!): www.buymeacoff...
🔗Connect with us on Instagram: / growinginfrance
💌Get in Touch: growinginfrance@gmail.com
I predict your channel will be a great success. Great content, charming couple, cool house, well-edited videos. Well done!
That's so kind of you to say, we certainly hope you're right ❤️
Have just discovered you guys and loving your videos. You two are a delight to watch and I'm quietly jealous of your beautiful home and all its potential. All the best on your journey. ❤
Thank you so much! It's great to have you along for the ride! ❤️
Loved the story of how you moved to France and found your house, the Charente is gorgeous
Yeah we tried out a couple of other areas, but for us it had to be the Charente. No matter how often the river is on our doorstep, it's still the best place to be 😊 The Loire looks brilliant too, my (Jack) cousin has moved up there, so we'll hopefully be visiting soon.
I'm so curious what you both do for work, and how you manage jobs AND children AND a renovation! Amazing, wonderful and adventurous undertaking!
So we both work full time - Becs is a wedding photographer, and I'm a customer experience consultant and app developer, so we've managed to build a pretty flexible work life as far as when we work. This lets us alternate, so someone is always around for the kids, or even do our work before they wake up (me) or after they go to sleep (Becs) it's definitely a full life but we wouldn't have it any other way. 😅
@@growinginfrance Whew! Busy and full life! I lived in France as a little girl, in Paris. My parents were both classical musicians. Now I am a musician too. I work from home in the US as a musician/composer and we have two teenage sons. My husband used to commute for 8 years and was gone for weeks at a time. It was so hard! We chose to find land and build our home and gardens (not all by ourselves!) and staying afloat through all those years with big projects and young children was tough. It is by far the most rich and rewarding time of life now that I look back. Enjoy every crazy moment! I will enjoy seeing your progress.
@@annatoth9478 Wow that sounds like quite the life! Thank you for sharing your story, it's good to hear you look back happily on times like these. It can all feel a bit wild and uncertain at times!
Oh my goodness!
Your Kiwis!
I saw your article in “The Good Life France” and clicked in the link only to hear our very clear Kiwi Accent!
Amazing.
Love from Auckland NZ
Jerina 🍃💕🍃
Kia ora Jerina, yep we're kiwis! Much love coming back to you from France, cheers for checking out the videos!
Loving all you are achieving! What great ambassadors you are for us in France. 🍃💕🍃
Check out this Kiwi couple, friends of mine who are also restoring a house in France but a little bit diff to yours.
ua-cam.com/video/B7RaET_iKms/v-deo.htmlsi=M7TS-gKSoUePoJE4
Lovely story guys...we move permanently back to France in 2025....doing a where do we buy trip this January , looking around your area also, what else do you love about your Department. Very jealous of your French Jack...well done mate...
Cheers, the French has taken a ton of practice, and loooots of Duolingo haha.
Would definitely recommend the Charente and Nouvelle-Aquitaine in general, there are so many things we love around here. The river being one obviously (we live in the river all summer, swimming and kayaking), but the rest of the scenery is lovely too, never far from a beautiful walk, and even the agriculture is all grapevines, and sunflowers (rather than smelly cows 😂) - We really enjoy the history around here too, old churches, roman amphitheatre's and all sorts. It's not far to the seaside, or airports. The French accent here has been nice and clear for us to understand (compared to other places in France that we've been with more unique pronunciations) And the locals have been the kindest most patient people - And the Charente (south especially) gets the second most sunshine hours in France, after Provence, but doesn't have the mistral wind in winter. 😅 Obviously we're biased, but we could really go on all day. It's the best! Good luck with your search, keep in touch if you end up near Angoulême.
Love your design colours for your home 😍
Thanks! Can’t wait to make it into a reality 🙌
Hey, Just found your channel and loved your story. We moved 30 mins from Angouleme and are still finding our way round the area etc. Good luck with your renovation and can’t wait to follow your story. We’ve been in France for 4 years now so if you need any tips on the DIY front Im sure my hubby would be happy to help. Good luck!!
That's awesome, it's such a lovely area! Thanks for the offer, I've no doubt we'll need more advice 😂
i’ve obs watched the vlog out of sequence. Now realise you’ve been here for years so are obs wsy ahead of us in dealing with stone buildings!! 😂
Haha no worries, we can trade advice! We’re definitely no experts but we have picked up a few things
I’m binge watching your journey.We look to move next year,how do you manage to rent before you buy,as that’s the only way we could do it …with pets
Hi, welcome, it's great to have you here!! How exciting for you!! We were ridiculously lucky with purchasing this house as we found it on our second day of searching (although we did look at many, many other houses), and we were able to rent it while we waited for the sale to be completed. It took three months for the sale to go through. Renting is definitely possible though, long term Gite, or Airbnb, many are pet friendly in France. Are you a member of any of the "expat" Facebook groups? So much good advice from those that have gone before!
What’s your puppy and cats names? I would have still bought this house even after the flooding. To live by that beautiful river is worth it all. ❤❤❤
Two dogs, Ludo and Tody. Three cats, Bee, Honey and Susan. We absolutely love it, flooding and all, it is never disastrous (so far 🤞), and all summer long it is the very best, we live in the water.