English born Kylie Lang has lived all over the world, but it wasn’t until she gave her husband the next choice of where to live, that she even considered a move to France and now she is fully in loooooove with every thing about her new adopted home. . Kylie now lives in rural France in the Charente department on the border of the Dordogne, 2 hours from Bordeaux. In south-west France, Kylie’s area is known for its sunflowers and is a beautiful part of France (although who am I kidding, all of France is exquisite!)  . We chatted in this episode about the ways ex-pats moving to France can ..read more

Aujourd'hui I escaped into the real world to get my Frenchy vibes fluttering at the Bendigo Art Gallery, chatting to curator Clare Needham about the current Paris: Impressions of Life exhibition. This extraordinary exhibition was sourced from the Musée de Carnavalet in the Marais in Paris as well as fashion items from the NGV. Clare took me through all the 7 zones of the exhibition taking me through the story of the history of Paris from that time. Tune in to hear our petit tour and check out the details on the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website. For details of the Normandy Retreat mentioned ..read more

Claudia Stahl is the creator of French inspired fashion brand Jac Cadeaux. Claudia lived in Paris for a number of years after inheriting a love of all things French from her mother. She went for a year and stayed for five years! Claudia loves the language and the culture but clearly has been affected by the fashion too. Being there for 5 years, she got to learn the language, to meet and make French friends, travel a lot and study the effortlessly chic French women. We chatted about her experiences and it transported me back to France on and off through our chat. Claudia described her life i ..read more

Ruby Boukabou is an author, performer, tap dancer and Paris resident with whom I have had numerous wonderful French experiences including attending the Cannes Film Festival last year. The films for 2024 have now been released with some Aussies predicted to be leading the red carpet appearances at times with a few Australian connected movies being shown. I’m looking forward to the new Mad Max prequel which Ruby explained to me.  Ruby has been reporting on the famous Cannes Fest for over a decade and this year she and I will be reprising our YouTube program The Cannes Couch, so this podcast ..read more

April Pett is a breath of fresh air keeping the Frenchy vibes fluttering for many tourists in Paris. She hosts custom tours in Paris, Versailles, Chablis and Champagne and does so with such a lovely vibrant positivity! Coming to live in Paris from a small town in Canada, April first visited France when she graduated high school and her love affair with the French capital began. After more than a decade living there, she still hasn't lost the wonder in her eyes every time she sees the iconic symbols surrounding her. Wandering around the city is still like an outdoor gallery for her, as April s ..read more

Sonja Bajic is a map illustrator living in Paris, specialising in personalised maps. We use maps so often in our lives and Sonja connects with people to tell their story on a map of their own. Sometimes she will create a map with images or pictures of a family's holiday and place it on a map for them to display at home, or perhaps an individual might have their life in two worlds, such as I would hope to have with France and Australia! Sonja can represent that life on a personalised map. I adore losing myself in a map, examining all the streets and reminiscing about where I've been before. It ..read more

Easter for me has always been a time for gathering with family, for eating copious amounts of chocolate, for egg hunts and as a child for going to church with my grandmothers. This is the same in much of the English speaking world, but what goes on for Easter in France? In this episode I chatted to Alex Ganipeau from the French Hack about her memories of Pâques when she grew up in France. There are some traditions that are particular to France, such as the Cloches de Pâques, the Easter bells which depart France on Good Friday and fly to Rome to be blessed by the Pope, then returning to France ..read more

Kate Hill has lived an extraordinary life. As a young woman she loved to travel and cook and ended up buying a barge and travelling the regional canals of France until she found her little home which back then was a ruin on the bank of the canal. So she parked the barge at the bottom of the garden gate and continued to live on the barge for her first 25 years in the area of Gascony, until the ruined 300 year old building was eventually renovated 10 years ago for her to live in. Early on in the 35 years in total that Kate has lived there, she built her little dream kitchen and learned how to bu ..read more

Dianne McHugh loves walking through Paris. So much so that she has created 20 walks, one for each arrondissement of the French capital. Dianne has her faves, but one thing she often looks for when planning a walk, is a patch of green on the map. Tha parks and recreational spaces of Paris are food for a Francophile soul! Dianne also likes to make time to have a break and read a book somewhere as well as take in at least one museum or gallery a day. During her last visit to Paris Dianne tried to squeeze all her 20 walks into a 14 day stay, but just fell short. Always leave a reason to  ret ..read more

Bruce and Lisa live near Montreal in Canada and whilst Bruce's French father may have influenced his connection to France, it wasn't until a 20th wedding anniversary vacay that together they discovered their mutual love of France. When visiting the Dordogne, they stayed in Sarlat -la-Canéda and on the last day of their trip they found that an apartment on the top floor of the historic building they were staying in was for sale! And that was it! The journey of French property ownership and renovation began! I've always imagined moving to an historic village and a stone cottage or apartment wit ..read more