SAN FRANCISCO to FRANCE. How we made the big move to a new country!
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- We discuss how our lives have changed since moving from San Francisco to France and buying a chateau. We also start the demo on the ugliest bathroom in Brittany and show you our VERY long driveway.
You lovely people are living the life that many of us only dream of 😊 I wish in a way we had quiet Sundays here again in the U.K. .. like I had growing up. Thank you for letting us join your adventure in your lovely Chateau 🥰
I remember quiet Sundays in the US half a century ago ( cant believe I am saying that ).
Well get there, together, Helen Stella. :-)
On a Sunday afternoon when three neighbours are all mowing their lawn, noisily, at the same time, I too wish we had quiet Sundays where I live.
fun fact: the month of August is like a one-month long Sunday, so plan ahead. Most shops shut down for a few weeks. The main businesses stay open though, but smaller shops might shut down
A good way to learn French is to have 'background' French, a radio or watch older French movies where people talk more clearly, then slowly your pick up on the individual words then sentences then understanding the context, it filters in. I moved here in 1978 but already spoke French from school because I loved it and decided age 14 that I would live in france/Paris. It's tempting to be around a lot of English people which although comforting in a new country isn't always helpful. Luckilly more and more French people speak English somewhat. I know a few chateau owners and they tend to find English workers but it depends on the region. My daughter has just bought a lovely house in Britanny almost on the beach, can't wait to see it.
"Luckilly more and more French people speak English somewhat"
French people are not supposed to speak English in France ! It is not up to the French to make the effort to speak a language other than their own in France. And learning French is easy for an English speaker since most English vocabulary comes from French.
@@vzmax You are right, no one should feel obligated to learn a foreign language in their own country, but as someone who speaks fluently in two languages and can find my way around a third, learning a second language should not be seen as forced but as part of being an educated, curious individual who feels a kinship with the world in general.
@@undomiel152003
Well, if an Englishman or any English-speaking guy - especially if he's decided to move to France - expects me to speak his language in France, I won't see him as someone feeling kindship with the world in general but more like someone who is kidding me.
@@vzmax Keep cool 🙂 TheFiown was not pretending French people should speak English. She just noticed that more French people can speak English today. That was all 🙂 And if you had pay a little attention of what she wrote, she was giving advice on how to learn French…
Geez I love the style of Q&A, so normal and honest, this is my type of channel 🎉
Amanda, your dry sense of humor once again cracked me up! Love the pups. Enzo especially seems like such a boy in need of much affection and you can tell that he is given it freely! I am like you in that I do t like to talk about our animals ages. Just enjoy the moment with them. Can’t wait to see the bathroom renovation!
Thanks Rhonda! I can't wait for the bathroom Reno too :)
Oh my word! Your husband is a rock star for bringing that tub down those stairs! And you are one for your sense of humor😊
😊 thank you
We lost our cat we rescued when he was 9 he passed away at 19. I really miss that big fluffy hair shedding constantly wonderful cat ( more like big baby ) 3 months ago. I am 69 so to old for a kitten, I would possibly pass before it anyway so not willing to take that risk. Hello from Australia ❤
That tub move was EPIC! Bravo to making that happen without a mishap. Loved seeing Waffles and the pups! I am sure the allee of trees is magnificent in bloom and well worth the mowing trials. Merci!
Thanks for watching!
Wow, I’ve never seen a sweeter pup (Enzo). I heard the healthcare was good, but $24 for a broken wrist & surgery && your daughter’s coverage is amazing!! Yeah!
Love love the Chandler!
Absolutely wonderful and a well video graphed episodes that are awesome, thank you for allowing us to enjoy your most beautiful chateau
Interesting info about moving - I agree healthcare in Europe is better financially than the US - loving the kitties and dogs and donkeys ❤
You should have used the bathtub as a planter. They make beautiful spice gardens. My sister recycles them. Paints them black and uses them closer to the house for everyday spices. She has one just for garlic 🧄 and another with different types of onions 🧅. She also recycles/paints tires for borders and they withstands the elements really well. Lovely place you have and can’t wait to see what you have to show in the future.
Ah, I love black! That's a good idea. I have old troughs I've recycled as planters...Thanks for watching :)
Enjoying it all - lighthearted, tongue in cheek record of US family transplanted in France. Easy for me to say! While you daily reinvent yourselves to address new tasks and challenges. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the nice words!
You really need to consult with a professional about the trees along your drive. If you look, you will see that they are in the slow process of falling down. If you don’t remedy this with maintenance, you will no longer have them.
I love your videos! The are so relaxing, educational and entertaining too... I have such dreams of living the way you do. I plan on retiring in a few years and have been searching for the way I want to do it. So many things in the US are just plain wearing me out. I want to simplify my life and tune out the negativity. Best of luck to your family, and hope your French continues to improve. God bless!
