I am a writer and Francophile with one foot in France and one foot in the UK.

In 2012 I set up The Good Life France website to keep in touch with family and friends from France, but it rapidly became a website for everyone. From less than 500 visitors in its first month to 60,000 in six months and now reaching more than 1.5 million people each month. It is a dream come true and my dream job. I write about the wonderful places I visit in France and share my insider knowledge and secret places. I work with tourist offices and PR companies throughout France to make sure I know what’s new and what’s great so I can share it. I also work with companies and brands from all over the world to connect great products and services with my readers and followers. I only work with companies I know and trust and am happy to endorse. And I say no to more enquiries to feature companies than I say yes. I’m adamant that The Good Life France retains it’s integrity and authenticity.

I’ve written four best-selling books: My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream,  My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France all available as ebook, print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online. And How to be French, a hard back book that’s perfect for coffee tables!

I love Facebook and social media and you’ll find me every day on our Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram where I interact with an engaged following of +400,000.

I launched The Good Life France Magazine in November 2015 – it enables me to publish longer features in more detail and with wonderful photographs. It’s completely free to read online and has grown over the years into a glossy publication which now reaches more than 2 million readers per issue. I’m a member of the British Society of Magazine Editors, The British Guild of Travel Writers and the International Travel Writers Alliance.

And I’m a podcaster! The Good Life France podcast was launched in September 2022.

Good Life France Advertising and Media Pack

Want to know more about me? Here are 20 secrets!

1. I have had a home in France for 20 years and I’ve been renovating it for 14 years and still not finished!

2. I used to sing in a band in London. They had a hit song after I left!

3. I love French cakes as you may know if you follow me on Facebook where I share a ton of photos! I go into almost every boulangerie and patisserie I see in France and take a photo, much to the amusement of the people who work there.

4. I adore French monuments and chateaux and I write a lot about them! I once climbed the wall of the Roman theatre in Orange to stand with the statue of the Emperor at the top – I was invited, I’m not a vandal!

5. I have 4 dogs and 6 cats and my vet has made me promise to stop taking in stray animals.

6. Cheese is my weakness. I won the 2014 ABTOF (Association of British Tourist Operators to France) Award for best French online article for my story of my local cheese producer, AKA The Goat Lady.

7. I have 4 ducks, 2 geese and 27 chickens who are mostly so old they don’t lay eggs but they’re happy.

8. My great grandma was an Italian trapeze artist – I have no circus skills whatsoever, though I love to dance (I have always wanted to be a professional disco dancer).

9. My favourite region of France? Impossible but I adore Nord-Pas de Calais where I have a home in the stunning and off the beaten track Seven Valleys. I also love Paris and won the French Media Awards Best Social Media feature 2016 for my article about where to kiss in Paris! Pretty much everywhere I go, that’s my new favourite place in France. I phone my husband and I say “if we were ever to move, I’d definitely like to live here.”

10. I wanted to be a writer from the age of 3, but life got in the way, mortgage and bills to pay, so writing came later in life to me.

11. I first visited France when I was 14 and on a school exchange visit and I completely fell in love with tarte tatin and the French way of life.

12. I like to grow vegetables and once grew a pumpkin that was nearly as big as me.

13. I could not cook when I came to France. My French friends used to say “you are Flop Chef notTop Chef” – but I’ve got a lot better thanks to patient neighbours and friends insisting I learn.

14. My favourite French historic character is… I can’t do it, I can’t pick just one. If you asked me who I’d like to meet if I could go back in time – I’d say King Louis XIX, Napoleon, Queen Marie-Antoinette, Claude Monet, Renoir, Victor Hugo… I’d have a big list and then I’d just have to do ip dip, your it.

15. My favourite French drink is Champagne.

16. I used to work in McDonalds in London in my school holidays! Little known fact – there are more McDo’s at the French call them, in France, than anywhere in the world except the US.

