Explore every episode of the podcast Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Pastry World Cup is coming up! And we're chatting to the Aussie entry... | 12 oct. 2025 | 00:27:35 | |
Pierrick Boyer is a celebrated French pastry chef who has earned the French highest honour of the Chevalier Merite Agricole for his services to France and French culture through his pastry work and he has called Melbourne home for over 20 years. . Paula Nikita has come to call Melbourne home for the last 5 years and is now being mentored by Pierrick to succeed as the inaugural Viennoiserie World Cup winner ad the first to represent Australia! . I was fascinated to hear their stories and to chat about how scientific the process is when creating the perfect croissant! Tune into to this chat to hear what makes the perfect croissant, but even more interestingly to hear about Paula's Aussie influence with the upcoming competition, including VEGEMITE! . Anyone wishing to assist the Go-Fund-Me to cover half the costs of competing in France, click here: Support the Aussie team's Go-Fund-Me to head to France . To attend a gala event this coming weekend on 18 October 2025 at Reverie Café Prahran, click here: Tix for the Pastry Party at Reverie Cafe, Prahran - 18 October, 2025
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| Experiencing Life in Burgundy | 28 sept. 2025 | 00:39:05 | |
Earlier this year I road tripped around France and spent a couple of weeks in Burgundy with friends of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast, Kate and Nathan Veach. Kate and Nathan had a French restaurant in Melbourne prior to making the permanent move to France just after Covid after buying a place on the internet during the Aussie lockdowns. Since that time I have stayed in the cottage they renovated originally which was a wonderful experience. Kate and Nathan exude a warmth that makes every day with them a joy. I'm thrilled to see that they now have sold up and bought a bigger project still in Burgundy, an historic house dating to the 1870s which was in a state of severe disrepair, in Paris l'Hôpital. Chatting to Kate about my recent time in their village made me just want to go back. They were still renovating during my visit but have now reached a point in the project that they can start to share it with others. The house looks incredible, decorated as only the French can, from brocante markets and eclectic pieces found in exotic places! The colours and sights of Burgundy now in autumn with the harvest are amazing. I have visited the region previously at this time of year and found there were less crowds, less heat and much more opportunity for life time memories! Tune into this chat to hear the exquisite life that guests can share with Kate and Nathan, to find out all about what the tastes, scents and sights of Burgundy have to offer. From market visits, to cooking classes in their own kitchen, to wine tasting as well as authentic Burgundian life, there is so much gorgeousness to look forward to when heading for a stay with this beautiful couple in their French home.
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| Meandering along the roads & through the villages of Provence... | 11 sept. 2025 | 00:48:44 | |
I love road tripping in France and I aim to get there and meander the roads less travelled as often as I can! In the April/May of 2025 I took a "vacances" in France for a couple of months and embarked on 3 separate road trips with separate groups or individual friends. . Author Katherine Watt and I became great friends after she was interviewed on the Loulabelle's podcast a number of years ago and I have spent much time with her on previous visits to France where she now lives in Saint-Malo, Bretagne. Both Katherine and I were excited to road trip through a part of Provence that neither of us had been to before. We agreed on a rough outline of the route we might take, but importantly we both were happy not to lock in too much of the detail and just go with the flow! I normally plan much more than this, so it was oddly refreshing or even freeing to make decisions about where we would stay and what we would do at the last minute! I had a car for the full 6 weeks of the road trips I took, which made the last minute decisions a bit easier as we didn't need to factor in public transport. . Our journey started in Lyon, with the first day comprising a 5 hour drive to Aix-en-Provence to commence the road trip. After this day though, we stayed off the motorways and took only the back roads. We also opted to stay in Airbnb style accommodation so we could cook in our own kitchen sometimes and we would have the capacity to store and enjoy local produce we bought along the way. We also decided that we wouldn't drive for more than an hour or so each day to allow time to immerse in the local area we found ourselves in. . Tune into this episode and escape to Provence momentarily with us. Head to the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website for more info on some of the places mentioned in this papotage de podcast aussi. .
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| Bonjour Mate! (and win a trip to Paris!) | 16 août 2025 | 00:48:54 | |
Eva Bonnet knew from a very early age growing up in France, that Australia was going to be a very special place for her! Eva didn't plan to come to Australia directly, but as she says, "life brought her here". Eva chatted to me about how she ended up living a French life in Melbourne. Since making the permanent move down under, Eva has found love, had a cancer diagnosis and beaten it, brought two bubbas into the world and most recently taken the socials by storm with now almost half a million followers joining in the French connection she shares with everyone. At the moment Eva is giving away a trip to Paris for a lucky subscriber to her Bonjour Mate French classes (subscribe before 31st August to be in the draw which will be announced at the end of September!)** Bonjour Mate is open to all countries, so not just for an Aussie community, with current subscribers hailing from all around the globe. Chatting with Eva so frankly about her story, put the priorities of life into perspective for me. Her beautiful rawness and honesty are quiet an inspiration. I often wonder for French people not living in France, what do they miss, what things do they try and recreate in their new homeland. Throughout our chat, Eva described her thoughts of France so clearly, that I felt I had been on a lovely petit sojourn to my fave place. Her description of the road trips she took with her maman as a child especially helped me to float away. Find all the details from this chat on the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website, including the current Bonjour Mate Paris giveaway.
