British couple give up French dream to return to UK after missing one thing

Natalie and Andrew Solomon, along with their young children and parents, sold their rural Shropshire home around a decade ago to swap it for a French château and 20 hectares of land

A British couple are waving goodbye to their French château life to return to the UK, with dreams of a Sunday roast in a cosy pub firmly in their minds.

About ten years back, Natalie and Andrew Solomon traded their Shropshire countryside abode for an enchanting French château, complete with 20 hectares of sprawling land. The adventurous Solomons, along with their parents and little ones, embarked on this continental journey without a hint of regret.

Once settled, they crafted luxury stays within two bespoke treehouses, each boasting hot tubs and serving up hearty English breakfasts and butter chicken curries, a delightful twist from the usual French fare. Having built a flourishing enterprise, the family is now set to return to Blighty, yearning for the closeness of friends and relatives.

Their beloved Château de Memanat, with its vast estate, has hit the market with a price tag of €1.35m. At 38, Mrs Solomon reflects on their journey, noting that the creation of the two treehouses in 2017 and 2023 was always part of their master plan, following an initial stint renting out a local gite and running their château as a bed and breakfast.

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The whimsically named Castel De L’arbre and Cabanon Perche treehouses, decked out in castle themes, are available for holidaymakers starting at €245 per night for a duo. The Solomons credit their success in France’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine region to their quintessentially British hospitality, which they feel offers a warmer welcome than the traditional French approach.

“It will be a bit of a change, returning home,” the mother-of-two Mrs Solomon confessed, contemplating the shift back to British shores. The kids were two and four when we came here, and my parents came as well. 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? But here, that has worked very well for us. We gutted our house in Shropshire, sold it and could buy this château 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.”

Though they got the lion’s share of the money to buy their château for €800,000 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.

“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.

“We’ve not just dipped our toes in – we’ve done ten 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.”

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’s looking forward to is a regular Sunday roast at a local pub.

Mrs Solomon noted: “If you turn up somewhere here at half one, they would be like: ‘Dream on, kitchen’s closed’.”

Mrs Solomon is looking forward to experiencing British culture once more, saying: “To walk to a pub and get a Sunday roast will be great.”

Mrs Solomon described life in France as “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. Where we send our kids to school is another big influence [on our move].

“Here, school runs until 6pm, but the holidays are shorter in the UK. 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.”

Mrs Solomon concedes that she thinks their British approach to hospitality has won over many families used to less-accommodating French hosts. Mrs Solomon admits: “English hospitality is much better. I try to give everything to the guests: I am the host and you are the guest. French guests say, ‘Thank you for being so accommodating’, but I’m like, ‘That’s my job!’.”

Mrs Solomon adds that though they’ve made the decision to return home, when they make the move will depend on when Château de Memanat sells and, once it does, how long it takes them to find another home. Discussing their hopes for a new home, she notes they are keen to build luxury treehouses like the ones they’ve experienced, this time in the UK.