Sometimes life goes by so fast, we find ourselves running on autopilot and it takes a special occasion or a comment from a friend to make us stop and take a look at what we have actually achieved. Continue reading “Making Our Home What It Is Today”
Author: ourfrenchoasis
Sharing our love of family life with our five children, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 Ducks and numerous chickens in France. Capturing things that inspire us, our love of good food, fresh local ingredients, long walks in the country, gardening and design.
8 Go On An Adventure
When a three day weekend involving a bank holiday Monday becomes something totally unexpected. When the family spring the most enormous surprise. A plan they have cunningly hatched and a secret they have kept from me for two months. Continue reading “8 Go On An Adventure”
An American Dream Becomes a Reality
Sometimes dreams do turn into reality; for some that dream might be a passion to live in France and to own a small piece of French real estate. It sounds simple enough, but (and trust me, I know from first hand experience) the planning and amount of work required to move countries and continents, and to set up a new home in a foreign land where the spoken language is not one’s mother tongue is never easy. One thing is guaranteed however – it is always going to be a grand adventure. Continue reading “An American Dream Becomes a Reality”
A World of Puppies
It was always planned; that late in the winter we would find a suitable mate for Evie, our little Jack Russell, with the idea that she should have puppies in the spring.
Frenchify your Home – Brocante Sale Today
Don’t you think we all need a little treat every now and then, it gives us a boost, lifts our spirits and well, why not, I am sure you deserve it.
So today, for 24 hours only, starting now, I am offering you 25% off every single item in our Etsy Shop. Just one click away here or on any of the highlighted links. And don’t forget we only charge shipping for one item, the second, third, fourth item(s) is/are added for free, so you can shop until you drop, knowing that for once the shipping won’t cripple you!
Have fun, add a little Frenchness to your home and most of all have a lovely Sunday, I hope you have or have had a lovely weekend . xx
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ourfrenchlifestyle
The Potting Shed
The potting shed or the summer kitchen; in my mind it has two names and two jobs but today it is wearing its gardener’s hat! One of the best things about old houses in France is that they very often come with a host of outbuildings and the moment I saw our house, this little old structure captured my attention.
The Spring Garden, New Life and Puppies
We have had two momentous events this week. The first was Evee having her puppies, an occasion when the excitement chez nous reached fever pitch, and the second was a change in the weather, a fairly dramatic turnaround that had our first big heatwave of the year changing the garden and its landscape almost overnight. The first true flush of summer and really warm air sent our plants and trees into a slow motion frenzy of activity. There was an explosion of life; branches and twigs whose fists of buds had been tightly clenched against the cold for so long suddenly unfurled in a frantic rush, desperate to stretch out and absorb the heat from the sun. Hedgerows turned from brown to green and the entire garden changed within a matter of hours. I don’t think I have ever seen such a dramatic transformation in so little time.
The Best Laid Plans – Guest Post!
This week’s blog is brought to you by our daughter Millie – she has a hankering for adventure, as you may know, and her latest story is certainly interesting enough to share! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did…
The idea of doing long journeys under my own steam is something that has always really appealed to me, and some of you may remember my blog post in 2016 when I sailed with some friends down the coast of France from the UK. Since then, I’ve always had a longing to hike along the Pyrenees, high up where the paths lead from one horizon to another and you camp in a tent or a hut each night. The obvious time to do this is this summer as I’m now an adult (scary times lie ahead) and heading off to university this autumn. However, such a strenuous undertaking requires some preparation beforehand, and so this half-term I thought a quick 3-day training hike around the Île de Ré would be a good idea. The island is a bit of the Charente Maritime that lies a bridge away to the west of La Rochelle and I thought the planned 3-day adventure and would be simple – 75 kilometres on flat land with a campsite each night? Easy.
As it turns out, I was hilariously wrong. Here’s what happened… Continue reading “The Best Laid Plans – Guest Post!”
Adding a Little French Vintage
I am quite sure that anyone who lives in an old house, centuries old as opposed to decades old, has asked themselves at least once “Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a nice new modern house?” A house where everything worked and nothing leaked. A house where the drafts were kept out and the windows didn’t rattle. You see, these old ladies, whether grand old dames or more modest affairs, take an enormous amount of upkeep, they tend to be something of a drain on one’s resources and as my mother in law always told me, we live with them, always aware of the next thing that needs to be replaced or repaired, the next job around the corner. Continue reading “Adding a Little French Vintage”
Spring, why are you being so Shy?
I am itching to get on with spring, but Mother Nature seems to have other ideas. I’m planning which vegetables we will grow this year, dreaming of picking tomatoes warm and ripe from the sun and peas and beans, peppers and aubergines. I’m quite desperate to get out into the flower borders too and put some new ideas into action – alas, so far I’ve really been reduced to writing down my thoughts on paper. This typically involves lying in bed while I imagine the end result, which I then realise “won’t work” when I come downstairs in the cold light of dawn to stare out of the window through the sheets of rain; with my plans scuppered, I have to come up with other arrangements, and although I am no artist, I have most definitely now learnt to appreciate the benefits of taking photos and sketching diagrams on paper!
Our French Oasis 