Are we homesick on our visit back to the UK? Thankfully, not at all.
We’re always a little unsettled when we first arrive “home”, but this time felt different. I wasn’t sad or conflicted — and maybe that’s because I never actually lived in Yorkshire as an adult. I left when I was just nine years old, when my family relocated to France, so my connection to this part of the UK has always felt slightly different.
We absolutely loved this trip, but eventually it was time to head back to France — and this time we brought Mum with us for a cosy January break. Unfortunately, illness was rife when we got home, with flu and colds doing the rounds, which put a slight dent in our plans.
The cooler weather did inspire a bit of a rethink at home though. We ended up swapping our living room and dining room around so we can sit right by the fire when we watch TV — and honestly… it’s lush. We’re fully embracing cosy season.
I was also in the mood for proper French comfort food, so you’ll see me cooking Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon — one of our all-time favourite dinners.
We finish with a little sneak peek at what we’ve got planned for next week 👀
Thank you so much for being here.
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Leon & Sarah 🤍
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LINKS:
French admin expert Amelia: https://www.franceunlocked.fr/
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Need a dangerous tree felling or some fencing? https://www.thetreepeople.fr/
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 INTRO
02:01 Do I feel homesick for England?
05:04 Packing to head home
11:00 Heading to the airport
12:43 Manchester airport, duty free and DREAL email!
15:27 Unpacking groceries and settling back in
16:37 Friday club at Mark and Cath’s
19:19 Winter room reset
22:51 Cooking French comfort food: Bœuf Bourguignon
25:46 Dessert and a cosy French winter evening
27:51 Preview of next week and outro
20 Comments
Happy New Year to you all.
Whoever said that Kath was a scream is totally right, as I’ve said before….. everyone needs a kath in their lives! I love your videos … please keep doing them xx❤❤❤❤
Interesting what you said about missing your country of origin. We moved to Canada 10 years ago from the UK – we never missed the UK. We moved to France 2 months ago from Canada and as yet we dont miss Canada either. We must be strange! 😅
I agree!! You can’t beat Cheddar, burgers looked great! Hope everyone is feeling better!
Another bright video in a world that wants to be dark right now…always makes me smile.
ok so they are exposed, perhaps its time to stop acting the Maggot as they do ……..
The dreal
Love the video! The motorcycle is so cool.
With a week full of shitty decisions made by world wide shitty politicians and a really shitty weather to round it all off this vlog was just what was needed to brighten up a Friday evening great vlog again looking forward to following you this year coming. Have a great week guys.
Happy New Year to you all.
Another fabulous vlog. Thank you. I ❤ It!
You are my adopted virtual family. 🤗
I look forward to your next one.
Je vous envoie tous de gros câlins… Xx
Moving the sitting area to in front of the fireplace is a great idea. You chose practicality over nonsense. I have to say that the sitting area is now screaming for a area rug. Un petit tapis amènera de la couleur et encore plus de style à cette jolie salle. 😉
Love the videos and your honesty❤
BTW, the beef bourgonon looked amazing. I wrote everything down in order to replicate……
That beef bourg looked delicious! Get a rug down on those tiles in the temp living space! 🙂
Great vlog as usual, it’s Saturday morning, nearly 10.30 am and I’m still in bed just finished watching, oops! 😬 Love the new kitchen/ living room layout, it seems to work really well 👏 Bon week-end à vous tous! Catherine x
I left New Zealand when I was 19 and I'm 56 now. I've lived in America for the last 28 years. I've travelled back to New Zealand four times, to visit family and while it's always nice to see each other in person, I have no desire to move back there. It's a beautiful country, but the ridiculous housing ponzi scheme and cost of living doesn't make financial sense.
In contrast, my wife and I were able to retire in America at 50/52. We were able to buy our home(10 years ago) for $US180,000 and pay it off in 9 years. Our home would cost me $NZ900,000 to buy in New Zealand and I would still have to throw another $NZ100,000 at it in renovations. The math, just doesn't math.
What about putting up some thick curtains, that would help to keep the heat in, and a big rug. Have you got shutters on your windows? My French neighbour is always telling me off for not closing the shutters either in the heat of summer, or winter. I'm a big fan of Cathedral City extra mature, or the vintage. I struggle to get that here, but I can get Wyke vintage cheddar which is nearly as good. I hope all goes well and you get the cars sorted.
Its so funny all those living in France say like me RETURNING HOME. So many changes in our home town, look to the future and not to the pass.
For your beef bourg try using guinness and not red wine, let me know if you find it better.
Good luck with the DREAL, don’t forget to take a cheque book with you. No cats this week 😢.
Hi great video good look with the dreal we had to take our car everything OK apart from rear single fog light had to be moved to the left.Told by numerous garages it couldn't be done then found a local mechanic who did it for us no problem.No need for a re visit to dreal just sent them a video.