Those two simple words “For Sale” can turn our lives around, especially when the sign is small and hand-written in the depths of the French countryside. It doesn’t even seem to matter for me what it is for sale – “À Vendre” has me daydreaming. I can see a wooden board propped against a vintage car and I imagine driving it. A sign against some antique chairs outside someone’s house and I envision where I will put them. And something in the window of a building and immediately I’m planning it’s renovation!
For those of us in the northern hemisphere we’ve got to that time of year when we start thinking about summer holidays, or perhaps a little getaway in the spring; for those in the southern hemisphere I know it’s also a time when quite a few of you come to visit Europe. Not everyone who visits France from either direction is necessarily a seasoned hand so I thought it might be fun to take a light hearted look at some of the day to day things you might come across here. And even if you’re not travelling at all, I hope you will still find this little post enjoyable because I am a firm believer in armchair travel, and the more knowledge we have at our fingertips the more extensive our dreams can become. 
This is a time of year when we can literally feel spring coursing through our veins. It’s a season full of rebirth and new growth, a time of endless possibilities, and a time of innocent hope. Whilst our climate is generally mild here on the coast and the risk of a frost is pretty much gone now, March and April can be fickle months; we can be dining al fresco with windows and doors wide open one day, and the next be plunged into less favourable temperatures with chilly winds and in definite need of a coat. It’s also a time of year when you can bring spring inside too, when branches of blossom can fill the house with colour and scent 
I am really excited today to introduce you to another British expat, Kathryn Dobson, and her family, who live in the Vienne in Central-Western France. But although they moved here for the good life and have surrounded themselves with numerous animals, their lives are far from ordinary. They live in a small chateau and own a hugely successful magazine that they publish here in France. 