Thank you Sarah :) We we’re tired too…best of luck 🍀
My friends will essentially be you in a year. He is currently in Italy, getting his Italian citizenship through his grandfather, and she will join him in a few months. They plan to buy a farm in southwestern France.
Have you also fallen in love with the French vet care?
Just a note that it's not 90 days per year that one can stay without a visa, but 90 days per 180 days. So essentially you can do 90 days twice a year but with 90 days in between.
Oh my - thank you for the correction!!! How wonderful for your friends :)
@@OurFrenchChateau Thank you, yes, I hope they are as happy as you are! ☺
Great video! Lots of work to keep up the chateau and grounds, but I'm sure it's worth it! Love to see the dogs and cat enjoying themselves.
Thank you!
The bathtub was a big job to get moved, reminds me of moving our treadmill down the stairs to our new home...it only took a small chunk of drywall out of the wall. ;) I think I love your garden the most, it's just beautiful.
Ah yes, accidents happen! Thanks for watching :)
Although it would be most daunting, sowing wild flowers all through the allee would be beautiful. I couldn't help but think of the scene in the Money Pit when their tub fell through the floor. I am so glad the men were able to get it down those stairs safely. What an adventure, thanks for sharing. In Joy
Haha! I'm happy the tub made it :)
Holy Baguette 🥖 --- Taking that massive tub down the main staircase looked daunting; nice job guys! 🏰
The mower deck brought back memories of my husband on his Kubota tractor cutting our large lawn when we lived out in the country. There were always mower deck issues.
OMG - always a deck issue ;)
Thanks for answering the questions many of us have watching from the US. It’s been so nice to watch your videos from the beginning and seeing the journey so far 😊 ❤
Very informative about moving to France. You are doing a great job at renovation. Love all the animals. More names to remember. The donkeys are so adorable. Enjoy your new week and warmer weather.
Thanks so much! Looking forward to seeing the sun again...
Love the music.
Thankyou for sharing your journey to get to France. How caring you are for animals and to take those poor dogs into a lovely home with two caring people. thankyou for sharing , and cannot wait to go along with you on your new adventure x
Thank you so much!
I just found your channel and I'm enjoying it. One of my dogs looks like your first dog in the video. We moved from a large city in Ontario to a rural farm in PEI Canada. Things here are slower, ppl are nice and friendly (different to the large city), stores may open Sunday and quality of restaurants and foods created do not exist. Oh well! Keep making informative and fun videos.
I never got the chance to visit PEI, it looks beautiful (have some family in Canada) It's nice to slow down though :)
The driveway is incredible, loved the double row of trees, and the drone shots were awesome!
Glad you enjoyed it Cynthia!
Thank you for sharing your information today. I have often wondered how people live in France permanently....I am amazed at your 3 legged dog just gorgeous and so well loved...
You're welcome :) That's Enzo - he has no problem getting around...
💕I have the same condition as your daughter & a doctor suggested I keep a food diary💕This helped enormously as I was able to work out what made my bowl worse & remove that food from my diet💕I thought I I’d find 1-2 items but that was not so💕Now I’m about 80% in control so my flare ups I can manage at home with a call occasionally to my doctor💕I wish your daughter the very best💕
Thanks Susan. Yes, we do the diary - she's doing better. Glad you have it under control :)
Thank you for your informative vlogs and sharing your adventures. My husband and I were fortunate enough to spend several months in France and loved the experience. People were very friendly, architecture is amazing, wine is good and we were very impressed with how fresh the food was, especially vegetables which I'm sure will help with your daughter's health issues. Amusez-vous bien !
Glad you enjoyed! How nice that you were able to spend time in France. Not a bad place to live ;)
I just discovered your channel. I'm in the process of relocating from New Orleans to France. Thanks for sharing your experience. Cheers-
Welcome!
Lovely to see your progress. I look forward to seeing more! Keep up the excellent work, you two! 👏
Thank you Vivienne :)
You have such a lovely Garden and Grounds! 🌻👩🏼🌾
Thank you so much 😊
Old baths, even ugly ones are good in the garden for soaking plants or as donkey troughs ! So many bathrooms date from this era and often kitchens too. In my last house the last owner said her kitchen was 'gorgeous' it was in fact all veneers chipboard and cheap tiles so I had to rip it all out, paint the cupboards I saved, put on expensive new brass fittings, a farmhouse sink on painted brick base and ten coats of paint on an ugly old patched brisk wall. THEN I moved house during first lockdown from Mayenne to Dordogne for better weather and landed during a huge heatwave, spent days lying on the bathroom marble floor in my underwear, NOT a pretty sight! Just a note for your garden beds, you should use Douglas Pine for the beds. I found a wood mill in my area and the prices were at the time a third of store prices at least. The cost of wood is so high now but luckilly before it went up I bought in enough to make another three raised beds to add to the three exisiting. I foolishly made them 200X200 cms which means reaching into the centre is almost impossible. Next beds will be 100X200 ! Getting old.
