Introducing...

A fascination with 'home' and honest tales about building a life and creative space in France.

Mar 15, 2026

Hello!

I’m excited to be embarking on this Substack adventure and can’t wait to tell you how I ended up sharing my home with over two hundred foreigners in a foreign land. Oh boy, do I have some stories to tell! Some practical, some funny, some a bit scary, and some may be sweary (you have been warned!).

First of all, let me welcome you and thank you for reading this, the very first of my posts. And secondly, let me tell you a little about who I am and what I’m doing here…

I’m obsessed with our homes, how they have transformed through the years, how they vary in different parts of the world, the relationship people have with them, and the activities that go on within. Everything I read, everything I watch, everything I scroll through seems to revolve around home.

All my adult life, I was desperate to own one of my own, after renting 19 places owned by others. I wanted to invest in a property for my future, to decorate and furnish it, and to ‘play house’ in my own home. But I was a self-employed artist on a low income with no savings. Life was a bit ho-hum.

So, I moved from Scotland to France…

bought a mansion…

and started a Creative Residency!

This Substack will reveal how I did just that, the challenges I faced on the way, and what the experience has been like to share my home with an international mélange of artists, writers, dancers, and musicians.

My obsession with home began during my degree in Textiles & Surface Decoration back in 1998. I set myself a personal challenge never to use flora and fauna as a starting point for my creations, that seemed far too straightforward and predictable. I needed an alternative. I started creating screen-printed designs by exploring everyday household objects, as well as processes for making or mending them. The following year, during my postgraduate in Art & Design, these explorations developed into sculptural objects.

“What you really collect is always yourself.”

— Jean Baudrillard

My work continued to be inspired by home over the next couple of decades, diving deep into domestic museums, Highland crofts and historic houses during artist residencies and finding work in between in art galleries and with arts organisations.

Then in the spring of 2016 I embarked on a risky adventure. I moved to France with my husband, a long wheelbase van, a car containing two Labradors and a potentially unrealistic goal.

“…We go where nothing is expected and find everything waiting there.”

— Pablo Neruda

What you can expect from me here is one honest and open post each Sunday, in which I’ll share:

• Tips, observations and experiences of developing a work and social life in France

• Unbelievable stories about how we managed to buy and develop our property here on a minute budget

• How it’s been to set up and run this Creative Residency, and to share our home

• Short tales of humourous culture clashes or residents behaving badly (Oh yes!)

I hope that I have piqued your curiosity, lovely readers, and that my letters will give you a little snapshot into this unusual life, some practical insights, and a little entertainment on the way.

If you think this is for you, please subscribe and stick around, or, if you already have, then thank you and please feel free to tell me what intrigues you most about my story!

Julia Douglas

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