Thousands of people every month watch the YouTube channel ‘Growing in France’ to see the latest chapter in a French renovation of a house that has sat empty for 50 years in rural French countryside. Jack and Becs readily admit that their approach to the work is broadly one of optimistic spontaneity, but that’s the charm that keeps everyone watching and willing them to succeed. After all, moving to a foreign country to renovate an old house takes belief and determination; to do so while living on site, keeping up a career and raising three young children, is on another level entirely!
Falling in love with a French house
Back in 2019, the couple sold their home in New Zealand to start a new life in the Charente, without even knowing where they would live. They found their future home within a few weeks of arriving, and despite falling in love with it immediately, the 1880s Maison de Maître was barely habitable, and the price was more than their entire budget. After nearly four years they could finally make a start on the major renovations, which they have been documenting on video every step of the way and sharing online.
“Having moved from Zimbabwe to New Zealand at the age of ten, then moving around a lot, I never really felt I had my own community,” explains Rebecca. “During Covid, I built up an online community through Instagram and many of those connections have become face-to-face friends. YouTube is another platform that allows you to connect to other like-minded people, regardless of where they’re based. If someone’s watching our videos, they automatically have a common interest or they’re living through the same experiences, and I love that.”
Having started their YouTube channel late in 2023, the couple quickly hit thousands of views as people all over the world started to follow their progress. One of the aspects that their viewers appreciate most is that Jack and Rebecca tend to keep a positive attitude, even when things don’t go to plan. And they often don’t!
“I’m definitely not an expert on renovation,” laughs Jack, “I work in IT as a Product Education Consultant, I’m absolutely not a professional builder. The only reason I can do any of this is because Becs tells me that I can and she believes in me.”
“Well, sure,” Rebecca agrees, “but you always get it done, you always find a solution. So it’s true!”
Even AI plays a role
One unusual aspect to the renovation has been their use of AI (artificial intelligence) to help them plan and prioritise the tasks.
“Initially, we tried using AI to help us design a living space,” says Rebecca, “which was fun but it wasn’t practical at all, because it never seemed to give us results that we could use. It was much better for making lists, though. Jack’s really good when you give him a list, he needs direction.”
“That’s true, it was so useful,” agrees Jack. “Faced with a project as big as this, it can be overwhelming and you get like a decision paralysis and don’t know where to start. So I went onto ChatGPT and tried different prompts, like ‘what are the steps to follow for replacing a staircase’ and the lists you get are brilliant. There’s a particular sequence you have to go through and those tasks were in a logical order that made a lot of sense. It can also be really useful to get the right terminology, you can ask ‘what is the metal strip called that you stick on the edge of a carpet?’ Then you at least know what you’re looking for.”
Having already tackled exploding plumbing, installing lintels and floors, the couple continue to make progress renovating the house, although the rate of progress very much depends on the funds available.
“We haven’t taken out loans,” explains Rebecca, “so the work we can do is dependent on what comes in. If the money is there we spend it. It comes in and then it goes straight out!”
Balancing work and family
“Jack works online and needs internet access, but when we first moved here, it took months to organise WiFi at the house,” recalls Rebecca. “In the meantime, I had to drop him off at the local fast-food outlet every day so he could use their WiFi. For quite a while, the kids thought Daddy worked at Burger King – which he did, in a way!”
Jack continues to work remotely in his IT role and Rebecca is a freelance wedding photographer, but between their two careers, tackling renovations and running the YouTube channel, they are also bringing up their children: Vincent (8), Aurelia (7) and Elysienne (2) who was born after their move to the Charente. The two elder children are now at school, and their parents are absolutely delighted with how they’re settling in.
“The village school is four minutes away,” says Jack, “and we’re really lucky because the directrice is a saint, one of the best women we know, honestly. They made us feel so welcome and made us feel that everything would be fine even though our French was pretty basic. We only speak English at home, because we didn’t want to pass on our accents or grammar mistakes, but the kids flick between languages so easily it’s insane!”
As for balancing their various priorities, they say that you simply have to make it work.
“We really make an effort to balance everything,” says Rebecca, “so Sundays are completely off for both of us, we make a point of spending time together and doing family things. Also, whether Jack is working or renovating, he’s still around the house, so it feels like we’re all hanging out together.”
“I try to keep the video editing to the evenings when the kids are asleep,” says Jack. “They do sometimes get involved when I’m working on the house, or they’re outside at the same time, so it never feels like we’re separated. And as for ‘couple time’, you know, we have three young kids, so there’s very little couple time! We don’t have any relatives living nearby, but when they come for a visit, we do make the most of it and accept their babysitting offers!”
Looking ahead
Jack and Rebecca are clearly still besotted with the Charente and have no regrets about moving here.
“In hindsight, I’ve realised that emigrating was a big deal,” Rebecca admits, “but France immediately felt like I belonged here. Plus, it has much better weather than New Zealand, so much more sunshine.”
So far, the pair have only worked on the longère that they live in, and have yet to start on the main house itself, which has been empty for half a century.
“When I first saw the house, I said out loud, that’s it, that’s our house,” says Rebecca, “and then I had a look around and thought, okay, bye dreams, I’m out! But you talked me into it, you said ‘we can do this’, so really it’s your fault, Jack.…”
“You know, my attitude is you never lose; you either win or you learn something. Win or learn, every time,” concludes Jack.
And it’s this type of determined optimism – often against the odds – that makes their videos so compelling. We’ll just have to wait to see what they do next!
Find Jack and Becs on Youtube at: youtube.com/@growinginfrance