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| A Zig Zag wine making journey from the UK, to Aus, to France! | 29 juil. 2025 | 00:47:21 | |
Harriet Churchill and her husband Henry are originally from England, but spent many years living in Australia based in Melbourne originally, working in the area of sustainability, but eventually moved to regional Victoria right near me! I first heard of their story and their vineyard in the Macedon Ranges Zig Zag wines, when I was hanging out with other locals around the fire during happy hour at my local pub! I'm thrilled that I followed her up for a chat as I found our discussion about her life thoroughly inspirational! If you're wondering about making a change in your life, whatever that change may be, have a listen to Harriet and you will just want to grab life with both hands and shake it up! Harriet described their life in Australia, which seems to me to be quite "French country" in the manner in which they operated. I also got a beautiful insight into their life now in France. It was fascinating to hear Harriet talk about the difference in the way the winemaking successes, as well as the challenges can pop up in Australia and now France. She also talked about the difference between being "good" or "fluent" with her French, as she can get by with most exchanges, until she gets to the other mums with the school gate gossip and she's got no idea what's going on! This is such a wonderfully warm and heart-filled chat about immersing in life's experiences as they present themselves. In this episode I was introduced to a new concept when Harriet talked about what the heart needs and what the heart wants. Her heart wanted to stay in Australia, but it needed to move back closer to her family in the UK and the Languedoc region in France was the perfect fit for them all. Come and escape to France with us through our chat xx
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| Inside Paris info from "The Parisian Mole" Vittoria Busetti! | 13 juil. 2025 | 01:04:56 | |
Italian born Vittoria Busetti had a dream for many years of moving to Paris, so she worked a way around the obstacles in her path, packed up her Milan apartment a few years ago and took the leap to her new Parisian life! Moving all alone to a new city with a new job is not without its challenges, so after navigating through loads of situations where she struggled to find helpful info, Vittoria put together a guide for people moving to Paris as well as an Insta group which has become like a little community for people to connect about current Paris events like the recent Fete de la Musique. Vittoria has loads of tips for surviving alone in Paris either as a traveller or as a new resident as well as ways she found to make friends. Chatting to Vittoria about the various arrondissements and lots of our Paris faves made me feel like I'd had a momentary Parisian sojourn. Come and escape to France with us xx
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| Getting a dose of France with a "Weekly French Bite"! | 01 juil. 2025 | 00:33:40 | |
Alexandra Ganipeau runs the French Language school in Melbourne "The French Hack". She has connected people in Australia to France over many years, through organising cafe catch ups as well teaching French to people of all ages. Recently I chatted to her about how she is now connecting people to France with a weekly dose of Frenchy vibes via her Weekly French Bites. Over 52 weeks Francophiles can experience a "bite" of French culture, language and fabulousness with different themes such as French ordering at restaurants, how to enjoy apèro, the French art of wearing scarves or even tips to navigate the Paris Metro or French market etiquette. I found when I had a sneak preview of the Weekly French Bites, it stayed in my head long after I'd finished reading and brought back memories of travels there as well as sparking ideas for my next adventure! Alex and I chatted about our connections to France, how we maintain slow and deep connections when we travel as well as when home in Australia. When Alex chats in this episode about her visits back "home" to Bordeaux and the south west of France, I felt like I had escapes there with her momentarily. I also learned from her about some ways I can be a little bit French everyday, such as picking herbs straight from the garden and adding to a teapot rather than loose leaf or tea bags! This is a French way of connecting garden to the kitchen that I had never even considered! Alex has a giveaway to a lucky Loulabelle's FrancoFiles listener... 52 weeks of French Inspo with a 12 month membership to Weekly French Bites! Follow through to the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram to enter and to let the joie de vivre begin! As Alex says Paris isn't just a place, it's a feeling. Join us for a chat and escape to France xx
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| Magical Menton on the Côte d'Azur! | 18 juin 2025 | 00:53:16 | |
