The phrase, ‘Métro, Boulot, Dodo’, was created in the 1960s to describe the Parisian fast-paced life of ‘commute, work, sleep’ – but we’ve found this phrase describes working life in any major city. While we no longer have the long commute into London to get to an office, work at La Maison starts the minute we awake, from feeding the chickens, cats and dogs and tending 3 acres of gardens in early morning to late-night cleaning and admin. 

Is this the idyllic ‘slow’ life that many city-dwellers romanticize from their cubicles within concrete jungles? Not at all! But there is definitely a slower pace in the French countryside than in any major city – a slowness that was admittedly maddening when we first moved here and expected the same on-demand conveniences to which we had felt entitled in London. 

Trying to run errands during your lunch hours?  Most small shops and grocery stores close from 12-2pm. Too busy to cook the family dinner? I haven’t once seen the formerly ubiquitous food delivery scooter or bicycle in our vicinity in the three years since we’ve lived here. Even once having taken James to see a nearby château at Christmas which advertised photos with Father Christmas, we found that we had arrived during Père Noël’s 2-hour lunch break. London, this isn’t.

But what we lose in the 24/7 convenience of city life, we make up for in well-being and family time. We cook more, enjoy lunch as a family, value dinner with friends. Do we wish we could order our favourite London take-away now and again? Yes! But it makes it all the more special when we stumble upon a fantastic restaurant or find the ingredients to make the dish ourselves. It’s not less work by any stretch of the imagination, but it helps us value our time, and it’s time better spent.