Couples in wanderlust: The first two years in France

We moved to France, as a newly married couple, to renovate a ruined castle in a tiny hilltop village south of Carcassonne, over twenty years ago. As a couple, it seemed as if most of our fellow ‘movers to France’ were also couples. Maybe this is true, or perhaps it is just a perception, and we gravitate towards each other.

I have heard men slipping into the conversation that they were just waiting to meet someone to bring with them, and I remember that the first time my husband suggested we move from London to France, I thought the idea nuts.

Coming as a couple can be a help with overcoming the challenges of adapting to French life.

Here I present my tips and observations about overcoming obstacles particular to early days in France — and how being a team may help, whether your companion is the driving force, pulling alongside, on tow.

Picking mushrooms together in the woods — and checking they are OK!

The most feared challenge: The language of course

Talking to the French

The English have largely forgotten our feuds with the French, such as Joan of Arc and the defeat of Agincourt.