I left the US to buy a farmhouse in France on my own. The past 5 years have been a mix of unexpected problems and joys.

"I knew my new life in rural France had officially gone off the rails when I found a 2-ton cow in my swimming pool one morning. I heard a "whoosh," then saw her: an enormous brown and white shape gliding through the pool. Somewhere between panic and denial, I called my neighbor, who asked me, "What did you have to drink last night?""

"Five years earlier, I'd been a business owner in Seattle, in my mid-50s, restless and an empty nester. Before, there had been me, a husband, a daughter, and a cat. Now it was just me and an old farmhouse in rural France, miles from Seattle, and even farther from who I used to be. For me, moving to France and buying a charming farmhouse felt like a new beginning"

I left Seattle in my mid-50s, sold my house and car, and shipped belongings to rural Dordogne to start a solo life. I had family history and friends in the region and practical familiarity with local tasks like using petrol pumps. I found and bought a centuries-old farmhouse that looked idyllic, despite an agent who did not have the key. Early life there blended charming scenes with absurd realities, exemplified by a two-ton cow falling into the swimming pool, leaving the pool damaged and the animal safe. The move combined reinvention with unexpected rural challenges and humor.

Read at Business Insider