Throughout 2020, Charlotte Reiss, who I had the pleasure of interviewing back in August of 2018 about her French houseware brand Vivi et Margot, brought us in the chateaux and homes of inspiring women all around France. Through her Instagram lives we were able to get an inside look at the daily lives of women who have been living their most authentic life in France and looking forward to when they could once again open their homes to guests from around the world.
In this interview Charlotte shares about when she first decided that she wanted to make the move back to France permanently, the trip she made with her family last year between lockdowns in France, and what’s next for Vivi et Margot.
After spending most of 2020 in lockdown, you were finally able to return to your lovely cottage in France for a visit last year. How did it feel seeing your home again after being away for so long?
Emotional, but in a good way. It was a conflicting decision to travel at that time and we consulted with many people and the embassy multiple times had all the correct paperwork and COVID tests done and we knew we had no problem quarantining for 2 weeks there, but I was apprehensive about flying and travel in general. Although it may have looked like a vacation the point of the trip was to start the process of our paperwork (before Brexit) , start the process of meeting our French realtor and visiting villages and towns in the south in person to see for myself if they were true contenders for where we will buy our new house in France.
One thing that’s always remarkable about opening the shutters back up on the house is seeing the garden bloom. It really does do well without much maintenance but I love seeing the wisteria grow thicker and longer, the ivy creeping up more walls, the fading patina on the shutters, it’s such a happy house.
During the lockdown you interviewed so many inspiring women who call France home, from Jules of Restore the Chateau to Jane of Chateau Bosquet. Tell me about the day that you realized you wanted to live in France full time.
We always planned to move to France permanently when we bought the house, we just thought it would be in retirement when our daughters had flown the nest! Never did we or could have predicted Brexit back then (I held an EU / British passport as did my children) or a pandemic. We moved from Los Angeles to South Carolina a few weeks before the pandemic hit into a beautiful new house we had spent 2 years building.
However after a couple of months of lockdown I just broke down and had a very truthful conversation with my husband that we were pretending to be happy staying in USA and why wait another 15 years to move to France? If it’s what we both wanted we should do it now and start living the life we really wanted. Thankfully we are on the same page.
The Instagram lives were almost a coincidence of others who had moved to France, it was organic and not calculated interviews. Many barely had a presence on social media but I followed them and just thought how great to share their story with others.
You plan on doing in-person ‘Live’ chats via Instagram when you visit the chateaus of the women you had a chance to get to know via Instagram. What did you look forward to the most about meeting the women you’ve brought into all of our lives in person.
Nearly all these in person visits will have to wait until I move and the pandemic end is in sight. There were many conversations and attempts to meet but we all wanted to be conscious of COVID safety and also timing. I met with Erin from Chateau de Bourneau after we completed quarantine as she lives 25 mins from me (who knew?!) in Provence we stayed at Maison de Lescargot as she one of my oldest friends in life and briefly met Jamie Beck for lunch which was a lovely moment.
Jane Webster was a regular on my lives and we became close, so a month after being in France we drove the 5 hours to her Chateau and stayed for 2 days. It was my first time staying in a chateau and I wanted to be able to share with my followers the chateau life experience that is her business, my way of giving back to her.
For many of the people I interviewed, their homes and chateaus are their livelihood, their business and the pandemic brought their business to a complete standstill as obviously no guests could stay and a travel ban was set in place. I want to remind people of all these beautiful places to visit this year or next and to support the wonderful bnb hotels.
When you recently returned to visit France, you took a road trip through the Provence region, staying at beautiful places including Le Mas de la Rose. What did you enjoy the most about your travels through the Provence region and how has it inspired you as you continue to live your best life?
Well I love a good road trip and because we have been traveling so much with the girls since birth they are excellent back seat travelers! They are very good adjusting to change and going with the flow as long as I keep a nightly routine the same. Le Mas de la Rose are very kind to us always (hopefully because my children are well behaved!)
We were really able to travel to many villages I had wanted to go to and every day was a pinch me moment that this will very soon be our everyday vista. It goes without saying that to live in France full time makes sense for my business (www.VivietMargot.com) and I get more inspired more motivated than ever.
I loved watching your time in St. Remy where you visited the local market. What is the best part about the experience of a French market, and what were some of your favorite finds from the day?
As a French local, the weekly market St. Remy is actually a bit “cheesy” as it’s so touristy BUT not to me, I love it! I don’t think I’ll ever tire of a visit. I admit there’s some tat sold there but I enjoy the bustle, the smells and picking up bits and pieces. There’s many other markets I do prefer but the St Remy one is a bit iconic and I wanted to share with everyone.
Going on picnics has been a long time passion of ours, and we were absolutely enchanted by the picnic basket you put together from the patisserie Eugenie and Grand Hotel Henri. Tell me about the pastries you choose and how you selected the perfect spot to enjoy your picnic.
The Hotel Henri saw I was in France and invited us to come and stay. They asked us if we would like a dinner in their 5 star restaurant and the reality is as all mums know it’s such a terrible waste of an experience and food with small children and I didn’t want to insult the chef! So I saw on their website they offer a picnic so I asked if we could do that.
I was expecting a couple of simple yummy ham and cheese baguettes and couldn’t believe my eyes when they brought the picnic to us. The patisserie of the hotel let us choose desserts too. It was utterly exquisite! I recommend anyone staying at the hotel to order the day picnic!
We were on our way to Luberon to visit Rousillon and Bonnieux as possible places to buy a house and stopped at a small grassy area with a bridge to enjoy our picnic. It’s called Pont Julien and is a landmark.
During your travels through Provence what were some of the towns that are the top contenders for your ‘forever’ home?
I’m keeping that under wraps for now! I have had such an outpouring of support that I want to bring everyone along the way in the process.
What are some of the ways your life has changed and continues to as you explore this next chapter in your life?
I think I speak for my husband too when I say we feel proud that we communicate so well and we’re able to admit the mistake in thinking we could wait 10-15 years before retiring to France. I feel liberated, I feel the real me is coming out. It’s hard financially as we took a huge hit selling our brand new house but we have zero regrets and although life is chaotic now packing up our lives I can say now truthfully I am living the life I always wanted to and there shall be no ‘what if’s’. I feel fearless and strong.
As a mum of two, what do you look forward to the most about raising your girls in the French countryside?
Getting rid of their damn iPads Lol! In all seriousness my children have travelled so many times to France and spent a lot of time in Paris. I think they see me and how I don’t bring heels and fancy things so to speak and they emulate me in a way.
They share a bedroom there which I love and they do too. They engage more at mealtimes and enjoy daily tasks and chores more.
Obviously we are apprehensive about school, but we visited in the summer and met the teachers and are being very very transparent with what’s going on. My eldest knows it will be hard at first but we all know it will be about 5 months and they will be fluent. That is a huge gift to give a child in my opinion.
When you return to France to live full time, what are some of the things you want to do first?
Freshen up some of the rooms in the house like the living room before selling it, spend proper time and research looking for the home and village to move to, and just really dive into Vivi et Margot, find great news products for the shop, work on more collaborations with brands (for the shop) meet more artisans to showcase their work. Vivi et Margot is my everything. It’s allowed me to follow my dreams and life goals and I want to honor my business and myself by living my most authentic life.
I live by the phrase, “Instead of saying to yourself, what if it doesn’t work out? Try saying to yourself, but what if it does?” — Charlotte Reiss
Keep up Charlotte and Vivi et Margot via the website and follow via Instagram @charlottereiss& @vivietmargot
All photos in this post via Charlotte Reiss.
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