My Seine-Maritime - A Local's View

In 2003 Lynn and Duncan Birtles moved from Kent to a small village in Seine-Maritime where they run a B&B in a former watermill. Lynn gives the low-down on the department she and her husband call home.

What were you doing before you moved to France and what prompted you to make the move?

We lived near Tonbridge in Kent. Duncan was a vehicle inspector and I worked for the University of Kent as an executive officer. While working for the university, I spent five years studying part-time for a degree in French. After I graduated I did some teaching for the adult education service and the university.

What attracted you to Seine-Maritime – did you know the area well?

In 1984 the university organised a trip to visit three gardens in Upper Normandy (Giverny, Bois des Moutiers and Le Vasterival) and this was my first introduction to this beautiful area and its wonderful gardens.

Being Francophiles, we had considered the idea of a holiday home in France and started looking around. Meanwhile, I was asked by a colleague to assist her with a day school on Normandy. Needing material and photos to illustrate my lectures, we came to Normandy and discovered more. We loved the peaceful green countryside and rolling hills. It also had the advantage of being easy to reach for weekends and short stays. We therefore decided to focus our search on this area.

What attracted you to the watermill?

I have always had a hankering to live near water, be it the sea, a lake or a river, and it was thus that we found our watermill, in the small village of Ste-Beuve-en-Rivière. Initially we went to view it out of curiosity, rather than with a serious intent, as it seemed too large for a holiday home. But once here, we rapidly fell in love with the mill and its idyllic location; and also saw its enormous potential.