Her Ladyship is agitating to move to France - she's fed up with being cold up here in Northumberland. Thing is, we live in a lovely rural area, with good access to main road, 'bus service once an hour, beautiful views, no nearby neighbours ....etc. We're looking at similar places in (variously) Poitou-Charentes, Limousin, Pays de Loire, possibly Brittany/Normandy, either as a complete move (sell up here, buy there) or pied-a-terre. Have any of you folk any experience of life in those areas? Will it be any warmer really? Anyone want to sell me their house? Thanks in advance.
We are saving to live in France, looking to retire in 5 years hopefully, we go every year and over the past 3 years toured all over the place and we have settled for a place near Cognac in Poitou-Charentes. Its a lot warmer than here in the Midlands and house prices are relatively cheap compared to Provence. I would recommend subscribing to the following https://www.french-property.com its free and gives great advice, also look at an estate agents called http://www.frenchestateagents.com well as the Notaire sites. We are off again in July to look around Civray area. There are lots of good info online you could also attend one of the Place in the Sun shows from the telly, they are advertised in the french-property site.
Thanks, @JimVee , just what I was looking for. Glad to hear that it'll be warmer! Limousin prices seem ridiculously low! Got the two websites going-Leggett estate agents seem very ubiquitous over there. Notaire sites?
I am a bit further south, in the Dordogne, yes it is warmer in the summer than the UK, but not in the winter. We have nice clear nights where the temperature drops to below -10°c and have seen -18 in the 14 years that I have lived here. The summers are longer than the UK though. There is no road tax on cars and bikes here and no MOT on bikes either. Some areas are cheap and some areas not. Just like the UK, the more desirable the area the more expensive.
Notaires are the french equivalent of our solicitors, they deal with the legal side of it all but also sell houses https://www.immobilier.notaires.fr They usually do good deals on local houses within towns, villages etc and are willing to negotiate quite a lot if you get a good one. We picked the triangle from Cognac to La Rochelle down to Bordeaux so will end up at a place within there. We have viewed a couple of the last year from already done to total wrecks and you have to take into account most French people want to live in big towns/cities so the village houses are fairly well priced to sell.
Hmmm. If it's not appreciably warmer in Winter, I'm struggling to find a reason to go through the upheaval!
Remember to factor in the exchange rate, there are companies who will deal in exchange rates for a fee but the difference between Euro and £ could be massive depending on which day you do the deal.
Winter is winter. It doesn't really matter if it's -2°c or -18°c does it? You can still pretty much do or not do the same things. The shorter winters and longer, warmer summers would sway it for me.
Bordeaux has one on the other side near the airport. I use Limoges (Moto Move), we collected the wifes new Monster there on Tuesday for her birthday, 266 kms round trip for me. At least you get a full tank of fuel with a new bike here!
We need something to keep us occupied in the cold winter, a few bikes in the garage is the answer. Another plus with France is the lack of huge council tax bills. I pay around €430 a year on my house with 4 acres.
Warmer, less people, biker friendly....whats not to like? I'm looking Brittany (got family there), Dordogne, Midi Pyrenees. Winters, who cares? Summer is longer, weather more settled in spring/autumn and there are more biking days per year than UK. Plus less whinging Brit philistines. (i think might have said that out loud) 3 years time and the UK can fek off if I am lucky. Biggest spanner is Brexit (as I am not rich, like Farage..) which may mean no free health care, or even limited time in France, may need a Visa? Its 50/50 depending on outcome as to wether it will be a permanent move or just until health gives way. If you have the money though, can afford insurance etc. its a no brainer. Procrastination is the thief of time!