Recently I travelled for a couple of months in France, road tripping from the top of the country in Normandy to the bottom at the Côte d'Azur and towards the end of my stay I enjoyed a most marvellous visit with Caroline Riddell-Clark at her Villa Florente in Menton on the Italian border. Caroline has stayed in France each year for many years, spending much of that time in Menton staying with friends who had moved there a long time ago. So during the Melbourne Covid lockdowns it was not a surprise that Caroline was surfing the internet for the French real estate on offer and as soon as she could, she headed back over there! Whilst a long time ago Caroline had lived in France for a number of months near Toulouse, with her children even attending school there, it was Menton that had captured her heart. Caroline had decided to wait for a few years before purchasing a property but after 20 minutes in Villa Florente, she had bought the place! Menton has beautiful beaches with beautiful buildings of different colours, reflecting the colours of the Cinque Terre just across the Italian border. There is a long history including pirates as well as Russian palaces nestled in between Monte Carlo and Italy, and from Caroline's Villa Florente one can walk between 3 countries before lunch! I loved how a stroll into Italy can result in wonderful coffee followed by market shopping for fresh produce in France and then end the day with glitz and glamour in Monte Carlo! Caroline says after a walk like this, she comes home and feels like she's the luckiest person ever to look over her amazing Mediterranean view. Caroline now wants to welcome others to stay with her too, but first come and join us for a chat here on the Loulabelle's and escape to the Cote d'Azur momentarily. Find Caroline on Instagram @Villa_Florente
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| Spring in Cannes! | 16 mai 2025 | 00:29:46 | |
I am currently in France and have been road-tripping all over the place, but more on that in upcoming episodes... . At the moment I have connected with friend to the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast Ruby Boukabou and in this episode we discussed some observations from this particular Cannes Film Festival. We had tickets for the opening night red carpet event and we were in the room for the opening ceremony too, to see Robert De Niro receive his honorary Palme d'Or presented by Leonardo DiCaprio. I felt a shift in Cannes this time, with a more overt political statement being made, particularly i the opening night speeches from De Niro, DiCaprio and head of the 2025 Cannes jury Juliette Binoche. . Ruby and I also spoke about the opening night movie "Partir Un Jour", the other goings-on in Cannes as well as what to do to escape the craziness for just a short time or a day-trip! We also touch on when the best time is, to visit Cannes for your specific purposes. . Tune in and escape to France with us xx
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| A French Mediterranean vacation with relaxation, scuba and sun! | 28 avr. 2025 | 00:41:29 | |
Kent Tisher is a Palliative Care Doctor in Toronto Canada who loves to unwind and shed the stress of life by traveling in France. I first chatted to Kent back in April 2023 about his love of French vacations and it was fabulous to chat again as he arrived home in Canada on the same day that I arrived in Paris! . Kent came to France this time for only 10 days. He caught the TGV direct from CDG down to the Languedoc region to end up in Pezenas near Montpellier. This is a game changer for me as I had no idea there was a TGV to access straight from CDG! . (Tip from Kent: Check that you know the exact station you are either arriving at or departing from as many towns have more than one train station with very similar names!) . Kent has lots of other personal observations and tips from his experiences during his travel that are key for anyone considering regional regional travel in France. I also have some considerations from my current trip to add to your list which we discussed in this episode! . You may want to think about: * car hire: size of car and type of hire arrangement; *short vs long French sojourns (European/North American travellers vs Australian/NZ voyages); *currency conversions; *making specialty arrangements for things such as scuba dives; *planning for where to go on road trips solo or with a group; *packing light (which I always struggle with!); *packing arrangements on a daily basis to assist with managing luggage on a road trip. . Something else we discuss is the concept of visiting new places vs revisiting old faves. I am very aware of being fortunate enough to return to France on numerous occasions. Kent and I discussed how lucky we are, but also how we go without some things at home to enable these trips to our happy place. When visiting a new place there can be a sense of guilt if we don't make the most of every minute! But when enjoying a return trip there is a different energy about the visit. I always say to leave a reason to return and one of the reasons to return to the same region if you're fortunate to be able to do so, is to see it at a less frenetic pace! . LFF listeners can book a time with Loulabelle to discuss your itinerary ideas and arrangements. Just head to the LFF website: www.loulabellesfrancofiles.com .
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| Back in France and the Cannes Film Festival! | 16 avr. 2025 | 00:25:03 | |
This episode is coming to you from Paris! Ouuuuiiiii! I have escaped Melbourne and headed to my happy place, but before my departure last week I chatted to my dear friend, author, performer, tap dancer and long time Cannes Film Festival journalist Ruby Boukabou. 2025 is the 78th festival in Cannes where Ruby and I will meet up, but even though this is my second time attending the festival, I needed this chat with Ruby to explain many of the details of the festival including the types of awards and some of the stuff we can look forward to both in Cannes and coming up in Paris. It was wonderful to reminisce about the fun of Cannes and the South of France in previous times too! What's not to love about memories of beach club days in Nice, hanging out in the old town of Cannes or even the time we snagged tix to strut the red carpet with French movie royalty! Tune in to hear all the fun and fabulousness of this iconic event in such a magical French region! Come and escape to France with us xx .
