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[white]Frédérique is what the French call a châtelaine, which is just a fancy way of saying that her home is a château. This one actually. Le Château d’Emalleville, where she lives with her husband and children and horses and dogs.[white]
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[white]F: I love going off for a run in the mornings, with the dogs (Chips and LOL), it has to be the best way to start a day. After that I go around the paddocks feeding the ponies and checking that everyone had a good night, that is what makes me the happiest and is a real luxury. But maybe my biggest luxury is having the time to do so many different things, and time to see my friends and I have to admit that I spend a lot of time on the phone too!
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Why did you decide to start breeding ponies?
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[white]F: Oh dear, if you say I breed ponies, it makes me sound very professional and I am still learning every day! I love to be with horses, I try to ride most days, we have the space here so I started this project three years ago. My daughter Charlotte, who is 15 also rides, and competes, so it is an interest we can share, even though I know that at her age she has other priorities too!
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[white]Would you like to live in town, in Paris for example or are you really a country girl at heart?[white]
[white]I know that you are very meticulous, but this is a large château to look after, how do you manage to have everything so impeccable?
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[white]The French are famous for their great cuisine, do you love to cook?
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[white]Voilà girls – another French girl with serious style and beauty, just getting on with the simple things in life, even if she lives in a not so simple setting!
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I hope you enjoyed the second in my French girlfriends, let me know if you’d like to meet some more…..
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54 comments
I am loving meeting your girlfriends, this may be the only way I learn about how things, "French" are really done. Totally intrigued here.
Great post! Fred is lovely and quite open about herself. Love that she doesn't love to cook – makes me feel better (I like to cook for parties for the most part). Fantastique!
What a great series! As une Américaine married to a Frenchman, I struggle with personal style, especially when invited to super chic soirées in the countryside – I always feel one tick off of just right. Homestyle is altogether another issue, where I'm totally in my element – for the moment, I'm dreaming of Fred's sink!
loving these posts! Love fred's dress!
YES PLEASE! These posts are truly wonderful and how gracious that your friends are so happy to share their stories with us – Thank you:)
just loving this series!
I loved meeting Fred, what a charmer she is, beautiful, kind hearted, knows how to live and enjoy life and clearly enjoys "the good life". The home and setting are so picture perfect and magical, it makes me want to jump on the next plane to France!
She sounds so grounded and comforable in her own skin, love the names of her dogs too, LOL and Chips!! This was most enjoyable. Thank you to you both.
It is fun to get an Insider's look at the real French world of women.
I commend you on your amies – Frédérique is beautiful and clearly has built a very satisfying lifestyle for herself. It's nice to have a glimpse of unmistakably French chic.
Gawd, they are maddening aren't they?
She's gorgeous, but then again so are you. You look like one of those young, lithe French beauties you're featuring.
Yes, let's talk soon.
xoxo,
Tish
P.S.: No, I don't think we want this series to continue. Definitely not. . .
Fred should be on the cover of Town & Country or the cover of Hamptons Magazine! Gorgeous!
I wonder if I should do a series on my New Jersey (U.S.)girlfriends……they may look a bit different! I had better practice tying that Hermes scarf!
I am loving Fred's home and life style! I know normal every day for her but it's a dream for us in the states. What a great series and thank you to all your friends for opening up and letting us meet them.
Ok, there's only one thing, I could say: WOW!
Markus
Really enjoying your feature of French girlfriends and their beautiful style, thx for all your efforts Sharon:)
I'm new to this blog – found it through Tish. I've only been reading it a few days, but it's lovely. And yes, continue on with the series. Frederique is wonderful and very French!
Thanks for introducing us to such a lovely, chic woman. I love that she lives in jeans and T-shirts all day and the loves to get dressed for dinner. My kind of girl.
Your friend is beautiful and such an inspiration! Thank you for introducing her to us.
Though I do think she was a little coy when asked about her skin care routine – her skin is gorgeous. She has to have some kind of secret other than "good genes!"
She looks amazing and I love the style and scale of her home and grounds.
Great series Sharon, I am really enjoying "meeting" your friends.
Loved the pictures of Fred's beautiful home and her elegant style. Can you please ask her what breed her horses/ponies are? I am a rider and I love learning about different breeds, horses are so fascinating and beautiful. And riding is the best exercise, altough on the days I ride I can't imagine going for a run too! She must have the super energy gene!!!!
Judy in Newport, RI
Frédérique is marvelous and yes indeed, please introduce us to more French friends. I am afraid that I too think Frédérique is being coy; being out in the fresh air is wonderful, but she must do something to protect and nourish her skin. Part of it must be a healthy French diet.
Hi girls, I'm so glad you are enjoying this little series – a note to those of you doubting Fred's word about her beauty routine – I have travelled with her! I can vouch for it, she doesn't spend her money on expensive beauty treatments, these looks really are natural, and in real life she is just as charming and candid as she appears!
Thank you so much for this series. It is so refreshing to see women, from any place in the world, living their lives, sharing their passions and creating their own style. I feel that style evolves with maturity and seeing this within the context of the blog confirms my hope that via the blogland universe, we can all continue to develop our own individual style.
