Gironde: Where The Heart Is

Having lived in Gironde for some 40 years, American expat Carol de Montrichard Dalléas enjoys everything that life in France offers, as Stephanie Sheldrake finds out.

- Stephanie Sheldrake

For American-born Carol de Montrichard Dalléas, France has been her home for some 50 years since she arrived in Paris to study back in 1967. It was love that made the move permanent when she met and married a Frenchman. The couple decided to move to Gironde, to the famous wine-making area known as Entre-Deux-Mers, situated between the Garonne and Dordogne rivers.

“Entre-Deux-Mers is between Paris where we lived, and the Basque country where we were planning to finally settle to be near our children’s grandparents. However, we wanted to make sure we could live outside of Paris where my husband had grown up and so decided to try the countryside near a big city, and the choice was between Bordeaux and Toulouse,” explains Carol.

“Bordeaux won as it is near the ocean – we live about 30km to the east of Bordeaux,” says Carol, who admits that these days she doesn’t go to the coast very often as country living takes up most of her time. “It’s nice to know it’s there and we can get there within an hour.”

Tragically, Carol lost her husband at the age of 37, and with two young children, she decided to start a B&B business from her home to complement her work as an artists’ agent. “At the time I think I was one of two B&Bs in all of Aquitaine,” remembers Carol, who started the B&B known as ‘La Forge’ in 1985.

Now, 30 years later, Carol is married to Bruno, from Bordeaux, and has retired from her work as an artists’ agent, but continues to host guests in the B&B as well as running additional activities through her network of local chefs, winemakers, gardeners and artists.