Ugh - you don't want to see our kitchen! We found a local mill and got oak since it's less prone to rot.
Consider fencing the tree area for the donkeys. You can buy a portable fence that you move whenever you need to. Much cheaper then gas and saves huge amount of time.
Thank you for sharing your story and answering some great questions.
Wow what a beautiful place. I'm happy for your family. God bless you all and Keepsafe 👍
Thanks so much
Just came along your new Vlog-will follow you and your great adventures-looks like you’ve found your niche there. How exciting-I’m envious! Love your pooches too. ❤️
Thanks so much! 😊
You are so awesome and I wish you all the very best. That driveway is in incredible and I can see how you fell in love with the property, it is so beautiful. Keep on filming! Love it! 🇬🇧👍👏
I am a new subscriber in the last few weeks. Been watching from the beginning of your Flogs. I am enjoying you two...
Keep up with the great flogs!
Awesome! Thank you!
the nice thing about living in France is you can travel easily to other countries
Nice video!!! Love what you’re doing with the place ! Informative!
Thanks so much!
I just started watching your channel, my dog is also from Taiwan, I got her through AHAN, I live in Pacifica, just south of San Francisco on the coast. I like where I live, but my small house is worth over a million dollars, I could sell it and get a mansion somewhere else, but I won't. Good luck! 😊👍
Oh wow - we got Guava from AHAN as well as our dog Mango (he passed) They're the sweetest :) Pacifica is nice...
Enjoying your videos, it’s a big move
I'm in Italy. Yay, healthcare.
Oh wow! 6.7 thousand subscribers. I have been absent from here finishing school out and look what you did!! Hehehe!
Welcome back!
Since I watch other chateau owners YT decided I should watch you too. I’m glad you’re American (AZ here). All the others I watch are British.
I stayed at a French chateau BnB in the fall of 2021 and it was full of Americans looking for a chateau to buy. It's nice to see you found yours and are sharing the journey with us. Can you plant wildflowers around those trees in the Ally to avoid having to mow and rake leaves? I would lose my mind. But it is absolutely gorgeous to have a treelined road on the approach to your home. Stunning. Best of luck and thanks for the content.
Thanks so much! We don't need to rake the driveway - the wind blows them far away :)
Hi Guys! Love this channel! I'm working on my Dual Citizenship! And, hoping to move to Italy and buy a home. Thanks for all your experience and knowledge.
Thanks Deborah :) Best of luck with your citizenship, sounds exciting!
French life in Brittany is similar to life in the US east coast in the 70s nothing was open on Sundays and the streets rolled up at 5 or 6 pm during the week it was not until 7/11 opened (7am to 11pm) in the late 70s that things changed.
Nice Vlogg guys...interesting about learning French , my wife is French, born in Tahiti, raised in New Zealand, so reverse role to learn English (she is fluent tri lingual) she learnt English watching Cartoons and Play School in English, so reverse that to French, I am sure it will help, Bon Chance with the Renovations Cam & Marie-Laure
Love love love everything! I had a tripod collie mix, also. So lovely and grateful to have a good home and warm meal. The Orthopaedic vet warned me to be careful not to let her get overweight, as added stress on her one front leg would eventually wear out having to bear all the weight of her head, torso, basically the entire front part of her body. I put her on a diet of homemade chicken and veggie stew, she dropped to an ideal weight of 40 lbs, and lived a wonderful 11 years. It’s hard, considering she couldn’t get the same amount of exercise as my other 4-legged dogs. They all went on chicken stew regime.p, and were very happy.
Thanks Beverly - I think about this often. We give him glucosamine for his joints.
@@OurFrenchChateau my dogs all get glucosamine with their supper. It’s a good thing.
The ugliest bathroom in France? Well it looked functional to me and much better than an outhouse and no hot water in the house like where I grew up! I guess it's all about perspective. 😉
The Q&A session is great. My question is do you work in France?
Flip tub over. Lay on old carpet, slide down staircase in 30 seconds. Smarter, not harder.
Hi Both, have you thought about leaving the driveway unmown and creating meadowland under the trees? Great for the wildlife and less mowing.
Maybe one day!
My sister says we need to get Italian duel citizenship. We are 2nd generation and still have relatives
It's great to have - we never thought we'd make use of it!
Anybody else yell “pivot” while they were on the staircase?
I think its easier to smash up bath in place and take down small bits
You seem like nice people.
Thank you! (we hope we are ;)
Lovely.
