About ourselves

Daglan First and foremost, thank you for stopping by and I hope that you like what you see and read in our blog about our French dream.

Now about myself, my husband and our son. I was born in Yorkshire and my husband was born in Lancashire. We meet on a blind date over forty seven years ago and we have been married for forty five years or eleven years which ever way you look at it, our anniversary is February 29th, a leap year. We have lived in Lancashire all of our married life: first at Milnrow near Rochdale and then Blackpool until our retirement. My husband was an IT manager and I was a lecturer of Psychology and Forensic Psychology at the local College. Our son has completed his Masters in animation and is a successful 3D artist, I had to put that in, a very proud Mum.

I bet that you are wondering why we moved to France. In short our dream was always to move to another country. Italy was our first choice a long time ago. However, it was always too expensive. So we looked at other counties with sunshine, good food, wine and above all friendly people. France seemed just right.

This blog is going to be about how we found our property, restoring (changing the décor, especially the bathroom shower, which is unbelievable, I shall take a photograph for you to see in a future blog). Where to go for DIY: events around the village and area. Generally the trials and tribulations of our experiences, our move to France and living the French Dream. So I would like to take you on a journey which I hope that you will find helpful and interesting and at times exciting. Welcome to our French Dream.

daglan

I nearly forgot to tell you that our French property is in the Perigord Noir (Dordogne), castles, medieval hamlets, Chateaus, the open country side, markets and wine.

66 thoughts on “About ourselves”

  1. Oh I’m very happy to have found your blog! Are you living in Daglan? I have been to the Dordogne twice and am headed there again in September, We stay in Gavaudun. I LOVE the Dordogne and have looked for blogs that are from that area, up until now without much luck. Looking forward to following along with you!

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    • Hi Paige, thank you for the lovely comments. We will be moving to Daglan in 2015, but first we need to renovate and decorate the property. We agree with you the Dordogne is a gorgeous place to visit and to live. I hope that you will enjoy our future blogs, Chris and Paul

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  3. Hi there, we passed through Daglan on our first ever self guided cycle tour of the Dordogne. What a beautiful part of the country! We stopped for a tasty bowl of Thai soup at Le Bistroquet, served by the owner Frank (?), a very colourful character with lots of interesting stories to tell about his travels. If you visit there, please pass on our warm regards to him. Best of luck in following your French Dream!
    Suzanne and Brian
    Alberta, Canada
    (originally from Widnes and Liverpool, UK!)

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    • We moved to Daglan eleven years ago, and the Bistroquet closed shortly afterwards. Since then it has had two owners, but spent most of the time closed, and is currently looking very sorry for itself.

      However, light meals are available at the The Vert – opposite the Bistroquet – and a good restaurant – the Envie de Met – has opened in St. Pompon, about three miles down the road.

      Meanwhile, the village’s restaurant, the Petit Paris, continues to offer interesting meals at 29 Euros for three courses – call it 100 Euros for two with wine etc.

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      • Hello Mike, we will have to meet up for coffee when Paul and I move to Daglan, unsure when but we are keeping our fingers crossed for September or October. Did not know about Envie de Met in St Pompon, sounds interesting.

  4. Hi there. I am so pleased to find your blog. I am considering buying a holiday home in Daglan to renovate over a period of time, and can actually see my favourite contender in your strapline picture at the top of your blog! I would love to hear more about how you chose your home and what you think of the other properties for sale in the village? Warm regards,
    Lucienne from Cape Town, South Africa

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    • Hi Luciene, the good news is that there are a few properties in Daglan for sale in need of renovation. The is a large property at the back of the two properties on the left of the stapline picture on our blog. It does need a lot of work but it could be gorgeous. There is also a property across from the Mairie with a lovely front garden, plus other properties to see. When you can book a few weeks holiday and explore the area and of course Daglan, it is a gorgeous village, but I am bias. I can not recommend our estate agent, due to the fact that it has close down, however a good site for you to look at is French Property News (we found our home in one of their magazines) They have a lot of properties on their site, so well worth a look. Good luck you never know we could be neighbors one day.