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| Love Burgundy wine? You'll love Vino Dilectio! | 06 avr. 2025 | 00:33:00 | |
I am about to return to Burgundy for my third visit there and I can't wait! The region is wonderful to immerse in with wonderful food, scenery and amazing wines! On my last time in Dijon I met the wonderful Emeline Pin whose business Vino Dilectio runs tasting workshops showcasing the various wines of her region. I attended a cheese and wine pairing workshop and I loved every minute of it. Emeline and I chatted about the various things tourists could do in Dijon and Burgundy/Bourgogne, such as visit local villages, explore ancient castles, taste mustards and cheese, wander through vineyards. Dijon and Burgundy has great weather for travelling being not too hot, but be very thoughtful about what time of year to visit not just for the weather but also consider the harvest timing (it varies each year through August-September depending on the ripening of the grapes). During the harvest some activities may be postponed due to the important work that needs to take place. This chat with Emeline provided more than just some expert opinion on wine, Emeline chatted about places to visit throughout France, tips for the best types of restaurants to go to as well as ideas for visiting Burgundy as only a local can give.
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| Dreaming of moving to France? Balancing a French life here, there and everywhere! | 26 févr. 2025 | 00:49:03 | |
Tune in to hear Loulabelle chat to Shannon Pratuch: Shannon Pratuch has moved to France from the US many years ago. She now shares her world which is most often in Paris or Brittany and shared with her gorgeous French bulldogs, through her website as well as her ThisFrench.Life YouTube and Instagram accounts. Last year Shannon compiled a series to take us virtually through many châteaux in the Loire and close to Paris, as well as a separate series highlighting the noël celebrations in châteaux around various regions of France. Shannon is a wealth of knowledge about many experiences that we crave as tourists to France, as well as giving us an insight into what we can do when we're visiting to help us feel as though we're living like a local. She has so many "under-the-radar" suggestions that don't pop out of the guidebooks often so she's well worth listening to! As I'm heading to France soon I've used Shannon's suggestions as my travel plan! Come and escape to France with us. xx
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| Celebrating the best of French cinema with the Alliance Française! | 12 févr. 2025 | 00:36:02 | |
Each year one of the highlights of the French calendar in Australia is the Alliance Française French Film Festival which commences with the gala opening night of the 36th festival at Melbourne's Astor Theatre on March 5th. But it is not only here in Oz that French film is popular. 2024 was a record breaking year for attendance at the cinema in France, with a higher percentage of the population going to see a film there than in the US. I loved chatting to the fabulous people at the Alliance Française who are responsible for putting together the festival this year: Frédéric Alliod - AFFFF25 CEO & Artistic Director Marie-Hélène Predhom - Alliance Française Melbourne General Manager Sara Harrington - Alliance Française Event Manager French cinema is so much more than a cliché... it's quirky, fun & intelligent. Generally French films have a wonderful depth and the 42 films in this year's AFFFF25 are no exception! There are more than 5,500 screenings across the country in the 2025 festival with regional towns now benefitting from some AFFFF25 action! Go to the LFF website for the links to the movies mentioned in this podcast chat, or just tune into to our great discussion about French film culture.
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| A wonderfully slow escapade through Provence! | 06 févr. 2025 | 00:41:44 | |
Maria Tawk made the decision to study in France a few years ago and moved from Lebanon to university in Aix-en-Provence. From dreaming as a child with her best friend about one day being in Paris together, to now living a beautiful life in Provence, Maria feels like every day she is living out the life she had only seen before in movies. It was lovely to chat to a fellow Francophile, who seems to now be where she has felt she always belonged, a place that feeds her soul. We chatted about the type of travel that many people crave now... the ability to reset and travel slowly, rather than ticking the travel boxes of the main tourist sites. Everyone wants to visit the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre or if travelling regionally, to see the lavender in the south of France for example. But to immerse in slow travel and connect with a place is very special. As I often say: allow the time and space for the magic to happen during your travel adventure. Maria and I chatted about our perspectives of slow travel... go to a place once and you will see it. Go to a place twice and you will feel it. If you get to go three or more times you will start to know the place from within, drink its wine, eat its food, talk to its people, spend the night under its sky... then that is the luckiest of all. Come and escape to France momentarily with us.
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| It's a new year, so time to plan a new trip to France! | 27 janv. 2025 | 00:57:36 | |
This episode is the first in Season Six of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast with me (Lou) chatting to Alex Ganipeau from The French Hack.
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| A new chapter in the story of Notre Dame Paris | 28 déc. 2024 | 00:51:29 | |
Ma belle amie Claudine Hemingway has so much knowledge of the history of Paris, she also lives just a few minutes walk from Notre Dame, so it was fascinating to chat with her about all the goings-on for the opening of the iconic cathedral in December.