Congratulations on your wonderful home! My husband and I are also California transplants now living in Paris. We started looking for a chateau in Brittany just in the beginning of 2020 and the Pandemic. Now that things have opened open up we have resumed our search. May I ask you how many hectares you have? Also may I reach out to you directly about your chateau hunting process? If ever you need some helping hands cleaning old out buildings let us know. Happy to lend a hand. Wishing you all the best!
Thank you! How exciting that you're searching for a chateau in Brittany. We have about 16 hectares - please feel free to get in touch :)
Establishing residency is one thing, but how do you earn a living? Did you retire or are you still running a business in the US?
You should wear googles when demoing, lest you land a chip in your eye! ( former surgical scrub nurse here... I've seen it! )
Smart advice Maurice :)
I am American, also. My husband & I are seriously considering a move to France. We can sell our house in California & buy a chateau with the sale money.
Sounds like a great move!
How did your dog lose his leg ? Watching the tub scene all I kept thinking DON"T fall again .
I always worry about him falling! Enzo was accidentally run over with a riding mower by his previous owner :(
Hi from north Georgia.
Thanks for watching from Georgia :)
👍👍❤
Was the Chateau reasonably priced?
Compared to real estate in SF, yes ;)
Congratulations on the move! As a child, I went back and forth between Italy and Canada and the last time we were there was in 2015, as you can see, I may not go back as often now but like to go as much as possible. Some of my very best memories are from Italy. Many questions were answered but I don't believe I heard how you support yourselves in France? How do you generate income?
Lucky - Italy sounds wonderful. Our next video we answer viewer questions, so stay tuned...
@Our French Chateau could you make cheese trays and / or coasters from your old roof slate tiles? Sell them on Etsy as momentos from this Chateau? I know slate is tricky to cut, but they do sell blades just for this. Design some really pretty packaging and inscription on the tiles. Maybe even make some herb markers for the garden or for pots 🤔? I did see you use full roof shingles for it, but maybe something cut out in a cuter way for resale. I am just thinking out loud. Lol, of course, I am not sure in what kind of condition these tiles are in or if they could be food safe, as in the case of a cheese tray.
Charcuterie board, too!!
What the cost for proprty taxes for a chataeu such as your home, that is if you don't mind i ask... thank you.
Not to get to personal, Do you have jobs? I been trying to convince my husband to move to France but he always ask how would we survive?
Where did the coffin tub go?
When one has dual citizenship and are traveling, which passport do you present? The one for the country you are entering? Both?
I have dual citizenship and I use my British passport for travelling out of the U.K. and use my Irish passport for entering France.
Easier if the log was leaning on the trailer
Thanks for the immigration information. Did you bring your own car, or does it make more sense to buy one in France? How is car insurance? I'm looking forward to see how the "ugly" bathroom transformation turns out. Love your place there, and the apparent contrast in your personalities! Good job with your vlog!
Thanks for watching! It wasn't worth bringing our car over (taxes) Car insurance is quite reasonable...
Nothings free, your paying medical bills by paying a 41% taxes rate..so for every earned 'dollar' (euro) your paying 41 cents tax..it's like that everywhere, Texas has no state tax but they get you on high property tax so homeowners pay more that non homeowners..
What century is your chateau, please?
It was built in 1850 - outbuildings are much older. There was another chateau on the property previously.
What about those who don’t have an Italian grandpa or a French spouse?
Do you live all year round in France. What type of Visa did you apply for.
Thanks
Dave
Yes, we are in France permanently and don't have visas, we have US/Italian citizenship
If you’re American and you buy a place to relocate to, can the visa be extended beyond 90 days?
I don’t believe so. If you are an American, you are allowed to own property in France but as a non-resident (so you can spend 3 months out of every 6 months only, in France).
Les échafauds sont pas si chers que ça et le crépis non plus. It sounds like you just don't feel like being there. Sad ☹️
How did yal afford to move there & is rent expensive there ?
The cost of living is less than the US :)
🌟🍀👍💐
You can always brush the donkeys, I am sure they would appreciate the attention.
They love being brushed.
French work to live Americans live to work. it is time for changr in America.
So true!!
Pay some teenagers to help out on the property
I love your donkeys.
I want donkeys AND GOATS...AND fat shiny cows...and horses!! :-))
I think you need bigger grass eaters...like a couple giraffe. No one will notice..."-/
😂
When your'e wealthy anything is possible . Poor people this ain't ever gonna happen to you .
I moved here in 2005, got a Tître de Séjour very easily with just a 1-page document and proof of my income being $1,700 US per month. It took only 3 wee"ks for the process, I got the Tître, and back in France (I divorced in southern California, but am a Canadian citizen--no European in my family), I immediately got FREE HEALTH CARE. That turned out to be a miracle, because in 2019, I was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Only 3 excisions, 30 sessions of radiation, a State-paid taxi to go to the canacer Institute, cost me NOTHING. It woulld have cost a good 2 1/2 M