Finding my Paradise in the French Countryside
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Welcome to our brand-new château series, “An American in the Pyrenees,” featuring Trish, a former corporate professional from the United States who discovered her corner of paradise in the French countryside. Trish’s journey begins with her move to Paris and her transformative decision to purchase a charming château in the Pyrenees. Over the next weeks and months, she’ll share her experiences restoring an ancient property, navigating village life and embracing personal growth in rural France.
An American’s Chateau Adventures in France
“My story isn’t unlike that of many other Americans who move to France. I was working for a global company, had an opportunity for an international assignment, and voilà, I was off to Paris! But that was just the first chapter. What came next, I never imagined…
The Backstory - From the US to France
I grew up in a small town in Connecticut and fast forward to 2008, I was living in the great city of Boston, working for a company that was going through some organizational changes. This included relocating the marketing team that I was part of to another state. It wasn’t an area I was particularly interested in moving to so I thought it might be a good time to explore options for working abroad.
My international travel experience was not very extensive at that point – I had only had my first passport for about seven years, but I had been travelling more and more for work and loved it. I had colleagues from different parts of the world and was curious about what it would be like to live in another country. And with the current changes in the company, I saw a potential opportunity and took a chance in sending an email to the head of the European operation to ask if he needed help in marketing. He was surprisingly receptive to the idea and before I knew it, I was moving to Paris.
The plan was a two-year trial, but I knew fairly early on that I would probably stay longer. Another round of organizational changes a few years later landed me in London, and at that point I knew my heart was in France so I found another job in Paris. And over the course of the next several years, I learned the language, made some fabulous friends, obtained my French nationality, bought a lovely apartment, and established a wonderful life in France.
Saying Au-Revoir to City Life
I really enjoyed living in Paris but as I grew older, I was becoming more sensitive to the noise and less interested in the fast pace of city life. And then COVID hit. Being confined to a small apartment with limited time outside put me over the edge and I decided to sell and move to the suburbs.
The renovation I had done to my one-bedroom apartment to add another room and put in a new kitchen and bathroom paid off when I received a full price offer just a few weeks later. A friend had casually mentioned that I could buy a château for the price of my apartment, so out of curiosity, I started looking at château listings and was surprised at the selection.
Around the same time, my 50th birthday was approaching and because of COVID travel restrictions, my options were limited. One evening, I was having virtual cocktails with a friend talking about my disappointment about not being able to do a big birthday adventure, but after a few glasses of wine and some helpful coaching from her, I was going château shopping in the southwest Pyrénées.
Off to the Pyrénées to go Château Shopping
I hadn’t spent much time in the Pyrénées, which was part of the reason I was interested in exploring it a bit more. Some friends and I had been doing parts of the Camino de Santiago from Le Puy en Velay for a few years, walking the trail for a few days at a time and picking up where we left off. I knew that Navarrenx was one of the upcoming stops and that it was on the list of the most beautiful villages in France, so I picked that as my home base. I made appointments to view a few châteaux in the surrounding area, rented a car and headed towards the Pyrénées.
The first visit was just down the road from where I was staying, a beautiful 19th-century château in good condition, but a bit too modern for me. It also overlooked a busy road which was quite noisy. The next visit was farther out and the complete opposite in that it was very isolated and the entire place needed to be renovated, but it did have a lot of potential.
I had only been half serious about buying a château and certainly didn’t expect to find one that I would actually buy. It took me 10 months to find my Paris apartment so it was highly unlikely that I would find that ‘coup de cœur’ in the first few châteaux that I would see. But the next visit changed everything.
Finding my Coup de Cœur
Château de Gère wasn’t on my initial list, but the agent that was showing me the listing I booked mentioned there was another château nearby if I wanted to take a look while I was in the area. He said it was the same era but more modern, so I thought why not, I was there anyway. He lined up a rendez-vous with the listing agent and we made the stop on the way to the original appointment.
As we entered the driveway through the large black gates, my expectations were a bit low because I really wasn’t interested in anything too modern. But as we approached the château, I thought, wow – this is not what I expected! The three story structure all in stone with an adjoining tower and the mountain backdrop was so striking! I was still reflecting on the ‘modern’ comment, so I wasn’t sure I would feel the same about the inside as I did the outside. But once again, I was pleasantly surprised.
The entrance led to a stunning stone staircase that had clearly been there for centuries. At the top, we entered an open living, dining and kitchen area, all surrounded by stone walls with a gorgeous fireplace and ancient stone sink. A spiral staircase set in the middle of the space led to two more floors where there were six bedrooms and three bathrooms. Some of the decoration was modern, but the old rustic charm was definitely present in every room and it was love at first sight.
The château is situated at the foot of the Pyrénées mountains in the beautiful Vallée d’Ossau in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. I had never heard of the valley and knew nothing about the area, despite having done a lot of travel and hiking throughout France. But something just felt right about the château and the location so without giving it much thought, I made an offer a few hours later.
A New Life in the Pyrénées
Once I had more time to think about it, my plan was to rent the château as a holiday home to cover the mortgage and I would live in the Paris suburbs since I was still working in the city. But another twist of fate happened when the bank processed the mortgage as my primary residence, requiring that I live there at least 8 months a year. Since I was working remotely and didn’t know when and if we would return to the office, I packed up and moved to the château full-time.
It sounds crazy when I think back on it now, not having a plan or even being all that serious about buying a château, but it has turned out better than I could have ever imagined.
The Vallée d’Ossau is so beautiful, my neighbors and people in my community are incredibly friendly and patient with my French, I’ve made a lot of wonderful friends and now I’m a business owner, sharing all the things I love about the area with guests who stay at the château. I am so grateful to have landed here and discovered this little slice of paradise!”
Merci, Trish, for sharing your stories. We can’t wait to read about your next adventures already. So, stay tuned for the next piece, where Trish reveals more twists and stories from her Petit Chateau in the heart of the majestic Pyrénées.
Editor’s Note: We are excited to present Trish’s authentic and unedited stories, written in her own words and style. We have preserved her American English, along with her unique expressions and spellings, to maintain the authenticity of her voice and experiences. This is another real story from my-french-house.com, shared directly from Trish to you. We hope you enjoyed it, “à bientôt sur notre blog”.
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