...A look at what makes France so special dressed only in the bright holiday T-shirts they stood up in. They'd lost everything else. Many wore bandages. Some were bleeding. Hundreds were crying into mobile phones. Everyone was trying to get away. Some, hoping to get out of Thailand altogether, would have a long wait.”
found tenants for their bungalow, put all their stuff in storage and went travelling to discover where and what they wanted... along with Sadie and Stella, the boxers.
The Tees managed to get a flight to Koi Samui later that evening to continue their holiday, arriving filthy in the clothes they had left their hotel in on Boxing Day morning for the elephant trekking. That wonderful day seemed almost a lifetime away.
For the next four years, they travelled through much of the UK, through France and down to southern Spain, where Julie's parents were, and back again. The nomadic life led them to working in campsites during the summer and travelling in the winter. “It always made us laugh to think of the high-pressure lives we'd left – Simon's tiling business and my corporate career and the big wages that went with them – while we were cleaning campsite toilets!
“We carried on with our holiday, but not as planned,” says Julie. “We were meant to have gone to our favourite island, Koh Phi Phi, but it had been practically destroyed. The locals in our Koi Samui resort nicknamed us 'The Tsunami Survivors' and asked us to buy goods from them to bring them luck. “The nightmares came soon after that. The memory of the day before the tsunami, when Simon had strolled along that beach alone, leaving me in the hotel room. How it all could have turned out so differently. If we had stayed in the south of the island it would most certainly have been different. The destruction and loss of life was much greater there because of the concrete jungle the place has become. “But it simply wasn't our time to die. The clues had been there... trying to book the hotel, deciding not to stay in the south for Christmas, choosing the trip for Boxing Day. We know now we had actually left our hotel just nine minutes before the tsunami wave hit it.” On January 9, 2005, the Tees boarded their flight back to the UK. Back to normality. But things had started to change. Careers, money and flash cars were no longer the be-all and end-all of their lives. Julie definitely had a shift in attitude at work, sitting in meetings watching corporate bullying and everyone who was under notice of redundancy doing very little while waiting for their chance to get out. “I'd always been a planner and something of a control freak. Our Thailand experience had been a very big reality check. No matter what plans you make, there's no guarantee you'll be here to see them through. Ever heard the phrase 'Man plans, God laughs' ?” Julie and Simon had always wanted a dog, so two boxer puppies were added to the family. It helped Simon fill the void from the loss of his parents and was probably the next pivotal happening in their lives. Having the dogs meant they ditched the long-haul holidays and stayed closer to home with the dogs. Julie heard she was one of the management team her company wanted to keep on, but the sale of Simon's parents' house meant she could leave and do something else. She started working in an administration role for a charity helping the elderly. That closed that chapter of her life. One Christmas spent at Loch Ness they began developing ideas for their future. They didn't know what they wanted, but they knew what they didn't want – to stay in Worthing doing what they were doing. So, after buying a motorhome and having a few practice holidays in it, they
“But we absolutely loved it. We looked at buying a campsite in the UK but were basically laughed out of the franchise office because of our lack of funds. Then we thought of France. We loved France. Every time we came here in our motorhome it felt like home.” Their last UK campsite contract was in 2011. A 14-acre field which they completely managed, from grass-cutting to tree-felling, pitching 150 caravans, tents and motorhomes every weekend and everything in between. They were later to realise what great training that would be for the next chapter in their lives. “We sold our bungalow in June that year and worked the remainder of our contract with constant grins on our faces, thanks to the bank balance,” says Simon. In October 2011, the Tees were in France on the hunt for a campsite. It had to have either fishing lakes (preferable) or a stretch of river for fishing. They didn't want gîtes because there are so many of them in France and competition can be tough. However, they were finally persuaded to look at a gîte complex in Secondigny, in the Deux-Sèvres, but only because it had two lakes. The gîtes were occupied and locked and the grounds were in a sorry state, but they both fell in love with the place, even before getting a peek inside the gîtes. “In January 2012, we finally stopped our travels and had a home again,” says Julie. “Well, sort of. We live in the smaller of the two gîtes during the winter months and in our caravan (which replaced the motorhome) for the rest of the year, so both gîtes can be rented out for summer and it still satisfies our camping bug. The larger gîte is available all year – anglers don't mind fishing in the cold or the rain!” “What we really love about our French life is that we have the opportunity to spend time with people without putting a price on it,” says Simon. “I spend a great deal of time with our guests, helping them to catch fish. I could charge for that, but I don't. I do it because I love it and the guests love it, too. That's what brings them back. We don't put a price on the time spent chatting to guests, making their restaurant reservations, arranging and sometimes even going with them to a vet
Left: Simon, the night after the tsunami. Right: Simon and Julies’ beloved motorhome, which was home for four years.
26 | The Deux-Sèvres Monthly, November 2018