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| Annie Smithers on her French style life in Australia | 09 déc. 2024 | 00:41:50 | |
Annie Smithers is a celebrated French chef in Australia who has achieved a wonderful work life balance living in the country French style, growing her own produce from paddock to plate! Starting out in the early 80s in the kitchens of the famed Aussie restauranteur Stephanie Alexander, Annie has an amazing knowledge of French cooking, with its intricate techniques and traditional dishes.
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| Living a dream country French life in Burgundy! | 24 nov. 2024 | 00:32:14 | |
A few years ago I chatted to Kate Veach on the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast and since then (like a number of guests!) she has become a beautiful friend. I stayed with her and her husband Nathan recently in Burgundy which was such a wonderful time and our stay with her absolutely illustrated why we are now lovely friends. Kate and Nathan have become part of their local community in Lucenay-L'Eveque with artist events, aperitif sessions in the village square and more important that anything, wonderful friendships that will be life long.
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| Fun at the Alliance Française Marché de Noël (with tips on how to get fluent thrown in!) | 17 nov. 2024 | 00:37:03 | |
It's getting to that time of year when Christmas is on our minds, although I'm a little obsessed about all things Chrissy all year round! So when I had the chance to chat to Lucie Brocard and Anne-Sophie Pink about the Alliance Française Melbourne's upcoming Marché de Noël, I jumped at the opportunity!
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| See you in Paris! Planning the perfect French escape. | 12 nov. 2024 | 00:39:57 | |
Nadège Alex knows Paris inside and out! After growing up in the Champagne region, she moved to the French capital in her early twenties and fell in love with the city. She is now a travel planner and assists travellers from around the world to put together their itineraries for their Paris visit.
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| Escaping to a beautiful corner of France at Maison de Frédéric | 02 nov. 2024 | 00:36:50 | |
Kyong Millar has been having a love affair with France for ages, which prompted a purchase of a wonderful village home, 500 year old Maison de Frédéric in the south of France near Avignon and Uzès, in the beautiful Provence region.
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| Paris Fashion & Daniel Alexander - a life time of work that's become a dream come true! | 22 oct. 2024 | 00:54:00 | |
Daniel Alexander is an Australian Fashion Designer now living in Paris. Chatting to him after his second Paris Fashion Week show, I was fascinated to hear about his passion for fashion, the things that inspire him and how he hopes to inspire the next generation of designers.
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| Loulabelle & Trudy's epic French roadtrip! | 16 oct. 2024 | 01:01:58 | |
Recently I spent a couple of months in France, road-tripping through gorgeous historic villages, passing majestic châteaux, immersing in village markets bursting with brocante and eating my way through the special dishes from a variety of regions! This podcast episode follows my journey with my friend Trudy Walker as we travelled from Normandy westwards, to a couple of plus-beaux-villages-de-France in the Pays de la Loire, then turned back to the east and headed to Burgundy before going through the Champagne region on the way back to Paris.
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| The Paris Plan! Your Parisian cultural agenda! | 06 oct. 2024 | 00:27:33 | |
Friend of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast, Ruby Boukabou has a new project working with French director Clément Reboussin, The Paris Plan!
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| Planning a French road trip with Loulabelle! | 01 oct. 2024 | 00:38:39 | |
I have just returned from 2 months in France, road tripping through various French regions and loads of plus-beaux-villages. Regular listeners to the podcast will know how much I love a road trip! Every chance I get I will take off from Australia and drive around France!
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| Uncovering joy in Europe during your French vacation! | 15 sept. 2024 | 00:33:54 | |
Currently I am in France! I have escaped the Aussie winter and returned to my fave destination! This time however, my husband Paul and I decided to couple our visit to Paris and other regions of France, with a stay with some dear friends who live near Prague.
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| Building a beautiful French life, from Paris to Provence. | 28 août 2024 | 01:03:54 | |
Alex Lalak is an Aussie born and bred travel journalist who now calls France home. Growing up in Sydney, Alex was gifted many cook books, many of them French and also studied French at school. A part of her always thought she would live there one day. After a few trips to France over the years, Alex moved overseas in her thirties, first to New York, then London and eventually Paris. She then met Pierre, her now husband and that changed everything! When Alex first moved to Paris, she had only a couple of friends there who both left to live elsewhere not long after. Alex realised she needed connections and made a lot of friends through ex-pat groups and through friends of friends. There was a year of exploring Paris before meeting Pierre and since then they have lived elsewhere in France in Burgundy and now in Provence. Alex’s story of discovering herself is fascinating to me. Her chat about making a vie français and experiencing some of life’s most significant events such as having a baby in France, getting married and buying a house now in Provence, is the stuff that many peoples’ dreams are made of! Now living a gorgeously French rural life, Alex described her local market days, the fresh produce, the local dishes and the different style of living compared to Paris or even Australia. She gave us wonderful tips for when visiting the Pont du Gard and painted a beautiful picture for our imaginations of the balmy Provençal days. But the best part? When asked to describe what a perfect French day would look like for her, Alex was able to chat about her day that happened only yesterday, because she is actually right now living her perfect French life!