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      • Fancy meeting Capetonians on a blog about Daglan 😀 We are currently ‘scouting’ the French countryside for a possible new home town, we’re from Cape Town area (South Africa) as well. Daglan is close to our next stop-over (Bergerac) later this week and it sounds like a great place to explore some. Can you tell me more about the weather in Daglan. Do you get a lot of frost and do you have snow in winter? Dispite my German and British ancestry I’m not very cold-hardy 😋 We will ideally be looking for a sort of smallholding out of town (keen organic gardener and obsessive compulsive animal collector) with a small forest and space for cross-country horse riding.

      • Hello Annelle, please have a look around Daglan, it is an ideal place for cross-country horse riding etc We have a couple of South African people living in the village, they love it. Winters can get cold and frosty and one year the village was cut of with snow, however, it does not last long with spring starting in February it is a great climate. In the Summer time the temperature can be anything from the late twenties to the late thirties. Brilliant for exploring the country side in the Perigord Noir. Let me know about your ‘scouting’ trip. All the best, Chris and Paul

    • Hi,

      I just stumbled upon this blog and was wondering if you ever did find that property. I am originally from Cape Town, left in 1991 to move to Paris and then ended up in Los Angeles for 17 years. We have just bought our dream prperty in The Dordogne, outside Le Bugue and move next month. I will be teaching cooking lessons and we will be renting out our guest house.
      see my blog at http://www.maisontravers.wordpress.com
      I am just starting it so much work to be done.
      Nadia

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      • Hi Nadia
        Yup, I found my dream renovation project in the lovely village of Hautefort. I am now one year in and almost finished the ground floor. I can only get over to France a few times a year as I still work in Cape Town. Will definitely check out your blog. All the best,
        Lucienne

    • Thank you for your comment. We will be writing more about our home in a few weeks time, still a lot to do in the kitchen, sitting room etc. We hope to have completed the decorating downstairs in the sitting room and completed most of the kitchen this year. Keep your fingers crossed.

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    • Yes, the first leak of the year always fills us with trepidation! No unfortunately we gave up after we tried various things on the floor, chipping off screed, sanding, loads and loads of cleaning, filling and smoothing but still a mess after the flood. So we laid down a new floor and installed a new radiator. Keeping fingers crossed no more leaks.

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  8. We are back at the end of Feb, so everything is crossed!
    It is the final, major push in 2014 as the “infrastructure” is now almost completed
    Good luck with the rest of yours, it all looks very crisp and clean and bright, these French houses can be dark with too much varnished wood in evidence.

    Seriously thinking of starting a French Village House club for kindred spirits as most of the renovations stories I come across are for picturesque country piles with acres of land!Think we may be in a minority

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    • Thank you for the comments and yes we must start a French Village House club. We have had a lot of brown, well dark brown down the corridor outside of the bedrooms and a strange orange colour on the walls in the sitting room that I must paint the next time that we are over in Daglan. However, we have not had the wood on the walls etc. Are you moving to France? It is so good to find someone with similar experiences. All the best, Chris, Paul and Adam

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  10. I was happy to find your blog. My husband and I are traveling through France for 5.5 months on a sabbatical. We spent 2 weeks in the Dordogne and loved it! Our home base was Monpazier. I have a dream of one day living in France…at a minimum for 3 months of the year. I will definitely be looking forward to seeing your future posts.

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  11. Just come across your blog. You do sound lovely people. I shall be buying hte All About Socks book for my Kindle as well as I am a sock knitter, having an antique circular sock knitting machine (and 4, soon to be 5, grand-children).

    Later this month we will be making our 8th trip to VIllereal. I am constantly on the look-out for new places to visit, and don’t think we have been to Daglan before, so that may be on our itinerary.

    Best wishes to you.

