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!

Tune into hear all the insider views on the festival as well as be updated on some exciting stuff to consider if you are heading to Paris this coming French summer!


If interested in the Normandy Retreat this September as mentioned in this episode, email [email protected] 

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

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. 

Catherine describes herself as a professional MILF!!! Seriously though, she is the founder of the Gunnas writers retreats and since its inception she has had 10,000 writers or "gunna-be" writers through her workshops. Her retreats have created a community of writers that keep coming back for more!

Catherine has said, "We put obstacles in front of our happiness... they are distraction, procrastination and self-doubt. Satisfaction is what makes us happy, not distraction. There's no effort without error. 80% of success is just turning up." These words inspire me to get up and get going! It's fabulous life advice!  We should not postpone joy! We should live our lives with as much joy as possible and I love how Catherine makes this "real" in our chat during this episode.

I often wonder that many women have not been raised to consider their own dreams. Listening to Catherine as we chatted left me really considering how I might live my best life and actually live my dreams...

Tune into hear our chat and maybe consider how to shift from being a "Gunna" to an actual "Do-er".



If interested in the Normandy Retreat mentioned in this episode, email [email protected]

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

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.

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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!) 

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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! 

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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!

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

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.

This extraordinary exhibition was sourced from the Musée de Carnavalet in the Marais in Paris as well as fashion items from the NGV. Clare took me through all the 7 zones of the exhibition taking me through the story of the history of Paris from that time.

Tune in to hear our petit tour and check out the details on the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website.


For details of the Normandy Retreat mentioned in this episode, email [email protected] 

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

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!

Claudia loves the language and the culture but clearly has been affected by the fashion too. Being there for 5 years, she got to learn the language, to meet and make French friends, travel a lot and study the effortlessly chic French women. We chatted about her experiences and it transported me back to France on and off through our chat.


Claudia described her life in Paris in a little apartment where they could hear the bells of Notre Dame in the 5th, over the road from a Tabac. I just floated away with her as she chatted. Hearing about the fashion as well, French women who would not be overly styled, but would wear what they had in their wardrobe but in a way that had a chic-ness not often seen elsewhere. When Claudia came back to Australia she explored this further and created Jac Cadeaux which provides a classic French style wardrobe. The Breton stripe is a staple (I loved hearing the history of the striped tops that have endured from Claudia too) but there is so much more!


For the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles audience, Jac Cadeaux is now offering a 15% discount! Just use the discount code LFF15 at the Jac Cadeaux checkout. 
https://jaccadeaux.com/ 



If interested in the Normandy Retreat as mentioned in this episode, email [email protected] for details.

 

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

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: [email protected]  

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

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!

Coming to live in Paris from a small town in Canada, April first visited France when she graduated high school and her love affair with the French capital began. After more than a decade living there, she still hasn't lost the wonder in her eyes every time she sees the iconic symbols surrounding her. Wandering around the city is still like an outdoor gallery for her, as April says there is always something new to see or find even after daily walks down particular petites rues! Her main rule though, is to "always look up". So many people miss what is right in front of them by burying their heads in a map or phone, or only looking at ground level. Always look up!

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

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.

I adore losing myself in a map, examining all the streets and reminiscing about where I've been before. It was fascinating to hear of Sonja's projects including a massive table for a tourist company in Paris with a map across the whole surface displaying the arrondissements, food and main attractions of Paris. I imagine it would have been a beautiful piece of functional art. Together with Sonja's knowledge and passion for maps, I loved hearing all about her personal Paris story. 

Come and escape to France with us...


For more information about the Normandy Retreat mentioned in this episode, contact Jane Hiscock [email protected]  

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

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?

In this episode I chatted to Alex Ganipeau from the French Hack about her memories of Pâques when she grew up in France. There are some traditions that are particular to France, such as the Cloches de Pâques, the Easter bells which depart France on Good Friday and fly to Rome to be blessed by the Pope, then returning to France on Easter Sunday dropping Easter eggs, candy and presents for all the children. The church bells all ring out in every French village on Easter Sunday and the kids start looking for eggs! Alex and I also talk about the pagan origins of the Easter traditions and other special ways it is celebrated in France.

For tourists travelling through France across Easter, it is important to note that Good Friday is not a public holiday in France but Easter Monday is.



For anyone interested in the Normandy Retreat as mentioned in this episode, email [email protected] for details.

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

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.

For information about the Normandy Retreat mentioned in this episode, email 
[email protected]  

**
Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
**
Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website