Vicky

I hear you. Thing is we’ve never been that bothered about friends. We have good friends that visit us from the UK, the entire village waves to us, I don’t need or want endless dinner parties. I’m good 😀

Aw bless her. Despite getting her passport in readiness I couldn’t persuade her to come, so she never visited here. She was in residential care for the last year of her life meaning my sister back in the UK was doing all the heavy lifting.

My mum passed away last year so that was hard, but I don’t regret moving here one bit.

I think it depends what you want from it. We don’t have any close neighbours and we chose isolation by design. That said we hosted our French friends for a bbq a few weeks ago and we always go to the Maires for Armistice day and that kind of thing. We’re happy.

Thankyou so much. It was a lot at the time, sometimes it still is, but I wouldn’t change it. X

You’re not wrong.

Bon-voyage! Hey folks. Firstly, thanks to each and every one of you that spent a rainy afternoon with us in the Hare and Hounds last weekend, we were overwhelmed by your presents, cards and well wishes. Just t…

We moved to France 7 years ago this very day. It’s the most stressful, heartbreaking, brilliant thing we’ve ever done.

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Discover the Feminine Legacy of Chenonceau Chateau The view from the tree lined avenue We visited this stunning chateau on the river Cher in August 2025, and all I’ve done since is read more about the very many little nuggets of fascinating h…

A lovely Sunday morning read about some extraordinary women and the chateau they built.

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Top Tips for Visiting Zooparc du Beauval: Your Ultimate Guide Morning everyone. We’re here at Zooparc du Beauval, in the Loire region of France, voted number 4 in the world’s most beautiful zoos. It covers 44 hectares, has the largest aviary in Eu…

This is the best zoo that you’ve never heard of. Has anyone visited?

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Stranger Things and Everyday Adventures Journal Tues 12th August 2025 Another 6.00am start with the bulldog, and a lovely big moon still in the sky. There’s a smattering of cloud this morning, what my Mum would have called a Macker…

Today’s journal post folks.
Who’s rewatching Stranger Things ahead of the new season?

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Homemade Chicken Burgers: A Simple Recipe Journal Mon 11th August 2025 Up at 6.00am today with a grumbling bulldog, (not a euphemism). I did the usual carry him outside, plonk him on the grass, wait for his legs to wake up, a good 5 minute…

First of my daily journal blogs is up, with a cheeky recipe for chicken burgers. Would be lovely if you had a read 😘

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Final Day in Paris: Montmartre Adventures It was our final day in Paris, and Jen had a relatively early Eurostar so we headed to Montmartre for breakfast and a little look at Sacre Coeur before she needed to go to the station. We had a gor…

The last of my 4 Paris blogs from our May trip. Please give them a read if you’re planning a trip to Paris anytime soon.

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The Moulin Rouge Hangover. Goodness me it was hot on the Paris Metro. Back In May we were lucky enough to be treated to an unseasonably warm weekend, but this morning, several stops from destination, something didn’t f…

Morning all! I drank too much champagne at the Moulin Rouge and might have possibly thrown up in a metro station bin. You’ll have to read this to truly know 😀

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Paris blog, The Conciergerie, Maison Victor Hugo, & Places Du Voges. So, we continue on from my first blog, and onwards from the Pantheon to the Conciergerie we go. You may remember this building from the Paris Olympic opening ceremony, where the French metal band G…

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The Opening Act of Spring I started this a couple of weeks ago, so apologies for it being a game of two halves as it were. I really must finish things when I start them…. Part 1…..Morning lovely peeps. Up early-…

New blog post, considering I’ve been a bit absent.

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This weekend has been quite pretty.

Oh well done sir! 😂

Sunset over crocuses.

I’m rewatching the Handmaids tale, and I noticed Aunt Lydia’s brooch looked familiar.

Yup 😐

a close up of a baby 's face and mouth ALT: a close up of a baby 's face and mouth

Well, it seems the 6 Nations in now dead to me. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇫🇷😳🤦‍♀️

I had a suggestion today from the Insta algorithm. It was a certain Hatie Kopkins. Turns out 48 of my 10k followers follow her, some even posting things along the lines of “you tell it like it is”. To be clear. Unless I feel like you’re following for pure irony, you’re already blocked.

I’m not explaining myself well. It’s that the existing windows are screwed into the frame that is also supporting the shutters. It’s the frame that needs to come out.

Does that help?

It’s because of the way they’re screwed into the frames, but the frames themselves are in less than great condition. These aren’t wall mounted shutters, our windows are recessed by about a foot from the external wall and the shutters fold in almost flush to the window. Hard to explain.

Thankyou! Ours are manual thankfully because we’re no stranger to a power cut. 😂

That’s the answer I needed! 😀. Thankyou. I might not be able to afford to replace the windows now but at least I know!

Thankyou. If they had to come down for the window installation I wouldn’t be looking to replace, that’s really my question. I’ve never had triple glazing so I don’t know how effective it is when faced with direct sun, or whether the shutters remain a must have.

They would if they were beautiful old wooden shutters, sadly they’re industrial style metal louvred shutters. They fold back to the inside of the window so only really visible when closed. I don’t want to take them down given the choice, but just trying to understand if keeping them is affordable.

Yes I still need the shutters? The heat is most definitely coming through our old single glazing currently, the walls are super thick stone. We’re in the process of being quoted for new triple glazing and cheapest install is sans shutters so this is why I ask 🫤