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...

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...

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...

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. During her last visit to Paris Dianne tried...

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...

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...

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.  La Maison Trumeau is an 1850s French period home, walking distance to restaurants and shops and not far from chateaux and wineries in the Loire region. When Mandy and Willo were...

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! In today's chat we hear about the recently celebrated traditions of l'Ephinanie and Chandeleur, plus the ways Valentine's Day is recognised both now and historically in France. Alex tells us about the things that especially connect her to France and feeds my Francophile heart through her...

Do you love having French vintage bits and bobs all around to remind you of travels in France? Or do you just enjoy a gorgeous French rustic or provincial style to your home? Perhaps you have just a teeny addiction to brocante shopping... Oui? Yep, me too. If like me, you consider packing light for your vacances en France to squeeze in the French fabulousness found at some brocante markets, then this chat is for you. Jane Hotblack owns French vintage ware business "Vintage Etc" and sources...

Andrew Prior, host of Fabulously Delicious, the French Food Podcast has now released a book! Paris: A Fabulous Food Guide To The World’s Most Delicious City is Andrew’s first book and is about so much more than just the best restaurants in Paris.  Andrew has visited and sampled the wares of, or dined in, all 379 venues in the book! You will find recommendations for boulangeries, patisseries, cafes, bistros, bouillons, restaurants and wine bars. But also gourmet food stores, fromageries,...

  The Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles has an exciting 2024 planned. Grab your beverage of choice and sit back to escape virtually to France on a road trip across the north of France through Normandy and Brittany! This is the topic of the first French Road Trip E-guide to be released soon in the new LFF online store. Also hear my chat about the wonderful intimate, boutique Normandy Retreat planned for September where listeners can join me for one of a kind experiences that will fill a Francophile...

Joyeux Noel and Bonne année! Currently I am sending you wishes for a gorgeous Chrissy from my home in the Aussie bush surrounded by the sounds of kookaburras in summer, with kangaroos joining us for our morning coffee and returning for apéro in the late arvo! A far cry from last year when I was in France on my wonderful Noël roadtrip through the French alps and the Alsace region.  I have a number of tips for travelling in the type of weather that can be expected in France in December as it is...

Julia Fulford Kirby lives in a most magical place, Château Mas de Pradié in Foissac in the Aveyron region of southwest France. I first saw her story on the Escape to the Château DIY show and then chatted to her on the podcast in January 2021, but nothing prepared me for the magic before me when I visited her home in the hot summer of 2022. Mas de Pradié took my breath away. Julia has done so much work over her time there but she has made every effort not to ruin the spirit that made her fall...

Texan native Molly Wilkinson moved to France to follow her dream of French pastry cooking and baking a number of years ago and since then has met her fiancé, moved to Versailles and now has an amazing business bringing the opportunity to all of us to cook like a French pastry chef, with her online French pastry cooking school. Molly is so down to earth, patient and accessible. Perfect attributes for a teacher! She has a fabulous cooking space in Versailles which is where all the magic happens...

Rachael Coopes is an author, an actress, a yoga expert, a presenter on beloved kids show Playschool and just an all-round lovely like-minded Francophile. Recently I have been reading her book Paris For Beginners and I absolutely love it! I’m not sure why, but every time I sat down to read it, I needed to pair the reading with a glass of wine! It felt like a celebration each time and a petit escape to France for me.   In her 20s Rach moved to France for a couple of years to study theatre. She...

Earlier this year I stayed in Normandy with the gorgeous Jane Hiscock in her stunning historic Château du Jonquay. I’m headed back to stay with Jane again in September 2024 and this time you can come too! Jane has put together an amazing itinerary with a range of experiences that only someone with her local knowledge could uncover. I'm so excited about all Jane has planned for this wonderful Normandy Retreat! Tune into this chat to hear more of the fascinating stories of the Normandy...

Earlier this year I nicked off to France for almost 2 months! In the last couple of weeks of the trip, I had some gorgeous girlfriends meet me for a stay in Lyon and the country Burgundy region between Lyon and Dijon. My dear friend Karen Grooby chatted to me on the podcast about the glorious 10 days we spent with friends who have travelled together with me in France a number of times before.  Hear all about our amazing time in Lyon as well as the second half of our trip exploring the...

Forget Thelma and Louise, this is the story of Simone and Louise heading across the southern regions of France from Bayonne to Provence! We started our adventures in Paris, then the Basque region, then across in an easterly direction to Cahors, Uzès, the Pont-du-Gard, the tiny village of Mollégès (which we used as a base to visit Eygalières, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, L’Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue, Gordes, the Abbey de senanque and Avignon) before heading to the next part of my journey in Lyon. Head to...

Emily Gaudichon is The Real Emily in Paris on Instagram, she is a supermum to a teenager as well as two pre-schoolers and is constantly working on various projects simultaneously, but somehow she has found time to write a children's book as well! Emily's book  The Parisian ABCs  is illustrated by Sarah Vesperini. Emily describes it as a tongue in cheek look at why we love the French, celebrating cliches from A to Z with witty one liners to delight children and adults alike. Emily has a few...

Noria Letts is a French-Australian singer who performs French songs in Melbourne and Sydney with her band The Parisians. Her style is eclectic and varied, but her description of French gypsy jazz shines through as a specialty for her. Noria has always loved music and singing right from a young age growing up in Burgundy in France. It is something she has shared with her sisters for years and there are now a number of other professional musicians in the family. Noria now shares a little of...

No 3 The Château is a stunning venue in the Cognac region which hosts many weddings through the warmer months each year, as well as other "experiences", but it has not always been that way. After developing various properties in the UK, interior designer Julie Berry (aka Jules) decided to take up a challenge of renovating a château in France. She settled on the Cognac area and started a search which resulted in the wonderful find of the château she calls home today. No 3 The Château is...

My beautiful friends Ruby Boukabou and Wendy Lee Taylor are teaming up as they have done before, but this time for a wonderful show, "Paris Time Step"! They're performing the spectacle on a péniche called the Marcounet, a sort of barge or long boat on the Seine just next to the Pont Marie which is across the river from the Ile Saint-Louis in my most fave little spot in Paris! I can even see the venue from my regular Paris apartment window!  The show takes the audience through different epochs...

Cathy McKenzie and her husband Lachie have travelled to France previously numerous times, including on an organised cycling tour. This year however, they decided to go and make up their own tour! They settled on a region to cycle in and booked bikes through a company that had an arrangement to store their luggage during the cycling leg of the vacation as well. That way they that only needed the paniers to carry with them and store everything they needed during the few weeks of cycling. They...

Gabriel Gâté is a treasured iconic French chef in Australia! He is also a tv presenter, an author, a wonderful advocate for France and French events and businesses here Down Under and has been a fabulous friend to the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast from almost the very beginning! Recently Gabriel and his wife Angie travelled through France on a grand vacances. It occurred at the same time I was over in France and it seemed that we were travelling to the same places at different times! I...

Author Sonia Nicholson and I had a lovely chat about travelling with kids, without kids, with partners and also how life can get in the way of following our Paris dreams... but really we wouldn't have life any other way. Dreams can come true any time at any age! Sonia's first book Provenance Unknown, tells the story of a young single mum archivist living in Canada who lands her dream job at the city archives and then discovers a forgotten French diary in the vault which takes her on a...