Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles

There's no way to lead into this gently... Jane Bertch inspires me! Jane has lived for decades in Paris. She left Chicago until work brought her to Europe in 2000. After not naturally having Paris on her radar, Jane eventually found her way there and almost by accident she started her cooking school. The success of La Cuisine Paris is no accident though! Hard work and determination has got it...

Chiara Benedetto came to live in Paris with an internship in a science field and has now built a life there. Growing up in a simple Italian town, Chiara always felt connected to French culture and language, so it felt a natural progression to head to a Francophone country like Canada, Belgium or France for her work. In this Loulabelle's chat, I was fascinated to hear about Chiara's work,...

Elise McLeod is a film director and acting coach who has called France home for over 30 years. After travelling there as an exchange student in her high school years, Elise made a decision: once she knew what she wanted to do with her life, she was going to return to Paris to live it there! Elise has a film Reclaim the Night in competition this week (on 6 June)  in the St Kilda Film Festival. The...

What a milestone! 200 episodes! And what a great way to celebrate by chatting about the Cannes Film Festival, both this year's event as well as the times Loulabelle has attended with Ruby Boukabou in the past.  Lou and Ruby have had a number of Cannes highlights over the years, walking the red carpet, meeting iconic actors, or just immersing in the Cannes craziness! We chat about the memorabl...

People often say that Paris left a mark on them, even after one visit. Sometimes that mark can be a healing one, especially after the not-so-long-ago Covid years.  Tune into this beautiful chat with artist Kerry Lucas and uncover how she found a way to connect to other creatives like her whilst connecting to the place she loves, Paris and also healing her creative soul within. Come and escape to F...

Katherine Burns loves Paris and shares her love of all things French through her Insta account @rue.dauphine.paris. She chatted for the second time on the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles in this episode, about how she keeps connected to France.  Katherine first found that France was definitely the place for her when she discovered French food and cooking. We chatted about where she likes to visit wh...

Mandy Murphy has chatted with me on the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles previously with her husband Willo Renehan to talk all about her gorgeous home La Maison Trumeau in Saumur in the Loire Valley. Mandy and Willo were inspired by Dick & Angel on Escape to the Château, and made the decision after Brexit to buy property in France, which they are making their permanent home. Mandy introduced me in thi...

Paris is a city that lives in the hearts of people from around the world and has so many movies set there. I've also found loads of movies or shows that use Paris as a backdrop and I love searching as I watch for glimpses of places I've been in the French capital.  If you love Paris and love films, Ruby Boukabou has a new book out The Movie Lover's Guide to Paris , which takes the r...

Elisabeth Perotin is French, having grown up in the Champagne region and still currently living in Reims. Elisabeth is a photographer specialising in travel and food photography, with only French themed pics on her Instagram @frenchglimpses. Tapping into Elisabeth's local knowledge during this chat uncovered a number of places in Paris and France that I'd not heard of, but I am now addin...

Catherine Berry is an author who has chatted on the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast previously (eps 39 & 112) about the life changing decision to move her family to the French village of Annecy for a year when her children were young.  We come back to chat again to Catherine to hear how that stay has made a positive impact of the lives of her whole family, but also about a new experience...

. Donna Guest is the Co-Founder, CEO & Creative Director of fashion house Blue Illusion, which is a French inspired brand bringing fashion, homewares and all sorts of French connections to their customers everywhere. In this chat Loulabelle delves underneath the brand to find the woman and uncover what inspires her and keeps her connected to France. We find out about her fave experiences in Fr...

On 19 October 2025, thieves wearing high-vis work wear, used a stolen furniture removals truck to get into a top floor of the Louvre in Paris, stealing pieces of the French Crown Jewels from the Galerie d'Apollon ('Apollo's Gallery'). The amazingly swift robbery took place at around 9.30am on what seemed to be a regular Sunday morning.   In this podcast chat, hear Loulabelle di...

Canadian author Patricia Sands is so connected to France, through her novels which are most often set there in Provence. Coming out on 15 November, 2025 is her latest book The French Effect, set in Paris with the story heading down to Nice on the Cote d'Azur as well. I loved my "petit papotage" with Patricia about her experiences in France. We chatted whilst she was in Antibes in th...

