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Welcome

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my blog, Coffee and Chocolatines. I have talked about doing this for ages, so although it is a bit scary here goes. I hope you enjoy it – please let me know what you think.

This huge old key is the key to our new home! Amazing and pretty impressive. Imagine carrying that around with you. Fortunately we do have a regular sized key, as the old lock doesn’t work at the moment. Not sure we will ever use it as our main key but fun to have and adds to the history of the house. More on that in a later post.

A long held dream to move to France is now a reality – peeling paint, mice, no heating but also beautiful views, peaceful countryside, stunning area (Tarn, South West France) and a really nice pool. I never thought I would own a pool – such a luxury, but also quite alarming when it changes colour!

Welcome to our journey relocating to France and renovating an old country house, known locally as le petit chateau (very small by real chateau standards). It’s not all rosé by the pool and fabulous bread and cheese – I wish! There are lots of challenges, hard work, blisters, etc but also a bit of time to enjoy the house, views, life, and of course any excuse to stop for coffee and chocolatines!

I am Ali and along with my, now, husband Max and rescue Pyrenean Mountain dog Bear (all 42kg of him), we have moved to the beautiful Tarn countryside, near Cordes sur Ciel. We bought a lovely old house, full of history, as well as damp bits, terrible roof, some terrifying spiders (I am not good with our 8 legged friends. That is another story, but I am getting a tiny bit more brave!). The house was our wild card when we came over to look at properties a couple of years ago, but we fell in love with it. It is a quirky place, in the middle of the countryside halfway between Albi and Gaillac, complete with a tower and pigeonnier, plus lots of fruit trees.

Catch up on our adventures so far over the following weeks and hear about burst water mains, Little Owls, mysterious old paint that won’t allow anything to stick to it, beautiful hilltop villages, a trapdoor, a French pandemic wedding (ours), 4 rescue kittens, growing melons and some recipes using lovely local seasonal produce> I have also been converting some favourite recipes to vegan versions to feed my vegan sons, who are staying with us at the moment. Join us on our journey as we renovate our home, negotiate a new life in France and all the administration that involves, deal with a pandemic like everyone else, test out countless coffees and chocolatines (and local wine), and so much more.

I hope you will find it interesting and that it makes you laugh at times. Often the only way…!

See you again on Friday. Have a great week. Don’t forget to let me know if you enjoyed this.

Ali x

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