Those legs! That hair!
She's gorgeous!
All this and ponies, too!!!
Yes, keep the interviews coming. So fun!
Hello…my first visit here…and what a wonderful introduction to your lovely blog…a visit with your friends…thanks for bringing me along! Love your blog!
thanks for sharing. she's beautiful! i envy her in so many ways 🙂
I am so loving this series! Absolutely wonderful, beautiful!
Very nice, I love this! Keep this coming!!
Oh my God!
Are your friends all like her and the previous girl??
You are a very very lucky girl!!
So stylish, so interesting, so FAB!!
Fra
I am enjoying so much meeting your girlfriends!! You had such a good idea I think!!
Dearest Sharon,
What a lovely château Frédérique and her husband are managing. Lovely for a stay en route to whatever destination. She is such an elegant woman with enough joie de vivre.
Love to you,
Mariette
Beautiful Chateau, beautiful lady and clearly a beautiful friend. More please …
Jo
Eliza Interiors & Design
I agree with the previous comments, your French girlfriends are beautiful and chic and so, er, French
I am inspired!
I am so glad that Fred mentioned how much she relies on Paulette! As a 40-something city gal who is thinking more and more of giving a life in the countryside a shot, I always find myself wondering just how much help one household would need — the gardens look huge! I assume you have help in the gardens as well?? And does anybody help with the horses? Do tell…
WOW! I love FRED! I love her horses, her dogs, her home, her kitchen, and her HAIR…
Seriously, I want to be FRENCH and hang out with y'all….I love her dress, too…
That's what I LOVE and so admire about the (in my mind) archetypal French femme. Simple, fit, healthy, happy looking, grounded, authentic, lovely and not overdone. Beautiful!
The best friend of my life was also French and so is my son! Love this charming series and your site. Thank you both!
Bonsoir Sharon !
Ton amie est fantastique ! J'aime bien le contraste entre sa tenue chic et sa tenue de cavalière !
Château et chevaux, une vie de rêve ?
Merci de nous la faire connaître !
Céline.
Fred sounds like such a jewel…..would love to meet more.
xo
Jo
I agree with French Heart.
French women have just got it with their simplicity of style, fit and healthy looking, and enthused about life…she is stunning! Love that dress.
Love these posts, more please.
This is definitely a fun series. Thank you for sharing these interviews. It's fascinating to get a glimpse into the lives of these amazing women. Frédérique is a beautiful lady.
I really love this series that you are writing….. hope you have many friends to introduce to us.
Frederique is glowing; maybe all of the time with the horses and in a beautiful nature setting is what keeps her fresh and young.
It's nice reading about other people and how they manage their days.
Sharon I will read the rest of your posts, however I can say that Fred is a very bright, beautiful and classy woman!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Hi Sharon
What a delightful friend you have in Fred. She looks like she is fun to be around and never a dull moment.
Thank you for visiting my blog and your kind words of support mean a lot to me
Helen xx
*** I just had the most FABULOUS time reading about a most CHARMING lady~~~ THANK YOU… and please THANK H*E*R for sharing this incredible life she leads!
I was truly captivated by her openness and the lack of pretense in this beautiful french woman, not to mention her home and grounds!
I got up because I was having troubling sleeping tonight, for some reason I don't know~~~ I think maybe NOW I can go back to bed and really SLEEP, because I can picture, in my head, everything I just saw, appreciated and loved!!!! (Wonnnnnderful dogs and horses, too!)…
THANK YOU!
Linda in AZ *
bellesmom1234@comcast.net
Fred appears to be as lovely as she is gorgeous….Wonderful series Sharon….xv
Love your posts on your friends!
Fred is without doubt gorgeous and it has been wonderful to have a glimpse of her French life – keep up the series so we can all live vicariously through your posts and beautiful photos! ps and I love that dress..and the copper pots and the kitchen…and the gardens and……!
Of all the blogs I follow (a lot!) I really love this series. Keep them coming! Thanks
What a wonderful way to get to know some of your friends and discover more of the beautiful French way of living! I just love these posts! Not only do we learn more about what makes French women tick, but we also get a peek inside their lovely homes! Thank you for sharing this! 🙂
xoxo laurie
I wish I could be so chic. I am lucky if I just wear shoes! Terri
I did enjoy this. Part of me feels so nosy and the other part just loves to see how people live in other countries!
SO very lovely. I am swooning over Fred's home and lifestyle. Love these. Keep doing them please!!
I really enjoyed meeting your stunning friend. She is blessed with such beauty and energy. Its always interesting learning about other people lives and how they live. Loved this, thanks so much
This is a wonderful feature, love meeting these stylish and energetic women!
Beautiful photos ! I love this stylish article about your fiends in France.
You are one of two French blogs I follow and I just love your blog. My friends have persuaded me to start my own blog and I took the leap: its a blog about our rural South African lifestyle and lavender and stock farming. My blog is on http://www.karoolavenderfields.com so take a peep if you wish. I love the mood of your blog and living a rural lifestyle can relate to so much, even if on a different continent! African greetings from KarooLavenderFields xxxx