Yes, we do get a bit of wind, but it's more of an issue around the Narbonne to Perpignan coastal area (great for sail sports!). We get much less wind inland (I'm about 25 mins from the coast and further east). I worked in immobilier for my first 7 years here and I'm using those skills again now, so I know quite a bit about the different areas within this region, positives and negatives, etc. :)
I wouldn't say that the wind is too bad, Lindsey. Then again, we are from the Isle of Man, where a Manx breeze is like a Force 8!!!
Seriously, though, we haven't been unduly aware of particularly strong winds, although there is the Marin wind locally. Maybe we've been lucky when we have been out there.
Thanks Phil - yes, after the Manx 'breeze', anything else is probably a bonus!
Ok, thanks again, Nicole. I doubt that I'll make it to your neck of the woods in June (especially with 2 retrievers in tow), but a separate visit later may well be in the offing... :-)
My advice would be to go "below the crease" (fold the map of France in half and consider anywhere in the lower half). Above trends to be greener but wetter. We are in the NE corner of Gironde. Lovely country side, varied planting with vines, woodland, some pasture, fruit trees, sunflowers, maize a few cattle (watch for the smell if downwind in the summer). People are friendly. Lots of good wine at modest prices (we buy from local growers), lots of duck (and fois gras if you're into healthy eating (!)). Good idea to rent for a while before you buy. Lots of stuff on the market which hangs around for ages and prices are stable or dropping so no rush to buy. If you buy in the wrong place its not easy to sell and move. Good luck, its a lovely place to live.
'Below the crease' - I like that. Thanks very much, Michael, all very helpful and food for further thought.
We have a caravan and spent the first 7 months or so travelling with that. ATM we are doing a few house sits in the SW. Then (to complicate things) we are venturing to Portugal and Italy for a look as well....... :) That will be back to the van, around August. We have found it offers us so much freedom. Go where and when we want. We stay a long as we want etc.... A great way to do it
Last Wednesday I was chatting with a French lady of 47 years old who is married to a recently-retired French Air-Force member. They have lived in quite a few different areas, and (briefly) she told me that the hot weather's fine for a short while, but that they have decided to stay in Le Morbihan, Brittany, as they find the people are more sincere and less superficial than are the Southerners, and the Breton winters are never very harsh.
Hi Graham, IMHO I would have to disagree with you regarding the Charente being sheltered from the atlantic!! I don't think there is anything topography wise to shelter the Charente from prevailing westerly storms and winds?
Admittedly my experience of the departents climate is limited as we have only been here for 18 months, however I would say the weather here has been pretty poor for months on end now. We had many storms over winter, with violent damaging winds and also copious amounts of rain over the last six months. Calm days with unbroken blues skies have been few and far between. In fact wind has been a feature of the weather for months now. Maybe the last few months are a blip, but based on the last few months the weather has been no better here than parts of the south east of the UK. Lot's of Brits love it here to be fair and it's horses for courses. However we are selling up and moving on. We haven't settled here and fancy somewhere wilder/more remote!
Thanks for that, Paul - and I'm sorry it hasn't worked out for you. But really appreciate your feedback!
Well, it's a fair distance from the Atlantic coast to the eastern parts of the Charente, right across the whole width of the Charente Maritime and beyond to Angoulême and the foothills of the masif central. - about 150 kilometres in fact.
By the time the weather from either direction reaches here, the worst of it has all but fizzled out but rather that just being a brown uninteresting landscape, the rain keeps it a green and pleasant land for crops and livestock.
Quite right Paul, the eastern Charente isn't sheltered from the Atlantic weather, far from it. I'm on the 16/87 border and quite high up. About 90% of my weather is influenced from the south-west. My 'weather wall' takes quite a battering !
The reason Charente has been popular since the late '80s is simple, the price of housing. Charente is relatively poor what with the agriculture slump having taken it's toll. Ok, the weather is usually better than all points north but it's not that good. I'm looking to move further south, probably to the Tarn area.
