French Life-expat France

I wake up early in the morning - usually between 5am and 6am, and long before anybody else. No idea why, I’ve been the same since I was young. But it does leave me with a challenge. What should someone do for two-three quiet hours every morning?
Typically I drink too much coffee, answer lots [...]

Living as we do near the Dordogne region, we see our fair share of tourists. Which is good because we have gites to rent out! Most of my exploring of the region is done on my bike, often with a group of local cyclists. This helps me discover loads of hidden away places I would [...]

I’m in the attic of the house this week, treating about a zillion beams with wood protection and treatment. This involves wearing a protective mask and goggles, handling noxious chemicals and generally looking silly, but seems preferable to waiting for the roof to fall down.
Funny thing is, the attic of the house is probably the [...]

It’s only about two weeks until we open our doors to the first of this years visitors (we are ‘closed’ October to April) so we are busy making sure everything is looking good in the house and garden.
This becomes less of a chore each year, but there are always things to do in a house [...]

I’ve gleaned a few useful facts about starting a business in France that might be useful, and more importantly could save you loads of money, so I thought I’d share them. Note I am not an expert, I’m just trying to point out some potential pitfalls and things to be aware of. You need to [...]

It seems that packing up and moving to a different country can be a bit confusing - presumably people enter into a state of delirium and nervous excitement in the weeks before moving. Now I mention it, so did we…this is a guest blog article, see credit below, although I have rudely added my own [...]

Yesterday was the first proper outing of 2008 for our cycling group, and despite the impending danger of snow the six of us set off courageously into the countryside. The wintry weather held off and a good time was had by all.
It constantly amazes me how much there is to discover in the lanes and [...]

We are always searching for photos of France, and frequently people are kind enough to send some in to us to be used on the francethisway site.
All we ask or hope for is holiday snaps - not especially great photos, just those that show what a particular town or location really looks like to visitors. [...]

We live near quite a small town, about 3000 residents including those of us who squeeze into the surrounding fields. All the same, our town has most facilities that you want - primary school, 2 supermarkets, DIY store, 2 butchers, bars and restaurants and so on. And four estate agents.
A few years ago when we [...]