Michael and Donna: teachers who moved to the Somme to save a house

How it came about

Michael and Donna are teachers and amateur historians. They have written two books on First World War soldiers, and two of Donna’s great-uncles fought in that war.

Since 2015 they have been to about a dozen Anzac Day services in Vignacourt, a village in the Somme in northern France. During the war, a local farming couple, Louis and Antoinette Thuillier, photographed soldiers passing through. Their glass plates include about 800 Australians, and they became known in Australia as the “Lost Diggers” after a 2011 TV story. A museum opened next door in 2018.

The Thuillier farmhouse itself, from about the 1860s, has stood empty since the 1970s. The mayor of the day told the couple he had ordered it pulled down, and the commune had decided it could not afford to restore it. Michael and Donna decided to move and save it. Michael told The Connexion they “had fallen in love with the town”. They sold most of what they owned in Australia and arrived in April 2026.

What it costs them

The article gives one big figure. The restoration is costed at €700,000 (about A$1.18 million at the RBA’s 12-month average rate), and Australian patrons are to fund it, with a GoFundMe appeal planned. The founder of a local association arranged a 20-year lease for them. At the end of it, the house goes back to the commune, fully restored, to be run as a gîte, a French holiday house.

The article doesn’t say what the couple live on, what happened to their home in Australia, or what their day-to-day costs are. Our France page gives our own estimate of a month there.

What went well

They had help on the ground. The founder of a local association did much of the paperwork, and the Prefect of the Somme, a former French consul in Melbourne, helped with the visa. The work has already turned up about 25 more glass plates and photographs inside the house. Michael likens it to a treasure hunt.

What was hard

The visa took a long time. Their talent visa was issued in March 2026, 27 months after they first had the idea. The house needs a new roof and its windows are broken, and the article says some building firms have pulled out because of money pressures.

What has changed since

• Pension age and France. The article doesn’t give their ages. France has no social security agreement with Australia. Services Australia says that, unless you claim under an agreement, you must be living in Australia and physically in Australia on the day you claim the Age Pension. Our guide to retiring overseas before 67 explains what that means.
• Health cover. France is not one of the 11 countries with a reciprocal health care agreement with Australia, and Medicare never pays for care overseas. Our guide to international health insurance by age covers the questions to ask.
• Their visa is not the usual route. A talent visa suits a project like theirs. The usual route for retirees is the long-stay visitor visa, which asks one person for at least 1,477.93 euros a month (about A$2,480). Our guide to retirement visa age requirements and the France page cover the details.

What to take from it

• They knew Vignacourt well after years of visits before they moved. Coming back to the same place, season after season, is one way to learn it. Our guide to trying a place before you move covers the steps.
• A purpose can be the reason for a chapter overseas. Theirs is a two-decade project with an end date built in.
• French paperwork can take years, even with local help.
• If you move before Age Pension age, how and where you would claim it is worth sorting out early.