Pierrick Boyer is a celebrated French pastry chef who has earned the French highest honour of the Chevalier Merite Agricole for his services to France and French culture through his pastry work and he has called Melbourne home for over 20 years. . Paula Nikita has come to call Melbourne home for the last 5 years and is now being mentored by Pierrick to succeed as the inaugural Viennoiserie World C...

Earlier this year I road tripped around France and spent a couple of weeks in Burgundy with friends of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast, Kate and Nathan Veach. Kate and Nathan had a French restaurant in Melbourne prior to making the permanent move to France just after Covid after buying a place on the internet during the Aussie lockdowns. Since that time I have stayed in the cottage they...

I love road tripping in France and I aim to get there and meander the roads less travelled as often as I can! In the April/May of 2025 I took a "vacances" in France for a couple of months and embarked on 3 separate road trips with separate groups or individual friends.  . Author Katherine Watt and I became great friends after she was interviewed on the Loulabelle's podcast a number...

Eva Bonnet knew from a very early age growing up in France, that Australia was going to be a very special place for her! Eva didn't plan to come to Australia directly, but as she says, "life brought her here". Eva chatted to me about how she ended up living a French life in Melbourne. Since making the permanent move down under, Eva has found love, had a cancer diagnosis and beaten i...

Harriet Churchill and her husband Henry are originally from England, but spent many years living in Australia based in Melbourne originally, working in the area of sustainability, but eventually moved to regional Victoria right near me! I first heard of their story and their vineyard in the Macedon Ranges Zig Zag wines , when I was hanging out with other locals around the fire during happy hour at...

Italian born Vittoria Busetti had a dream for many years of moving to Paris, so she worked a way around the obstacles in her path, packed up her Milan apartment a few years ago and took the leap to her new Parisian life! Moving all alone to a new city with a new job is not without its challenges, so after navigating through loads of situations where she struggled to find helpful info, Vittoria put...

Alexandra Ganipeau runs the French Language school in Melbourne "The French Hack". She has connected people in Australia to France over many years, through organising cafe catch ups as well teaching French to people of all ages. Recently I chatted to her about how she is now connecting people to France with a weekly dose of Frenchy vibes via her Weekly French Bites. Over 52 weeks Francop...

Recently I travelled for a couple of months in France, road tripping from the top of the country in Normandy to the bottom at the Côte d'Azur and towards the end of my stay I enjoyed a most marvellous visit with Caroline Riddell-Clark at her Villa Florente in Menton on the Italian border. Caroline has stayed in France each year for many years, spending much of that time in Menton staying with...

I am currently in France and have been road-tripping all over the place, but more on that in upcoming episodes... . At the moment I have connected with friend to the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast Ruby Boukabou and in this episode we discussed some observations from this particular Cannes Film Festival. We had tickets for the opening night red carpet event and we were in the room for the op...

Kent Tisher is a Palliative Care Doctor in Toronto Canada who loves to unwind and shed the stress of life by traveling in France. I first chatted to Kent back in April 2023 about his love of French vacations and it was fabulous to chat again as he arrived home in Canada on the same day that I arrived in Paris! . Kent came to France this time for only 10 days. He caught the TGV direct from CDG down...

This episode is coming to you from Paris! Ouuuuiiiii! I have escaped Melbourne and headed to my happy place, but before my departure last week I chatted to my dear friend, author, performer, tap dancer and long time Cannes Film Festival journalist Ruby Boukabou. 2025 is the 78th festival in Cannes where Ruby and I will meet up, but even though this is my second time attending the festival, I neede...

I am about to return to Burgundy for my third visit there and I can't wait! The region is wonderful to immerse in with wonderful food, scenery and amazing wines! On my last time in Dijon I met the wonderful Emeline Pin whose business Vino Dilectio runs tasting workshops showcasing the various wines of her region. I attended a cheese and wine pairing workshop and I loved every minute of it. Em...