Tune in to escape to France with us momentarily.
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| A single woman over 50 taking off to move to Paris? Bien sur! | 17 août 2024 | 00:37:43 | |
Elaine Lewis was always interested in books. So when she made the decision to move from Australia to Paris to open a book store on the left bank of the Seine, her family gave full support. Other opinions were mixed, but regardless she moved to France and spent quite a long time preparing for the opening of her Australian book shop.
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| History, massive tides, pirates, stone cottages, fun & seafood galore! They have everything in Saint Malo! | 30 juil. 2024 | 00:49:22 | |
Danielle Overton Chambers was born in London but moved to Saint Malo as a small child to live with her great-grandparents and after a life around the world she has returned to her favourite place.
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| In Paris during the Jeux Olympiques! | 23 juil. 2024 | 00:38:51 | |
What Claudine Hemingway doesn't know about the history of Paris probably isn't worth knowing! But as I plan to take off to France for the European autumn, arriving somewhere amongst the shenanigans of the Olympics and the Paralympics, I am picking her brain for what to expect in the Paris of today!
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| Walking Le Puy Camino - a life changing experience! | 15 juil. 2024 | 00:46:02 | |
In 2023 my dear uncle Carl Putt and his best mate Paul Steinfort embarked on a life changing experience walking Le Puy Camino, a huge pilgrimage trail through France.
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| Paris comes to Bendigo... again! | 07 juil. 2024 | 00:18:02 | |
A short while ago I chatted at episode 152 with Clare Needham, Curator at the Bendigo Art Gallery all about their amazing current exhibition Paris: Impressions of Life 1880-1925. This exhibition finishes on Bastille Day next week, so I popped back yesterday to see all the fabulousness there with friends who are just as crazy about all things French as I am! I had a petit chat with mes amies afterwards which is included in this episode. The Paris: Impressions of Life 1880-1925 exhibition takes visitors on a journey through the lively and picturesque streets of historic Paris with real footage of life as it was, as well as artworks and even advertising posters, fashion and other artefacts dotted through the gallery. There are seven themed rooms or pathways, which take us through the most iconic parts of Paris. We discovered artisan street signs alongside wonderful posters and maps of Paris as well as fascinating footage of bustling marketplaces and grand boulevards. We wandered virtually through the jardins of Paris, saw some beautiful historic couture, immersed ourselves in artworks depicting life on the banks of the Seine, the Tour Eiffel and the heady atmosphere of bohemian Montmartre with artworks by Toulouse Lautrec and footage of the Can Can. This exhibition has more than 170 works of art and artisan objects reflecting on a period of great social change, urban development and artistic innovation which shaped the modern Paris that we love today.
If interested in the Normandy Retreat mentioned in this episode, email Jane: janehiscock@chateaudujonquay.com
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| Where to go in France? Hear a local's faves in Paris & Bordeaux | 26 juin 2024 | 00:36:55 | |
Alex Ganipeau is a native of Bordeaux who is now a skilled French teacher residing in Australia with her business The French Hack. I check in with Alex weekly to improve my French chatting skills and I also love her tips on lots of things to do, places to go and cultural matters we might stumble across when visiting France. She is always a wealth of info for me when I'm planning my next French escape! So much so that we thought a chat about her faves from a local perspective would assist the many of us tourists heading to France this year during the Olympics or across the French summer..
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| Meet Chef of the Year! Pierrick Boyer from Rêverie Café, creating amazing French dreams! | 19 juin 2024 | 00:52:40 | |
I got out from behind my desk in the Loulabelle's recording pod and met Pierrick Boyer in his Prahran Rêverie Café. For someone who has so many accolades and awards, who is always excelling and noted as being at the top of his craft, he is an exceptionally grounded and genuine person. I have spent time in his café before, always a place that is warm and welcoming, filled with French dreams in every dessert and dish served!
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| Cannes Film Festival Flashback | 11 juin 2024 | 00:29:12 | |
Recently I followed with great interest all the excitement of the Cannes Film Festival, which got me reminiscing about when I was there for the 2023 Festival last May with friend to the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast Ruby Boukabou. I also loved the chat I had with Ruby back then while we were in Cannes with loads of insights into the local customs, the sights, the weird and the wonderful happenings of the most famous film festival on the planet!
