From Little House on the Prairie to Green Bean Hell

<p><strong>From playing Little House on the Prairie in a London garden to fishing for mullet in the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel… how exactly did that happen?</p><p>In this rather more personal episode of France Made Simple, I tell the story of how a little girl growing up in Streatham, dreaming of ponies, vegetable gardens, chickens and a cottage in the countryside, eventually ended up living in rural France and, somewhat accidentally, creating the very life she had been fantasising about for decades.</p><p>There are childhood memories, Escape to the Country fantasies, derelict French houses, vegetable gardens, an alarming quantity of green beans, homemade preserves, dehydrated courgette crisps, fishing nets, tidal rivers, seals, and one slightly terrifying adventure in the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel.</p><p>It turns out that becoming self-sufficient is actually much harder work than it looks on television. But there is something incredibly satisfying about sitting down to a meal made almost entirely from things you’ve grown or caught yourself.</p><p>And perhaps that’s the real point of this episode: sometimes the life you dream about when you’re young really isn’t as impossible as it seems.</p><p>Moving to France isn’t always easy. There are frustrations, tears, bureaucracy, homesickness and plenty of moments when you wonder what on earth you’ve done.</p><p>But it is an adventure. And after more than 20 years here, I still wouldn’t change it.</p><p>So grab a cup of tea, coffee, glass of wine or something stronger, and join me for a slightly chaotic trip from Streatham High Street to Green Bean Hell!</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>