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  13. It was great to come across your blog. As a fellow Rochdale lass who migrated across the Pennines to York it is a dream of mine to one day live in France. I am taking small steps and learning the language to one day make my dream come true. I look forward to reading your posts – Julie

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  14. Haha! I see you popped up with a sneaky like on one of my posts so I nipped across and hey-presto … I rather like what I see. Why wouldn’t I? You’ve made the move and you are living the life and I expect we have a little in common. Happy 11th Wedding Anniversary for the 29th … I hope you have a leapingly lovely day 🙂

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  15. I love this blog and am so pleased to have found it.
    But I have a question… We are buying a big lump of a house in St Cybranet on 20 June, and are very excited about it. We will need to buy beds, sofas, a kitchen table etc etc, so the house can be used over the summer.
    It seems crazy to buy in England and have the risk and cost of shipping things out to France. But what shops are there in Sarlat or nearby we could use?The house we are buying is old, so we do not want modern looking stuff. In fact old second hand might often be best… Any ideas?
    And maybe we will get a chance to meet over the summer. We will still be living mainly in London though, at least for the first couple of years.
    Thanks a lot
    Bernard and Frances

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    • Thank you for reading our blog. We were in St Cybranet this morning, they have a really handy health food shop were I buy my vegetarian food. Have you tried the Boulangerie at Castlenaud, the bread, chocolates and petite gateau are all gorgeous.

      We do not know anywhere close by to buy beds, the one we have tried near sarlat has closed down but there are local brocante/antiquites to buy tables etc. Daglan holds one this weekend for two days, Castlenaud on the 13th July, La Rogue-Gageac on the 4th September. There is a very good Troc near Brive, that you can look at by the internet at troc.com they may have beds, sofas and tables there, they do change their stock quite often. I just looked on google for ‘furniture shops near Sarlat’ and there are quite a few results.

      You can come and see us for coffee or aparatif, just email us first so that we will be in when you call.
      An exciting time for you both, see you soon Chris and Paul.

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  16. Dear Chris and Paul
    Thanks. That is very kind. We do not want to rush it, as buying furniture should be a pleasure. But we will need some basics quickly.
    Sarlat should have all we need I am sure, including auctions and antique shops but it will be good if we can get to one of those markets.
    We hope to meet you before long.
    Bernard and Frances

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    • Hi,
      It is a bit further but we bought all our beds in Perigueux at Maison Litier. The owners are a very friendly couple who offer excellent selection and service and they are very competitive.

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    • Good to hear from you, we have just bought a gorgeous mirror from Daglan market. I t does need cleaning but it is perfect for the bathroom. Like you we have taken our time looking at different markets, may go again on Sunday for another look around.
      See you
      Chris and Paul

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  17. Dear Chris and Paul,

    Firstly may I congratulate you on an excellent blog! We visit the Dordogne every year and remember Daglan well. I love the Dordogne so much I decided to build an App in an effort to support, in the first instance, Campsites but it also has comprehensive Directories on Wine, Villages and most tourism activities. I am currently working on its next revision and would like to create a section on the personal reflections of others and would like build-in your blog which feature in its own dedicated page which in effect is a direct link to your blog in its mobile version by WordPress. All activity on your app page would interact as it normally does from the desktop version. It is listed in iTunes and Google Play as the Dordogne and Lot Camping Companion and its Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/dordogne.lot.camping.companion/

    If you would like a free promotional copy or copies of the App to check it out, just let me know how many and whether iPhone (iPad works too) or Android. Hope to hear from you.

    Regards

    Russell

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  18. Thanks for stopping by and joining my blog. I hope will enjoy reading about my recipes and travels as much as I enjoy sharing them with you. Welcome aboard.

