{"id":87381,"date":"2025-05-09T12:48:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T12:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/87381\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T12:48:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T12:48:12","slug":"were-returning-to-the-uk-after-10-years-in-france-we-cant-wait-for-a-sunday-roast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/87381\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We’re returning to the UK after 10 years in France – we can’t wait for a Sunday roast’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Natalie and Andrew Solomon swapped their UK home for a French ch\u00e2teau 10 years ago – but now they are returning to BlightyNews<\/a><\/p>\n

Howard Lloyd<\/strong> Regional content editor<\/p>\n

13:11, 09 May 2025Updated 13:12, 09 May 2025<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Ch\u00e2teau de Memanat and its grounds<\/p>\n

A British couple are selling their French ch\u00e2teau to return to UK – and are looking forward to returning to a pub for a Sunday roast. Around a decade ago, Natalie and Andrew Solomon decided to sell their rural Shropshire home and swap it for a French ch\u00e2teau and 20 hectares of land.<\/p>\n

The couple, who were joined by their parents and young children, made the move in search of a new adventure in a different country and say they do not regret a thing. After settling in, the Solomons built luxury accommodation in two handcrafted treehouses – complete with hot tubs and offering full English breakfasts and butter chicken curries instead of the typical continental cuisine.<\/p>\n

Now, the family has decided to return back home to Britain to be close to friends and family and after building a successful business. The Ch\u00e2teau de Memanat and its grounds are now on sale for \u20ac1.35m. Mrs Solomon, 38, says the two treehouses – built in 2017 and 2023 – were always their grand plan, after initially renting a nearby gite and using their ch\u00e2teau as a BNB.<\/p>\n

The castle-themed Castel De L’arbre and Cabanon Perche treehouses can be rented for prices starting at \u20ac245 a night for two people. The family believe their British touch, in contrast to the slightly less accommodating French hospitality, has allowed their business to thrive in the central Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.<\/p>\n

\"AroundAround a decade ago, Natalie and Andrew Solomon decided to sell their rural Shropshire home and swap it for a French ch\u00e2teau<\/p>\n

“It will be a bit of a change, returning home,” mother-of-two Mrs Solomon admitted. “The kids were two and four when we came here, and my parents came as well.<\/p>\n

“It was an adventure: an out-of-our-comfort-zone type situation. We wanted the kids to be bilingual; my daughter was learning English and French at the same time. It was the age-old challenge: how do you work and have kids?<\/p>\n

“But here, that has worked very well for us. We gutted our house in Shropshire, sold it and could buy this ch\u00e2teau with 20 hectares in France. It’s going to be an emotional upheaval for us when we leave – this is where we raised our family.”<\/p>\n

Though they got the lion’s share of the money to buy their ch\u00e2teau for \u20ac800,000 from the sale of their home, the family were also helped in part by Mrs Solomon’s parents. Mrs Solomon explained that, at the start, things were difficult for the family in rural France.<\/p>\n

“If something happens at home, you know who to call,” she said. “But here, it was like, ‘How do you even say ‘plumber’?. We have overcome all of that. The kids have been able to be free and just be kids here.<\/p>\n

“We’ve not just dipped our toes in – we’ve done 10 years here, we’ve built these two treehouses. It’s very rural and spread out here. There’s nobody on the roads and there’s rolling hills and valleys… It’s beautiful.”<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Ch\u00e2teau de Memanat and its grounds are now on sale for \u20ac1.35m<\/p>\n

But despite enjoying their ten-year adventure in France, the family say they’re excited to return to Blighty. Mrs Solomon admits that one thing she is looking forward to is a regular Sunday roast at a local pub.<\/p>\n

“If you turn up somewhere here at like, half one, they would be like: ‘Dream on, kitchen’s closed’. To walk to a pub and get a Sunday roast will be great.<\/p>\n

“It’s a slower pace of life in France. Where we live, we are probably about 30 years behind the UK. I do think there’s more of a community here.<\/p>\n

Where we send our kids to school<\/a> is another big influence (on our move). Here, school runs until 6pm, but the holidays are shorter in the UK.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, the kids are going to be great at French, but when they started school, they didn’t speak French and the teachers didn’t speak English. We are grateful to have had this adventure, but now it’s time for our next adventure.”<\/p>\n

On the success of their hospitality business at Ch\u00e2teau de Memanat, Mrs Solomon concedes that she thinks their British approach to hospitality has won over many families used to less-accommodating French hosts.<\/p>\n

“English hospitality is much better,” she admits. “I try to give everything to the guests: I am the host and you are the guest.<\/p>\n

“French guests say, ‘Thank you for being so accommodating’, but I’m like, ‘That’s my job!’. It gets mentioned all the time in our reviews because the French are probably surprised and not used to it.”<\/p>\n

Mrs Solomon adds that though they’ve made the decision to return home, when they make the move will depend on when Ch\u00e2teau de Memanat sells and, once it does, how long it takes them to find another home.<\/p>\n

On what they are looking for in their new home, she adds that they would love to construct similar luxury treehouses on British shores, but did not rule out a return abroad one day.<\/p>\n

“I could see us retiring abroad,” Mrs Solomon said. “We are going back to England with an open mind. In an ideal world, we would love to do something similar to what we’ve done here in England.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Natalie and Andrew Solomon swapped their UK home for a French ch\u00e2teau 10 years ago – but now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,27978,455],"class_list":{"0":"post-87381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-homes-and-property","12":"tag-real-life"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114477957572625154","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}