A French Renaissance?: An Irish Family Moves to France

by Eamon O'Hara

In 2010, Irish couple Eamon O’Hara and Tanya Treacy took the bold decision to move to the south of France. Spurred on by the desire to give their children a more balanced and natural upbringing, but also to create a lifestyle that could better accommodate work, family and personal interests, what was once a romantic dream now became a reality.
In stepping out of the mainstream and attempting to live life differently they took a risk, not only with their careers, but also with their finances and their family’s wellbeing, but it was a risk they felt worth taking in the pursuit of a greater happiness and a chance to realise their dreams. However, faced with dodgy builders, truculent neighbours, insect invasions, financial worries and the stresses of launching a new tourism business, Eamon and Tanya soon discovered that the road to a dream life seldom runs smooth. Now living in a beautiful château with untamed forest at their doorstep and a swimming pool in the front garden, the good life is close at hand.
Witty, honest and thought-provoking, this is a positive, inspiring story about life change and the real challenges of starting a new life in a foreign country. More than just an anecdotal account, A French Renaissance? also provides real practical insights and a very honest assessment of the reality of making a new home in rural France. This book will appeal to all those who dream of starting a new life abroad, as well as those who wish to escape the rat race and find a different rhythm.
A French Renaissance? is the perfect holiday read, and might just be the inspiration you need to start your own life changing adventure.

Genres: Memoir, France

180 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2014

About the author

Eamon O’Hara is an award-winning author, entrepreneur and environmentalist. He is a co-founder of Carlow Brewing Company (O’Hara’s Brewery) and the initiator and co-founder of ECOLISE, the European network for community-led action on climate change and sustainability. Originally from Ireland, he now lives in rural France with his wife and children, where they run a successful tourism business and manage a small herd of pedigree Dexter cattle.

Reviews

[Susie Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving to France has been the dream of tens of thousands of Francophiles for decades. Pots of geraniums, fields of lavender and sunflowers, crusty baguettes, cheeses galore, accordion music, inexpensive wines, the climate, peaceful rivers, golden beaches, France has it all. How easy it is to fall in love with the dream of starting a new life here. With property prices currently at a 5-year low, it’s a buyer’s market.

There are people who are happy to take the plunge into the unknown, prepared to live with the consequences, but the dream can quickly turn into a nightmare if they haven’t done their homework.

For Eamon and his wife, it was not a decision made on the spur of the moment. They had two children to consider and were prepared to bide their time to ensure that if and when they made the move, they were doing the right thing. That led to a long and often frustrating experience with unreliable estate agents, awkward vendors and negotiations that seemed to go on forever before they finally moved into their property. Even once they had made the move, problems kept raising their heads, and the family needed all its resilience and patience to create the life they wanted and eventually found.

Anybody considering moving to France should read this book. By all means also read the tales of quaint foreigners, busy markets and integrating with the locals, but temper them with a serious reality check!

[Martina Lennon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This type of book has been done before. It is easy to read. I only picked this up in the library to read because of the Carlow connection.

[Jacqueline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this gentle and amusing memoir about an Irish couple, Eamon and Tanya, who move to Brussels for work, become a family with the arrival of Ned and Astrid and decide to make a new rural home in The Lot, France.

With their hearts set on the full fairytale French life, they find their modest chateau, with two towers and plenty of acreage, but even in the early stages their journey was not without a bit of heartache. I could almost hear Eamon’s lilting Irish accent as he took me with him to follow their dream, holding my hand to guide me through some of the more difficult situations they found themselves in. Their first few months of settling two young children into a new life, while coordinating building works to get the B&B up and running, and welcoming their first guests in the gîte, were more the stuff nightmares are made of, but an essential phase in the relocation process. As someone who has house-hunted in France with a pre-schooler, has experienced ear-splitting storms that come with rain so fierce it forces its way indoors and has had fun and games with local trades people, I could commiserate and/or laugh along. For those still in the dreaming period, hoping one day an idyllic life in rural France could be theirs; read this book, take notes and remember what you’ve read – you have been warned.

I might envy him having a tower to write in, but knowing how much time and effort goes into mowing and maintaining our modest acre of orchard, he can keep his forty acres and his tractor, although I can honestly say I have never read such an emotional chapter about tractors. Ever!

This is one of those memoirs where I have to ask – where did you find the time or energy to write it? Although, it was nice to read that they still made time, every now and again, to sit back and enjoy the beauty of their new environment. The Lot region really shines from his descriptions, so much so it made me want to plan a visit.