17. I was born in London, Bermondsey which is about as inner city as it is possible to get (it wasn’t yuppified thenI), and a complete contrast to my rural French life now and I pinch myself daily at how lucky I am to be here.

18. I hate flying. As a freelance travel writer this is usually a bad thing but as I only write about France, I go everywhere by train and I love train travel.

19. I love writing – okay, that’s probably not a secret! I am currently working on a new magazine idea for holiday makers, and separately those who want to live in France – that is a secret.

20. I am also writing a novel, a romance set in France of course! And you’re the first to know!

Want to know more, listen to my first podcast when I talk about life in France.

The post About Janine Marsh appeared first on The Good Life France.

All of our writers have one thing in common: they are Francophiles and write to entertain, inform and sometimes – to surprise!

Editorial Team:

Janine Marsh is editor of The Good Life France website and The Good Life France Magazine. She lives in the north of France with an assortment of animals who do their best to disturb her while she is trying to work. She is the author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream and My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the  Good Life. She’s an award winning member of the British Guild of Travel Writers who spends most of her time exploring France from one end to the other.

Lucy Pitts is Deputy Editor of The Good Life France magazine. She was a barrister in London who chucked in the legal towel for a better quality of life. A brilliant copywriter, intrepid traveller and instinctive adventurer who can, and has driven, a busload of journalists over a narrow bridge in the middle of nowhere France when no one else would. She lives in the UK and spends as much time as possible at her holiday home in the Vendée.

Our Regular writers & photographers

Gillian Thornton is an award-winning travel writer and member of the British Guild of Travel Writers, specialising in French destinations and lifestyle. Her favourite place? ‘Usually where I have just been!’

Ally Mitchell is a blogger and freelance writer, specialising in food and recipes. Ally left the UK to live in Toulouse in 2021 and now writes about her new life in France on her food blog NigellaEatsEverything.

Jeremy Flint is an award-winning professional photographer and writer specialising in travel, landscape and location photography. Published in multiple publications, his awards include Association of Photographers Discovery Award Winner, National Geographic Traveller Grand Prize Winner, and five-times finalist Travel Photographer of the Year.

Barbara Pasquet James is a U.S. lifestyle editor, speaker, and urban explorer who writes about food fashion and culture, from Paris. She is known for helping launch, write and edit USA Today’s City Guide To Paris and can be contacted via her photo blog FocusOnParis.com

Michael Cranmer is an award-winning freelance travel writer and photographer. He spends most of the winter up mountains writing about, his primary passion – skiing – but also manages to sample less strenuous outings!

Rupert Parker is a writer, photographer, cameraman & TV Producer. His special interests are food & travel & he writes about everything from wilderness adventure to gourmet spa tours. His articles appear not only in national newspapers & magazines, but also on global websites & appeal to young & old alike. Read about his latest adventures on his website Planet Appetite & follow him on Twitter @planetappetite.

Keith van Sickle splits his time between Silicon Valley and Provence and is a writer: One Sip at a Time: Learning to Live in Provence and Are We French Yet? Keith & Val’s Adventures in Provence.

Marianne Furnes is a photographer who lives in Kristiansand, Norway where she works as a patient coordinator at a Childrens Hospital. Her stunning photos can be found on her Instagram page My French Map

Kit Smyth is a retired chef with a passion for French cuisine. Originally from Australia, Kit is dedicated to exploring both old and new ingredients, techniques and styles, and developing recipes for home cooks, she also teaches these recipes online and in-person. Find out more at her website: TheBiteLine

Melissa Barndon lives in an old woodshed in the Yvelines department, Ile de France, with her French husband and two children. Her blog MadameMelissande.com is about the delights of French history.

We also have lots of guest writers as well as sponsored posts that we endorse because we feel the content is informative, helpful or entertaining for our readers.

We love to have guest posts about France and if you are interested in writing for us please drop us a line at editor(at)thegoodlifefrance.com

The post The Good Life France Writers appeared first on The Good Life France.