Sophie Duncan was born in Dublin. Her family settled in London when she was a young child which remained home until 1997 when she moved to France as a newly-wed with her English husband.

For 22 years Sophie immersed herself in renovating a 16th century château, running the family holiday business and learning French. On the side she raised her son and five litters of standard poodles.

In 2016 the château was included in Channel 4’s Escape to the Chateau DIY .

The experience inspired her discovery of the regions and departments the other ‘Châteaunauts’ had been drawn to. Her experience of the deep south west, beyond Carcassonne leads her exploration into the pros and cons of rural France.

Sophie is founder of Oxford History Tours, creating specialist historic tours of Oxford, UK, for both locals and travellers from across the world.

Sophie has an honours degree in art and art history from Oxford Brookes.

Beyond Paris is her debut She also writes about France on Medium.