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Miriam Eckerle loves flowers, her cats and France. She was troubled with how to enjoy all three at once so made the life changing decision to pull up stumps from her home in Indiana in the US and move to the Charente region in France with her husband Jon.

Miriam and Jon discussed for many years the idea of retiring in France, so they would spend hours scrolling through real estate websites. Eventually they found one, did a virtual tour with the realtor (including a virtual drive through the village!) and decided this was the one! Without even stepping foot on site! The house met lots of their criteria: not too isolated, near a Plus Beaux Villages de France, not too big, not too small, with a lovely garden and in an area with quite a lot of English speakers. 

Miriam has cousins in the Charente area near to her new home. A bonus is that these cousins have a vineyard! A FrancoFiler's dream! Well this FrancoFiler anyway! Miriam talks about being with her cousins as children, playing in a deserted château. I can imagine with strong family ties and beautiful childhood memories, the pull to move to France would be strong.  

Miriam is craving the simple quiet life. She talked about being able to walk out the front door to go on a long walk or bike ride. Opening the shutters in the morning and hearing the village come to life. She would like to spend the day wandering the streets of Bordeaux, sit and have coffee and watch the world go by. It sounds beautiful to me. Simple pleasures to fill a FrancoFiler's soul.

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Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
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