About Us
Our Story
Well presented mature guy (G.S.O.H.) seeks well travelled lady with interests in the finer things in life.
OK, it didn't really start like that.
We met at a jazz bar in WA and soon were discussing our common appreciation of travelling the world, trying the local foods and wines, immersing ourselves in the cultures of places visited. Our love of old buildings, historic places and various design styles throughout the ages.
Ian has always had a love of all things French having spent a lot of time from an early age visiting and working in France. The seeds of part-time living in France were sown by watching broadcasts together of the Tour de France with all it's coverage of the beautiful countryside, magnificent buildings and sleepy little villages nestled along the many rivers in the forested valleys throughout France.
We searched for three summers to find the area that suited us best. Our priorities were somewhere off the tourist routes, somewhere rural and still authentic French. We finally settled on Aubusson in the Cruese region of central France as the town we liked best. Next we had to decide on the house. After viewing many properties without finding one that grabbed us Nathalie, our lovely estate agent, said “I have one that has just come on the market but I'm sure it won't meet your requirements”. As soon as we saw it we fell in love with it and made a “reasonable offer” which to our surprise was accepted.
Until recently, we have been able to spend summers in France and summers in New Zealand with a little adventure to interesting places and cultures on the way there and back.
It was whilst finding all those things necessary to equip our house in Aubusson that we came across so many beautiful pieces of furniture, crockery, linen and tableware. All our purchases were from the individual families who had owned them. We spent many an afternoon in pleasant company listening to the stories of the previous generations who had passed them down complete with the stories attached to them and how they arrived in the family.
It was listening to these anecdotes that decided we should bring some back to New Zealand to share the treasures we found with these little snippets of history to pass on to new generations.
That's how the first shipment arrived.
