Real Life: From Texas to Brittany

What brought a Texan couple to France to run a B&B? Annaliza Davis discovers the unique path that led Mike and Valerie Smith via Mexico and Moscow to the Côtes d’Armor…

In the very heart of Brittany, almost where the Côtes d’Armor meets Morbihan, you’ll find Rostrenen, and 10km south of that is the village of Mellionnec. This is a secluded spot surrounded by greenery, an unlikely setting in which to meet two born-and- bred Texans, yet here they are, in a 17th-century manor at the end of a long country lane.

Valerie (62) grew up in Austin, Texas, and in 1981 she met Mike (64) during his last year studying finance and accounting. “It was one of those wild, meant-to-be things,” says Mike. “Right before my last semester of university, I decided to go to church, but I didn’t know where the nearest one was. This was in the days before the internet, so I pulled out a phone book and looked for a church on a highway that I could find easily. I went to the church and that was where I first saw Valerie; it was love at first sight across the pews!”

“Eight months after we met, we were married,” adds Valerie, “and it’s been 41 years now.”

They both felt a great deal of synchronicity from the start, and one moment that stays with them was attending a live-music event in San Antonio that happened to include a presentation about people living in poverty on the rubbish slopes of Egypt. “We looked at each other and decided, you know what, we really want to do this,” remembers Mike. “So after getting married, we found a similar group that was looking for helpers and off we went to southern Mexico, working as missionaries in fishing villages that had no electricity.”

“At the time we moved there, we took our five-week-old son, and our second son was born there. Our parents were not very impressed about that but at least we lived in a house that had electricity!

“After four years, we were invited to come over to France to do missionary work in Bordeaux, which we did for another four years, and our daughter was then born in France. This would have been 1988 to 1992. It was so cool being in Europe at that time, and we just knew that France was where we wanted to be. It was like a hand fitting a glove, we felt totally at home.”

However, after four years in Bordeaux, the Smiths no longer had the work permits to stay in France, so they had to look elsewhere. “Then an invitation came up to go to Russia as part of an outreach programme after the Soviet Union collapsed,” explains Valerie, “so we moved to Moscow. I had to homeschool the kids during that time, they adapted well, and it was an adventure, that’s for sure!”

The family spent nine months in Moscow before moving back to Texas in September 1993, living with Mike’s parents for a while as they considered their next move. Mike got a job at a bank and started studying for his MBA at night, which he completed in June 1996.

“We still wanted to get back to France,” he says, “and a lot of companies in nearby Houston were French and lots of French nationals worked there, so I had a plan in mind to get a job with one of those and get relocated back to France. In the meantime though, I had my job at the bank and I joined French networks and social groups.”

A local woman, Susan Flippen, had an ongoing connection with a French teacher called Ghislaine and the two women organised annual exchanges with students from Alençon in Normandy. Mike and Valerie agreed to host some of the French students, and over the years got to know Susan and her husband very well.

In one of life’s curious turns, the now-retired Ghislaine came to visit Susan in 2001 and explained how she was moving from Alençon to Mellionnec, as her son had recently become an organic farmer there.

Susan mentioned that she’d always longed to buy a property in France, although she had visualised Paris or Provence rather than rural Normandy. However, her interest was piqued when she heard that Manoir du Poul had just come onto the market: a 17th-century manor house that was set in 37 acres of woodland.
Once again, the church was the setting for a significant conversation. After a service one day, Mike was chatting with Susan about his dreams of returning to France; he had no idea about Susan’s recent
conversations concerning the manor, but she invited Mike and Valerie to lunch to talk through her ideas.

After a long discussion, she made an offer that the couple couldn’t resist: “If you live in it, we’ll buy it”.

Eventually, after nine long years of trying to find a way to make it happen, Mike and Valerie finally returned to live in France in 2001.

“The manoir needed quite a lot of redecorating,” explains Mike, “and Susan used to come over with her husband to spend time here and do a lot of the interior work. Back in the 1960s and 70s, the manor was owned by the Breton singer-songwriter Glenmor. One of the outbuildings had been his studio, and he was one of the key figures in reviving the interest in Breton culture. He and his wife had decorated everything in a colourful hippy style throughout and that hadn’t been changed, so there was quite a lot to do!”

The Smiths planned to run a bed-and-breakfast business as their part of the agreement to live in the manor. The first five years were spent setting up, hosting friends and family of the owners. Mike also contacted Gîtes de France, which at the time was looking for a four-star B&B in central Brittany. Its people came out for a visit and gave the couple a list of exactly what they needed to do in order to gain the rating. Setting up the business in such a way as to generate their own income, Mike and Valerie were able to stay long-term in France.

“We opened in May 2007, offering bed, breakfast and evening meals with a three- bedroom suite and a one- bedroom suite. It’s strange different every day and I just love that about working here.”

The couple hold a particular place in their hearts for pastors and missionaries who come to use the manor as a restorative retreat. “Having worked as missionaries ourselves, we know what it’s like, often living in wild places and doing outreach work that can be utterly exhausting,” explains Valerie. “Here it’s quiet and green, with plenty of space to chill out. Susan is very happy to know that so many people can benefit from her home, and it’s open to people from any mission agency and any country.”

When the couple started out, there were seven bed-and-breakfast establishments nearby, but now there’s only an auberge, so as other B&B owners have retired and closed, the manor has become more and more busy. Guests include Americans, Canadians, Australians and Brits as well as French cyclists following the many canalside and country routes, and couples drawn by the mystery and myths that abound in central Brittany.

“The French language is certainly a challenge,” smiles Mike, “and during our life in Bordeaux, it was a huge learning curve! I’d already studied French at college, but when you live in a country it’s very different. Valerie joined a local art group, which helped with socialising as well as the language. Our teacher friend, Ghislaine, was playing in a local fanfare band and she persuaded me to join after six months here. They found out I used to work in finance and nominated me as treasurer! Being in that group really helped me to get integrated and learn the Breton culture, even though I still need a dictionary to read their emails!

“I really appreciate the slower pace of life in Brittany. It’s not all about making money – taking time out is part of the culture, you don’t feel guilty if you take time for a holiday like you would in America. A carte vitale is a huge luxury, too, because in America, healthcare is so expensive you can end up having to remortgage your house or sell your car.”

The couple’s three children still live in various parts of Texas, along with grandchildren aged between four and eight. Although Mike and Valerie usually visit in January and February, this winter they decided to close up and stay in Brittany so Valerie could have time to rest and paint.

“It’s getting harder as we get older,” she says, “and physically we can’t do this work forever. I guess we’ll do another four years, that would bring us to a nice round 25 years. As much as we have loved our life in France, when we retire, we’ll want to be nearer to our grandkids, especially before they grow up too much more.”

“It will be sad to leave, though, because we love being here,” adds Mike, “and we’re not really American any more, we’ve been away for so long. Maybe the best solution is just to get all our kids and grandkids to move to France!”

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