Where Remote Work Meets French Fairytale: My Introduction to Chateau Coliving
Rainy days, plenty of book-reading nooks, communal meals, and the occasional trip into the cutest market you can imagine. Here’s what life looks like at Chateau Coliving, and why I’m hooked.
Good day, good afternoon, good evening from L’Isle-Marie, France, where I’m enjoying my first stay at Chateau Coliving. Home-for-right-now is a stunning 12th-century castle and manor set in amongst 80+ hectares of Normandy's parkland, rivers, and wildlife. And it’s been converted into one of Europe’s top coliving + coworking spaces.
Now, this isn’t a hotel or hostel, so don’t get your hopes up if you’re just looking to stay in a castle for a few days. Chateau Coliving, I’m learning, is a rich and dedicated community of remote workers, entrepreneurs, and nomads who are serious about location-independent lifestyles.
That doesn’t mean your life has to look only one way to be welcome here. For some, coliving means slow travel, volunteering, or focused time for project-based work like book writing. Others have completely given up their home base, and staying in a place like this is truly “home” for as long as they’re here.
Some are travelling with family or a partner, while many others are doing it solo. Some are financially independent with passive income and no need to work unless passion strikes. Others are hustling for that next contract or gig to support their life and travels. It’s a truly mixed bag, and that diversity is part of what makes a place like this so special.
Chateau Coliving often runs its own programming, but my first experience here was through a two-week experience offered by Digital Nomad Girls.
When DNG founder Jenny Lachs posted that this would be her last-ever time hosting the French castle version of the real-world experiences she offers, I jumped in with both feet. Sign me up, take my money, let’s gooooo!
I’ve been wandering around the edges of the DNG group since 2018 or so, and met Jenny in person many years ago at a different conference series. She’s a community-building powerhouse, and the online group of 30,000 women she’s built up over several years has been my go-to many times for everything from travel safety tips to housesit opportunities to goal-setting workshops.
This was something I wanted to be a part of, outside of the screen.
I almost didn’t make it here — work getting in the way of life, sigh — but am very glad to have had this time to get to know this space and the people who make it happen.
October was a big month. The news publication I launched with a publisher partner two years ago continues to exceed our expectations both in terms of growth and — for me — sheer satisfaction with the project. We’ve broken and followed a number of impactful stories and have been one of the bestselling 100 News Substacks for several months now.
It’s a feat I’m incredibly proud of, considering we’re covering a relatively small city of 21,000 in Canada, and the surrounding region. It’s a bonus that I get to work with Maryann Thomas, an incredibly talented woman — my mentor, who has published over 140 locally relevant books — in the process.
I’m also back to contract work as a tech writer/editor, since taking a two-month stress leave in an attempt to get my blood pressure and headaches under control. On that note, I’m on a new medication after a not-so-great checkup, and am still trying not to piss off Fred. I have an MRI coming up in December in Canada to check in on him and make sure he’s not acting up.
I had my first paid CBC and BBC freelance jobs last month, and my latest book baby was launched into the world this week. And I’m working with a partner on a real-world experience for those of you who want to take this location-independent lifestyle and remote business for a test drive in the spring (hint hint).
It’s been a lot. In a lot of good ways, for sure… but still a lot.
And so it’s a relief that it feels easy to be healthy here at the Chateau. Breaks from work might mean taking a walk out to visit the horses in the pasture, or working on a homemade soup and chatting with other residents in the shared kitchen. We’re nowhere near a fast food restaurant; it would take serious commitment to find junk food (except Haribo bears… they’re everywhere!).
Sleep seems to come easier for me here, too. I’m physically, mentally, and socially stimulated enough to be truly tired by the end of the day. It rains often, providing a great excuse to curl up under a blanket with a tea and a book. Company is available when you crave it, and solitude is always readily accessible, too.
I could get used to this.
I’ve decided to stay on for the next coliving + coworking program, Writer’s Haven. A few of the DNG co-living crew are staying too, and tomorrow we’ll welcome a mostly new group of — you guessed it — writers of all kinds.
There’s a cocoon sort of feeling to this place, not only in the way you’re pretty rural and insulated from the outside world until you choose to go online and engage, but also in this feeling I’m getting that we’ll emerge from this place a little better than we arrived.
That’s my hope.
Founder Katia is a force of nature, and I’ll bring you more of her story in the next couple of weeks. I’ve stayed in a lot of colivings, both professionally and loosely organized, and am seriously impressed at the things Chateau Coliving is getting right.
It’s not easy to put a bunch of strangers together for an extended stay. Yet from program and communications to chores, community building, and thoughtful spaces designed for work and play, Chateau Coliving is making it happen in ways that are real and rewarding.
And the more time I spend in coliving spaces that work, the more convinced I am that the solitary, isolated version of “success” we’ve come to accept across North America as normal — with bigger, emptier boxes and more and more shit we’ll never use but no one else can enjoy, either, as rewards for our efforts — is some weird-ass nightmare I just don’t want to be a part of anymore.
Related:
Katia has agreed to share with us the key ingredients to a successful coliving space like this one, and I’m looking forward to chatting about it with her this coming week. Stay tuned!
Recommended Reads
Until then, here’s what I’ve found interesting and informative recently.
Expats Get Honest About Life in Portugal
I said I’d bring you the flip side to Gregory Garretson’s post about what expats love about Portugal, and the rest of his survey analysis is out now. If you’ve been fawning over Lisbon or Porto, or maybe the Portuguese countryside as your ideal place to live, you’ll definitely want to temper the Instagram stories with this reality check.
USA Falls Out of the Top 10 Strongest Passports Rankings
Dang. I mean, we kinda saw this one coming, but here it is in black-and-white: having an American passport just isn’t what it used to be.
‘Merica is all about its freedoms, but the freedom to travel is suffering under the current administration, according to the Henley Passport Index.
European passports remain strong, with the top 10 dominated by Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Spain cumulatively in third place. Seven more countries — Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal — tied for fourth, based on the scoring framework.
As Dr Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley & Partners, says: “Your passport is no longer just a travel document - it’s a reflection of your country’s diplomatic influence and international relationships.”
On Ambition and Hustle Culture
Oof. Jenna Park’s latest hit me right in the feels.
“Having one job was never enough security. I added another, and often a third for fear of not being able to provide for my family.
For much of their childhood, I lived on adrenaline and fear. Frugality was not a game but a religion.”
That scarcity mindset is a difficult beast to get off your back. Check out her short essay on privilege, ambition, and guilt — and know you’re not the only one feeling this way.
May your suitcase arrive and your trains run on time. Until next time,
✌🏻 Miranda