France
Roannais Property Spotlight by Brian Franklin
Sunday, November 27th, 2011There is a small, little-known corner of the north western end of the huge Rhône-Alpes region in France which is waiting, somewhat patiently, for discovery and greater attention. This area is called Le Roannais in the département of the Loire. Yes, of course, many tourists and business travellers from the UK and other parts of [...]
Le Cuvage Story: A Dream Home in the Roannais by Brian Franklin
Friday, October 21st, 2011The last chapter about ‘Le Cuvage’, but certainly not the end of the story! At last! The work is over, the spending has slowed down, and the results of all our efforts can be clearly seen and appreciated. In some respects, there is an element of anti-climax about it all. As we neared the final [...]
The Ancient Magic of Château Drée in Burgundy
Saturday, August 13th, 2011The Roannais is conveniently situated between several different regions of France – Auvergne, Allier, Saône et Loire, Burgundy, and with very easy access to many others. Just a pleasant countryside drive up the road for 30/40 minutes you are well into Burgundy (Bourgogne). As in all regions of France there are some amazing historical sites [...]
Le Cuvage Story: ‘Keeping Your Head Above Water’ by Brian Franklin
Monday, July 25th, 2011Continuing on from my last month’s article about our renovation and conversion of ‘Le Cuvage’ in the Roannais, Rhône-Alpes, things have moved along rapidly. Our French friends, Jean-François and Adeline, co-partners in this exciting joint project, have now moved into their part of Le Cuvage. Their new home looked great! Although each of the three [...]
Discovering the Roannais by Brian Franklin on thisfrenchlife.com
Sunday, February 13th, 2011Purefrancenow and This French Life join forces with a monthly editorial series featuring an historical account of Brian and Lucy Franklin’s discovery of the Roannais in the Rhône-Alpes region, renovating and developing property, and living ‘The French Dream’. For this month’s newsletter article on ‘Discovering the Roannais’ visit thisfrenchlife.com www.purefrancenow.com
This French Life website is supported by Purefrancenow
Monday, January 24th, 2011This French Life.com provides many interesting nuggets of information, and is of particular service to people who are keen to move to France, or those already living there. This is an excellent, high quality website well worth a visit! There are articles about setting-up a wide variety of necessary services, from banking to the internet, [...]
The Roannais to Medieval Carcassonne! by Brian Franklin
Sunday, July 11th, 2010The Roannais has an enviable central location in France which enables pretty reasonable, and easy access to many other parts of Europe – particularly Southern and South West of France, Northern Spain, Pyrenees and the North Eastern coast, and Northern Italy, including the French and Italian Alps. Excellent autoroute networks throughout the above regions make [...]
ECO -ARCHITECTS TURNING TO WOODEN HOMES IN FRANCE, AND THE ROANNAIS
Friday, May 16th, 2008A bit of news relating to ecology and property build here in France! We've been tracking the growing interest in all things ecological regarding house-building in France. A recent article in 'The Connexion' newspaper ( aimed at expats, and people wanting to live or holiday in France – we have a link to their website [...]