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| Are you always "gunna" do something? Perhaps join the Gunnas International in France! | 27 mai 2024 | 00:53:12 | |
Melbourne local Catherine Deveny has a career I have followed for decades. She is a writer, a comedian, an inspiration to many and she has provided many a belly cackle for me over the years. She is irreverent, intelligent and loads of fun and I loved unpacking the French angle of her story.
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| Life in Rural France | 20 mai 2024 | 00:36:37 | |
English born Kylie Lang has lived all over the world, but it wasn’t until she gave her husband the next choice of where to live, that she even considered a move to France and now she is fully in loooooove with every thing about her new adopted home. . Kylie now lives in rural France in the Charente department on the border of the Dordogne, 2 hours from Bordeaux. In south-west France, Kylie’s area is known for its sunflowers and is a beautiful part of France (although who am I kidding, all of France is exquisite!) . We chatted in this episode about the ways ex-pats moving to France can find ways to connect with their community. Kylie suggested something I hadn’t considered before, on moving to her village she joined a line dancing class! It’s a little known fact that the French love line dancing or some might call it formation dancing. When I went to the Bayonne festival a couple of years back there were certain songs where the whole crowd would just break into dance, with everyone seeming to know all the steps! It never occurred to me then that the locals would go to lessons to learn this! . So Kylie and and I had great chats about the discovery of her new home and her move from the UK, about how she continued her work in her business from France and how she has become part of the local community (even initially with no capacity to speak French!) I loved that Kyle has even ended up in the kitchen peeling spuds and washing dishes at the local fête!
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| Paris: Impressions of Life 1880-1925 | 12 mai 2024 | 01:03:12 | |
Aujourd'hui I escaped into the real world to get my Frenchy vibes fluttering at the Bendigo Art Gallery, chatting to curator Clare Needham about the current Paris: Impressions of Life exhibition.
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| The story of classic French style with Jac Cadeaux founder Claudia Stahl | 05 mai 2024 | 00:45:51 | |
Claudia Stahl is the creator of French inspired fashion brand Jac Cadeaux. Claudia lived in Paris for a number of years after inheriting a love of all things French from her mother. She went for a year and stayed for five years!
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| Returning to Paris and Cannes in 2024! | 21 avr. 2024 | 00:30:21 | |
Ruby Boukabou is an author, performer, tap dancer and Paris resident with whom I have had numerous wonderful French experiences including attending the Cannes Film Festival last year. The films selected for 2024 have now been announced with loads of Aussies set to be gracing the red carpet. (Bonjour Chris Hemsworth & Cate Blanchett!) Ruby and I are particularly impatient for the global premiere of George Miller's new Mad Max movie. Ruby has been reporting on the famous Cannes Fest for over a decade and this year she and I will be reprising our YouTube program The Cannes Couch and this podcast chat touches on what to expect. After Cannes, Ruby will be returning to an Olympic crazed Paris! She will also have some performances with another friend to the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles, Wendy Lee Taylor. Ruby and Wendy are performing their cabaret show Parisian Time Step on a péniche on the Seine, in the centre of Paris near the Ile Saint Louis. Just imagine the fairy lights in the trees along the river, with wonderful jazz musos on the barge and French food and wine whilst the show takes you through the music and dance of the Belle Epoque of Paris right up to the current day. Last year the show had rave reviews so I can’t wait to see it this year!
For all the links for this episode including our Cannes Couch project, head to the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles website. Bookings for the Parisian Time Step show and links to purchase Ruby’s books are also on the LFF site at Episode 150.
For details to attend the dreamy Normandy Retreat with Loulabelle this coming September 2024, email: janehiscock@chateaudujonquay.com
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| Every day is a beautiful day with April in Paris! | 14 avr. 2024 | 00:35:37 | |
April Pett is a breath of fresh air keeping the Frenchy vibes fluttering for many tourists in Paris. She hosts custom tours in Paris, Versailles, Chablis and Champagne and does so with such a lovely vibrant positivity!
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| Finding joy in the tiny details of Paris... all on a map! | 07 avr. 2024 | 00:40:59 | |
Sonja Bajic is a map illustrator living in Paris, specialising in personalised maps. We use maps so often in our lives and Sonja connects with people to tell their story on a map of their own. Sometimes she will create a map with images or pictures of a family's holiday and place it on a map for them to display at home, or perhaps an individual might have their life in two worlds, such as I would hope to have with France and Australia! Sonja can represent that life on a personalised map.
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| Joyeuses Pâques à tous! | 31 mars 2024 | 00:33:34 | |
Easter for me has always been a time for gathering with family, for eating copious amounts of chocolate, for egg hunts and as a child for going to church with my grandmothers. This is the same in much of the English speaking world, but what goes on for Easter in France?
