While most of us may occasionally dream especially on a grey, wet Monday of relocating to somewhere lovely and warm, mum of two Jill Cowdry convinced her family to relocate to Aix en Provence for a year. A mid-life crisis? That may be overstating it, but I certainly wanted to change direction and, thankfully, my husband did too.
I suppose it was a combination of elements — the more or less constant grisly grey of the British weather, the traffic congestion, the challenges of the English education system and the cost of living.
After 15 years of surviving in London, we all needed to break the pattern. France had drawn me in some 15 years earlier when I first visited Paris and tasted my first crepe. Strangely, it almost felt like home. Perhaps I was French in a previous life! Numerous trips to France followed, including ones with my family and as I got to know the country better the conviction grew that one day we would live there.
Last June, dream and opportunity came together almost miraculously. He had seen us at a restaurant the night before and heard us talking about schools. We started chatting and were soon talking about how we were planning to rent out our house in Richmond and move to Aix-en-Provence for a year. He said he knew an estate agent who might be able to help. An hour later he called to say a charming house had just come onto the market in Luynes, a village close to Aix. We viewed the property that night and, a few weeks later, having rented our own house out, we signed a one year lease.
We had got to know quite a few parts of France, but Provence was our favourite because of its climate, beautiful landscape and proximity to the French Alps, Spain and Italy. We had also investigated the three school options — public, private and international — and had discounted the first two because we felt it was a little dramatic to go from English to only French, particularly if it was only going to be for a year. Aix en Provence is one of the most beautiful French towns I have been to.