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  19. Hi Chris. I would really like your advice on something. I posted on here a little while ago as an avid follower of your story/experiences. We are planning to move to the Dordogne in the not too distant future and I would like to organise a short break (a surprise for my hubby who is as desperate as I am to come back this year). Can you perhaps recommend somewhere to stay for a long weekend near to yourselves as I would love for us to perhaps meet up if you would be in agreement? Hope to hear from you soon. Best regards, Hayley

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  20. Hello Hayley
    Pardon me for butting in, but I heartily recommend La Tour de Cause http://176.32.230.252/latourdecause.com/
    We stayed there about 10 months ago, and I can honestly say it was about the nicest place I ever stayed, vary largely due to the proprietors being so charming (Nico and Igor). But it is also a great location, lovely building, great food etc.
    We have since bought a place nearby incidentally, in St Cybranet.
    The Ceou valley is a great place for a long weekend, very handy for all major centers of activity.
    Bernard

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  25. Really enjoyed reading this today! Just found it. I live in Australia and my husband Anthony and his friend Frank are in Sarlat renovating an apartment we bought in 2011. It’s in rue Landry. We’d been waiting for our tenant to move out to get stuck into this project – he left and took the kitchen with him! It was in a terrible state which was so disappointing. Thank goodness our friend Frank could go as we’re not exactly handy! They are enjoying the experience. I wasn’t able to go so reading your blog has really lifted my spirits today!

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    • My goodness fancy taking the kitchen, if your husband needs anymore help just email Paul and I and we will be there. Hope that you can fly to France soon and thank you so much for reading our blog.

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  26. Wow! That’s really kind of you! I’ll let him know. They’ve been doing painting and I’m getting the impression it’s hard work. Looks like the weather will be Nic this week so I hope they’ll have a break and enjoy just being in Sarlat.

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  28. Love your blog. We will be in Sarlat for a week in mid-September. Thanks to you we have discovered so many interesting places to see and things to do. Congratulations on following your dream to live in France (and working so hard on your home renovations). I have an odd question. Would it be improper to wear white in September? It is frowned upon in the States (although these days anything goes with the younger set).
    Can’t wait to visit the area!

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    • Thank you for reading our blog. You will be fine wearing white here, although bring a sweater it might be cool in the mornings and eve. Enjoy your visit and do come and see us in Dagan

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  30. Hi Chris, we are an Australian couple who moved to France nine months ago. We are looking to buy a house in the Perigord Noir. We love Daglan. We’ve seen Gus and Sherry’s beautiful house but it is not quite what we are looking for. If you know or or hear of any properties for sale in the town, between 200-300,000 euros with little or no work to be done, please let us know. FYI, I too have been documenting our stay in a blog: goldenageinfrance.blogspot.fr
    Cheers
    Tony and Cliona

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  31. Salut! How nice to find your blog. I live presently in Grenoble though home for several years was le Cantal (la vrai France profonde at its most profonde!) I am always delighted to find French blogs that pique my interest so I shall enjoy following along, I am sure 🙂

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  32. Lovely Blog. Well done on your commitment and enthusiasm. My wife and I are visiting soon and would be grateful for a chat. I wonder if you’d be kind enough to e mail me so we can connect, please ?

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  33. Most enjoyable blog – we’ve recently bought a house in the neighbouring commune of Cenac and are busy getting our home in Sheffield up to scratch to let out before we move to France- aiming at end of May / early June. We are only a couple of miles from Daglan – we camped at Moulin de Paulhiac a number of times around the millenium when the kids were little, and in the last 10 years have regularly camped by the Dordogne near Vitrac, so we are still pinching ourselves at the prospect of moving to our favourite part of France to enjoy our retirement.

    Kind Regards

    Colin & Sue

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  34. Hello,

    My wife and I visited Daglan yesterday as part of our research into where to buy a second home in France. We both fell instantly in love with it.

    The hard bit now is finding a suitable property of course in the local area. Can you recommend any estate agents or other options to find our little bit of France?

    Mike and Leanne

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      • Thanks Chris, that’s really helpful. One last question, are there any other similar villages in the area you can recommend if Daglan has little on offer?

        Mike

  35. Yes, Domme but it is expensive. St Cyprian is more a town, but excellent shops and a large Sunday market. St Martial de Nabirat, Castelnaud-la-Chapelle and St PonPom are all nice.

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  36. Love your blog!
    It’s engaging, interesting and very useful! We are holidaying in the Dordogne and have for a number of years, but only found your blog today. We are off to Daglan tomorrow as a result! Thank you.

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