If the idea of moving with a young family to start a new life in rural France already sounds like enough of a challenge, how about planning to support yourself by setting up a cookery school? And not just any old cookery school either. The cuisine in question would be vegetarian… in France? Sounds like a brave move to me.
To David and Lorraine Tomlinson, though, it was just one more logical step along the way. They’d already built up a highly successful restaurant in Cardiff, with Lorraine looking after the diners and David taking the role of accomplished chef.
Tomlins Vegetarian Restaurant first opened its doors in 1997 and rapidly acquired a loyal and enthusiastic clientele. Food critics were just as impressed; Hardens London and UK Restaurant Guide declared it Cardiff’s best restaurant not just once but two years running (2002 and 2003). But as David was quick to point out, ‘For us it’s all about fine food; our vegetarian credentials simply mean that just about anyone can come and enjoy it.’
So, what made them decide to leave behind everything they’d worked so hard to achieve, cross the Channel and start all over again? ‘One day,’ recalls David, ‘we realised that running a busy restaurant was actually getting in the way of all of us doing things together as a family. So we thought about relocating to France and doing something with our skills but with less pressure.’ Not another restaurant then? ‘No!’ is David’s amused response. ‘But our customers often asked us about recipes and our ways of preparing them, so we came up with the idea of opening a cookery school to give people the answers they wanted and help them lift their own cooking to another level. Doing it in France, where people could get away for a relaxing break with comfortable accommodation plus wonderful food and drink, would mean we could offer something really special. As for us, we’d have somewhere beautiful to live, and more time for each other.’
Ideal location
So why choose France? ‘We both loved it, and enjoyed lots of happy times here on holiday,’ says Lorraine. ‘We’d toured all over the place and got to know it pretty well. Our only problem was finding anything on a restaurant menu that didn’t involve meat. Vegetarianism isn’t anything like as big here as it is in the UK, and even in what they consider to be vegetable dishes, they still add jambon.’
But their shared love of the French way of life was unshakeable. For their ideal location they looked first around Carcassonne and Narbonne, but found that high prices severely limited the choices available within their budget. So they switched their search further north to Charente-Maritime.
‘We already knew La Rochelle,’ continues David, ‘as we’d spent two months cycling around the countryside years ago, and remembered that it seemed to offer all we wanted.’ So he returned for a fresh look, and ended up falling in love with a classic maison de maître in pale, local limestone with mature, shaded gardens and some very useful outbuildings.
What’s more, he actually agreed to buy it without Lorraine even seeing it. ‘I’d sent her some photos, of course,’ he recalls, smiling at the impulsiveness of it all. Fortunately, Lorraine liked the look of it too and before David had even stepped off the return flight to the UK he’d already sketched the first plans. A few months later in November 2003, and with the Cardiff restaurant off their hands, the family left a rain-soaked Wales and moved to France to begin their new life.
It was certainly a beautiful place to be. Their new home was structurally very sound, but would need some major updating, including a creative rethink of the internal layout to divide family living space from guest accommodation. Plus, of course, brand new kitchens for the cookery school.
‘We wanted everything finished and open for business by the spring,’ recalls Lorraine. Unfortunately, the local artisans were booked solid for months ahead, so in November 2003 a team of builders was shipped over from Cardiff for a series of two-week work visits, fuelled by David’s cooking. ‘They’d never eaten so well, or known anything like as much variation at meal times,’ continues Lorraine, ‘but that didn’t stop them sneaking boxes of Pot Noodles over from Cardiff!’
Do-it-yourself
The high-powered work periods meant it was soon time to move on to plumbing and tiling. For this, local specialists were called in, and progress became dramatically less reassuring. David takes up the story: ‘One day we realised that we had every single room in progress but nothing was finished. In desperation we called the plumber’s wife and pleaded with her. He turned up the same evening, sat down to discuss the work, chatted away amiably and drank wine – but didn’t do any plumbing. There’s just no sense of urgency here…’ So when the tiler also repeatedly failed to materialise, David rolled his sleeves up and did the lot himself (very successfully, as it turns out). Keeping up the pressure meant that somehow everything was ready just one day ahead of the first guests, who arrived on 3 May 2004.
Now, four years on, David and Lorraine not only have their beautiful home, but another successful business, too. Their daughters Elen and Isabel have become bilingual and, best of all, the family now enjoys spending time together, just as they always dreamed of doing. So, was the adjustment as smooth as they’d imagined?
Not always. Settling into the local school proved challenging for the girls, particularly when it came to school meals in a country with no grasp of the basics of being vegetarian. Lorraine recalls the school’s response: ‘It’s no problem – they can eat ham instead…’ Not surprisingly, on a couple of occasions the girls ended up eating just rolls and desserts. Eventually the head teacher met the family, to try and understand the problem and promised to help.
Life is now easier for the girls, but how have their parents found dealing with the practicalities of their adopted culture? ‘We never imagined the problems and formalities we’d encounter just setting up a business within the French system,’ admits David. ‘The administration and red tape are a nightmare. If we’d known then what we’d encounter we might have thought again. Base level and other charges, for example, are a major issue. Taxes are similar, but social contributions here are really high.’ His advice, then, to anyone thinking of setting up a business? ‘Look at it carefully and make sure you know in advance exactly what’s involved.’
Organic vegetables
Despite all this, they’ve come to terms with the situation and instead devote their energies to more constructive things, like sourcing fresh ingredients for the all-important cookery school. ‘La Rochelle has big markets, and we can now get organic vegetables in the twice-weekly market in Surgères, our nearest town,’ says David. ‘I like to make my own bread, but there’s an organic bakery just ten minutes away, in St-Germain-de-Marencennes. We source pulses from an organic farm shop, and can find most cheeses locally – vegetarian Parmesan, organic Camembert and of course, various local fromages de chèvres (goats’ cheeses). The only exceptions are Cheddar and Caerphilly which we currently still get from the UK. We’ve also noticed that the supermarkets now carry many more vegetarian and organic foods than when we arrived.’
Lorraine is equally enthusiastic: ‘The choice of fresh food here is amazing and the standards and controls on organic food production methods are even tighter over here than those in the UK.’ This kind of reassurance means they can support local businesses with confidence.
Their operation has the hard-won official approval of the Vegetarian Society and while the environmental benefits of sourcing supplies locally are obvious enough, visitors are often surprised to learn just how close to home some of the basic ingredients are found. David and Lorraine grow their own herbs along with summer vegetables and their productive fruit trees allow Lorraine to make a range of tasty jams and chutneys for guest breakfasts.
The formula obviously works. The guesthouse
accommodation has recently been augmented by the creation of two gîte-style apartments in one of their outbuildings and the cookery school is deservedly popular, particularly since David and Lorraine introduced a flexible booking system.
‘We often found that people who wanted to join a course weren’t able to get away on the scheduled dates, so we tried tailoring courses around our clients’ availability instead. It’s not a problem for us, and once we get a course booked we can offer places on it to others who may be able to join us. If not, the course still goes ahead, even if it’s for just a couple of people,’ says David.
As David and Lorraine have discovered, a willingness to adapt is probably the most valuable quality for anyone planning to make a success of moving to a new country and a whole new culture.
Fact file
Tomlins Vegetarian Guest House and Cookery School
23 rue du Fief Gourmand
17290 Chambon
Tel: 00 33 (0)5 46 35 65 42
Fax: 00 33 (0)5 46 35 69 46
info@tomlinsinfrance.com
www.tomlinsinfrance.com