Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles Louise Prichard

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: janehiscock@chateaudujonquay.com  

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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 janehiscock@chateaudujonquay.com  

**
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 janehiscock@chateaudujonquay.com 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 
janehiscock@chateaudujonquay.com  

**
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

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 to squeeze all her 20 walks into a 14 day stay, but just fell short. Always leave a reason to  return I say! So now Dianne will go back for 4 weeks and complete the walk for each arrondissement. I'll be doing one of her walks when I next return to Paris too!

Tune into feel as though you have had a momentary sojourn to Paris with us...


If interested in the Normandy Retreat mentioned in this episode, email janehiscock@chateaudujonquay.com 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