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| Champêtre - Kate Hill's creative and connected life in country France. | 24 mars 2024 | 01:06:21 | |
Kate Hill has lived an extraordinary life. As a young woman she loved to travel and cook and ended up buying a barge and travelling the regional canals of France until she found her little home which back then was a ruin on the bank of the canal. So she parked the barge at the bottom of the garden gate and continued to live on the barge for her first 25 years in the area of Gascony, until the ruined 300 year old building was eventually renovated 10 years ago for her to live in. Early on in the 35 years in total that Kate has lived there, she built her little dream kitchen and learned how to butcher and create charcuterie as well as then teach others to do the same. Kate published an introductory book about how she ended up living this wonderful life, “A culinary journey in Gascony” which was published in 1995 (and is still in print!) She then wrote another book which contains everything one might need to know about Cassoulet, followed by a series of 12 seasonal monthly books, a compilation of her essays and recipes titled “A Gascon Year”. Through substack, Kate now publishes her memoir about how she found France, “Finding France: a memoir in small bites” is now released on a serialised basis. I loved chatting to Kate about the slowness of her life, not that she is slow in her actions, but how life in her rural part of France has forced her to slow down and live a deep immersive life in her kitchen and potager in Gascony. Locals in her area kept explaining something to Kate that sums up their philosophy on how to prioritise the important things in life: “prendre le temps de prendre le temps” (take the time to take the time). In other words, they do things such as stopping on a Sunday to share a meal with family or friends, they stop and enjoy the smaller but precious parts of life. Kate grew into this way of life, she learned how to work a potager, how to raise chickens, how to be connected to her soul. Now in her 70s, Kate is excited about more changes and choices she is making in her life. She is focusing on how to start anew at any age and how to live a connected country French life. This she calls “champêtre”, to be country. As part of this she will continue to host residencies at her Relais de Camont, but she will also have the time to create more herself, with her writing, her potager, cooking in her kitchen. The focus on what is really important to her is a recommendation for a more connected life for us all.
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| Paris in 20 Walks | 17 mars 2024 | 00:48:27 | |
Dianne McHugh loves walking through Paris. So much so that she has created 20 walks, one for each arrondissement of the French capital. Dianne has her faves, but one thing she often looks for when planning a walk, is a patch of green on the map. Tha parks and recreational spaces of Paris are food for a Francophile soul! Dianne also likes to make time to have a break and read a book somewhere as well as take in at least one museum or gallery a day.
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| Escape to the Dordogne in an old French apartment ❤️ | 11 mars 2024 | 00:46:30 | |
Bruce and Lisa live near Montreal in Canada and whilst Bruce's French father may have influenced his connection to France, it wasn't until a 20th wedding anniversary vacay that together they discovered their mutual love of France. When visiting the Dordogne, they stayed in Sarlat -la-Canéda and on the last day of their trip they found that an apartment on the top floor of the historic building they were staying in was for sale! And that was it! The journey of French property ownership and renovation began!
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| Finding the hidden gems in Paris with Claudine Hemingway | 03 mars 2024 | 00:43:32 | |
Claudine Hemingway is an American living in France. She has an amazing family history in Paris, with her grandparents and of course Ernest Hemingway having a significant impact on her perspective of the French capital. I have spoken with her a number of times on the podcast before and met in Paris, most recently going to one of her faves L’Avant Comptoir in Saint Germain in the Paris summer of 2023. Claudine is an amazing story teller and historian. She has an incredible knowledge of the Louvre, taking tours there often, as well as many other places in Paris. Her depth of understanding about the history of Paris provides her tour clients with an authentic experience tailored to their needs. I loved chatting with Claudine about her life in Paris, the upcoming Olympics, the re-opening of the Louvre planned for this December, plus her faves to visit in Paris including the incredible place she and I caught up at in the Latin Quarter last year. If you ‘re planning on heading to Paris, tune into this chat for loads of tips, but even if Paris is a distant thought for you, I found my chat with Claudine was a wonderful petit virtual escape to Paris!
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| Loving La Maison Trumeau! | 25 févr. 2024 | 00:42:58 | |
Mandy Murphy and Willo Renehan made a decision after Brexit to buy property in France. What eventuated though, was more than they imagined! After many years of renos, inspired by Dick & Angel on Escape to the Château, they now have a wonderful maison in the middle of the town of Saumur in the Loire Valley. After this chat with Mandy and Willo, I can see how they team all of that Loire Valley loveliness with the French style living at La Maison Trumeau which has been fully renovated and restyled to it's original French elegance including antique furniture, vintage style furnishings and plenty of space to relax and unwind. It's definitely on my list of future plans for visits to the Loire Valley and France!
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| Valentine's Day en France! | 17 févr. 2024 | 00:38:22 | |
Alex Ganipeau runs French language school "The French Hack" in Melbourne Australia and is our go to Frenchy to chat with about loads of things to help demystify French traditions, customs and culture!
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