Home Sweet Home - July 2017

Our little home in Brittany is more than just a home, it’s a retreat, far from the madding crowd. We may be here for only half the year but bought it back in 2003 not realising how important it would become.

We are retired teachers from Wolverhampton and first came to France on holiday with a tent and met French friends on our first visit, to Arcachon.

We thought about buying and checked estate agents before spotting our longère in Côtes-d’Armor.

Supported by our friends Daniel and Hervé, we plunged into buying, then came the renovation, then the garden... then the bees and, throughout, friends and family came to visit our quiet village.

Yes, and our French improved dramatically, and not just because our French friends of 35 years came to stay often. In fact, they even lived here when work brought them to Guingamp!

And over the last eight years our bilingual grandchildren have spent lovely holidays here... a far cry from their city life in Paris.

So, after all this time, is it still home sweet home?

Yes, without question.

There is the garden, the space, the bees, the fun times with family and friends; the kindness of our brilliant neighbours, all make for a place that is very special to us.

We fell hopelessly in love with the house, small, basic but absolutely great.

Best moment? Difficult to say... so many, but perhaps having the four granddaughters and our French friends’ granddaughter here in August 2015 for a birthday party.

What more could one ask? Our home in France is a place to relax and chill, to déstresse, and also to enjoy the good life with good people round us.

Tell us in 250 words what makes your home in France special and send a photo of it and yourself to news@connexionfrance.com Any we publish will receive a year’s free subscription or a year’s extension if already a subscriber!