How often have you watched programmes about someone moving to France? Wouldn’t you love to know how they got on – not a fifteen-minute follow-up, but an honest look at whether the reality lived up to their dream?
Rebecca and Jack Jenkins have become YouTube stars because they do exactly that: they show you all the ups and downs of their house renovation in France and you can’t help being drawn into their story, because they’re so open about the whole process. There’s an unapologetic honesty in their videos that makes you feel as if you’re watching friends so you’re willing them to do well. But how did it all start?
Starting in New Zealand
The couple met in 2012 in New Zealand, where Jack had grown up, and where Rebecca had lived since the age of ten. In 2016, Rebecca took a trip that would change everything. Her parents had settled in the Charente, so she flew over to visit despite expecting a baby and bringing her toddler. She felt an incredible sense of belonging and couldn’t wait to bring Jack. The following year, the couple brought their two young children to spend five months in a tiny gîte, working remotely and exploring the region.
“Looking back, it was a big decision to make on minimal sleep, but everything is so relaxed here,” says Jack. “If someone stops the car in the middle of the road to chat to a neighbour, no-one hoots or shouts, and kids are treated like royalty, they’re always welcome. We knew this was where we wanted to bring up our family.”
Finding the house
In 2019, Jack and Rebecca sold everything and came to France. By that time, Rebecca’s parents had moved to the UK to help a relative, so the family were left to house-hunt alone.
They found their home accidentally on a country walk, and the decision was made instantly.
“It was an 1880s Maison de Maître with outbuildings that had been roughly renovated in previous decades but had birds nesting everywhere,” admits Rebecca. “It was also €40,000 over our budget, but it just felt like ‘the one’. We negotiated and arranged to pay the owner an extra €1,000 per month for twenty months. So we managed to buy the property, but had no money to do it up.”
The reality of renovating
“People often ask why we waited four years before starting the renovation,” says Jack. “The truth is, we couldn’t do any major work until we’d finished paying for the property!”
They made the longère habitable, then Rebecca dealt with all the administrative aspects of their life in France and set up their businesses so Jack could continue IT consulting, while she grew her wedding photography business. Meanwhile, they started uncovering the house’s original features, but the catalyst for the major work was the toilet.
“I was on a work call and heard screaming,” recalls Jack, “so I ran to the bathroom to find that the old macerating toilet had exploded, splattering everything including Rebecca. There was a cartoon-style outline on the wall behind her. It was not pretty!”
Even worse, when Rebecca went to wash her clothes after the incident, they discovered that there was only one waste pipe out of the house, meaning that the washing machine then also exploded in the kitchen.
“We maybe should have given up at that point,” says Rebecca, “but all our money was in the house, we had no choice but to see it through.”
Thankfully, the house is now on mains drainage and that incident is just one example of their upbeat approach to situations that would have most of us running for the hills.
Accidental YouTube stars
“We’re pretty sociable and we’ve always loved sharing what we’re up to, so putting some videos online seemed logical,” says Jack. “Besides, I’m a wannabe film-maker, so it became a hobby, and making videos helped to motivate me for the next step, as you want to show progress. We were making a video every week but it was too much pressure so it’s now one a month, which gives us a better balance with family life.
“Most of our followers are from the UK and USA, and everyone has something in common with you. Either they’re renovating, too, or they simply love everything French and enjoy watching us making our home here. Lots of renovation channels are negative and overly dramatic but the feedback we get is that people appreciate how positive we are, and that we don’t let the setbacks bring us down.”
“Some people reminisce about similar projects they did years ago,” adds Rebecca, “others are hoping to do a renovation themselves. I’d say don’t be scared to try: you never know what you’re capable of until you face the challenge, and if it doesn’t work out straight away, you’ll still find a way through it.”
Find out what the next project is for Jack and Rebecca, and follow its progress on @growinginfrance
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