A New Life in the Sun

A little insight into our experience of appearing on the show, and what it’s like in the making.

This may be news to you reading this, or it may have been the first place you initially heard of our alpaca farm perhaps, that we were contributors to Channel 4’s series 7 of A New Life in the Sun, which aired in January 2021.

We since appeared on their follow up show A New Life in the Sun: Where Are They Now? In February 2022. And why am I telling you about this now… well, we’re about to appear in the new series of ANLITS Where Are They Now this February or March (date tbc).

A brief overview, this show follows British people who move to Europe to start up new businesses, as well as experiencing the huge change in moving home, getting used to their new environments and getting involved in the new culture surrounding them. There tends to be a lot of narration and a bit of a dramatic suspense on the run up to an advert break or end of an episode! For us, we were shown welcoming our alpaca herd and opening up the farm, securing our french residency and navigating our way through the French planning system, initially with a little difficulty, to create and open our accommodation opposite an historical monument, the 13th century Chateau de Sanzay.

The first thing we’re always asked is, are we paid to appear on the show? We are not paid to contribute, however we are given this opportunity to publicise our business on UK national TV, which for a business based on tourism is not a bad deal for us. Whilst being paid would be good, the publicity is probably more valuable in the long-run.

To give a little insight into how it works, we tend to let the production company know what our schedule looks like and our future plans, and they match what they’re interested in seeing along with their schedule too. We have in the past been asked to film some activities ourselves as they just didn't have the crew to send us. When we say crew, this is usually one person with one camera, with everything built into it (sound etc.) Their skills are very impressive, they are the interviewer, the director, producer and cameraman for the day. I had a little go on the camera and it’s not easy to work with, it’s heavy and there’s a lot of functions to manage at one time. Add in walking backwards and I always think they deserve a raise in salary no matter what they’re earning. Them being a “one man band” means that we get to know them really well and vice-versa, which is why it’s easy to be comfortable an at ease on camera, as it does feel like you’re just spending time with a friend. This is great, as it does then feel and look quite natural rather than a “show”, it’s much less intimidating than we initially thought it would be.

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Walk the alpacas

Would you like to walk the alpacas around a 13th century chateau?

Walk the alpacas around the chateau

It’s a wonderful experience with the calming affects of spending time with the animals and the beautiful Chateau de Sanzay

Contact us to book!

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When being filmed, we get asked an awful lot of questions no matter what we’re doing, we need to stop for a moment and answer a ton of questions from the producers about the task at hand, or something we’re trying to achieve. If you’ve seen the show, you often see the contributors rushing around to finish something in the last minutes before their first customers arrive, and having filmed with them, we are certain the reason for this is all the interview questions. Luckily we never fell victim to this but we can see why it happens!

We were fortunate that our customers were always happy to be filmed, which helped show our farm and the services we have on offer, with everyone being happy to give their consent to being filmed and shown on the show. This can be particularly difficult for events or public places. Lots of signs have to be put in place and as much consent obtained as possible.

Something we noticed as well from the journey of them filming and then edited to what is shown on tv is that english speaking is clearly preferred as it makes for easier-watching for the intended audience. Whilst this is understandable, it was certainly a shame to see some of our earlier customers from our local village who were absolutely charming, didn’t make the cut to the final show. These interactions were a huge part of our journey in being welcomed and accepted by our local community.

Sometimes the finished product can have a narrative with a little bit of creative licence, but you can take this easily with a pinch of salt knowing that it has to be interesting viewing! Our favourite creative narrative they used for our story is that we live in a former fossil museum, something lost in translation / misunderstood. It was never an official museum whatsoever, but one of our outbuildings was used in this way by a previous owner, who was very proud of his collection, a story lovingly told to us by one of his daughters. Our home is just a farmhouse through and through, not an ex fossil museum.

Yes, it can be a little daunting to have your life and business filmed, even on the revisits, so we did find a way to make it a little more fun, by trying to sneak in some quotes from the classic film Jurassic park. We were delighted to find that three of these made it into the final edit. Did you notice these?

The oddest part for us is that it’s always a year behind the progress we’ve made as it’s filmed one year and shown the next, so what you’ll be watching this winter was filmed in the summer of last year. It’s a lovely little time travel, and we’re always happy to look back on memories and progress made year on year. We like to share our animals and our story, just like we do when we meet new people and find out about their lives too. If you watch it, we hope you enjoy it and come and see us soon.

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Secluded, peaceful, private, revitalising, and wholesome

These are just some of the words that describe the unforgettable experience that Donna and Nick had at La petite Ferme d’Alpagas Sanzay during their stay.

From witnessing ‘Buddy’ the baby alpaca being born to exploring the surrounding areas, their 6-night stay was filled with many precious moments.

We are thrilled that they had such an amazing time and we can't wait to welcome more guests to our farm!

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