So tell me Peter, how does that sit with the Charente being regarded as the second most sunny place in France?
If you haven't done so already, Paul, have a good look at the Languedoc, in particular, the Minervois. It's where we have a home. It's an area where you can be as isolated as you like, or near to small villages and slightly larger 'towns' if needs be.
Handy for flights too, from Carcassonne or Beziers, with good old Ryanair!!
Good luck with the hunt
Hi Lindsey
I too am a lawyer ...which allows me to enjoy my twilight years as an estate agent selling gites and B&Bs in SW France. Most of my clients are looking for 'secluded residences with a couple of gites and no near neighbours' ... which they then regret buying a few years later. We all need neighbours and, in the end, people tend to settle in or near a village where there are a few services. My patch extends from Bergerac to Béziers, Pyrenees to Dordogne ... but in the end the same rules apply: village houses are cheaper; hamlets are nice places to live and secluded dwellings in the wilds are for hermits or loners. I choose to live in the city - Toulouse - because I need culture, transport links and people around me. There's something for everyone in the South-West.
It sounds like you've made a great career switch, Simon. Yes, the more I think about it, the more I know I have to be close to civilisation... but personally I (and my dogs!) would draw the line at the city. I'm sure the right place will be out there for me somewhere... if I can just pin down the region first.
I may be wrong, but isn't it the Charente Maritime and more specifically a relatively small area around La Rochelle and the islands that can lay claim to the second highest annual sunshine hours in France after the Cote d'Azur? I don't think the Charente itself or indeed Deux Sevres and Vienne get anywhere near the same amount of sunshine. 2016 must be well down on sunshine hours so far, if our experience is anything to go by. I agree with Peter. I don't feel the weather is that much better here than parts of the UK, certainly not during the last 18 months (although last June and July were crazy hot here!!). With the changing climate and the extremes of weather we are experiencing it makes sense to us to be further away from the Atlantic influence! We are definately going to head east and maybe south as well!!
West of Paris towards Normandy is the Mauldre valley, about 15 miles from Versailles. There are farms, forests. I personally live in an old house and have a small pony and a big one in the yard as well as 4 dogs, a river in the middle of the grounds and its branch forming a 800 m² island. There are working farms and cattle. The area around is nice. The place is called Beynes. There are lots of little villages around and yet not too far from transports. Some English speaking community as some children take a bus to go the international school In St Germain en Laye. Budget for a house like mine with 2800 sqare meters of land would be around 300 000 € because of where it IS situated near a local train station. And walkable distance to most ameneties.great vet too! It would be possible to build a few bungalows for a gite as some of the land can be built on. There are possibilities that are cheaper where the train station or shops are more distant. Just to give another insight . Also may be easier to work some.
I am also fond of Arcachon below Bordeaux. A bit crowded during the holidays but a real micro-climate as the enclave called the Bassin d'Arcachon is protected by pines and dunes. Have a nice quest.
Many thanks, Ariane - that's an interesting and different perspective. What is the climate like where you are? I had assumed that I would have to move to the southern part of France to get a marked improvement over the UK. Thanks again.
Hello Lindsey,
the best place to live in France, is the place where you feel most at home. You need to find that place and get to know it in all four seasons.
For me and my husband that place is Provence in the South of France, we have lived here for the last 14 years. We get a good climate, the Mistral wind and not a lot of rain, there is always something going on in every season of the year, life really is good here, people are very friendly. In the last 40 years we have visited every region of France, taking a months holiday every summer and touring with our Caravan. Provence was always the place we felt most at home.
We live in a village close to a golf complex, we chose the village because as far as we know, we are the only English in our village. The golf village is full of English speaking people, we did not want to live in an English community, because people speak English and not very good French. We have very good neighbours, very kind people who made us feel at home right away. We have never felt home sick, we have a great life, and I learnt to speak good French because my neighbours do not speak English.
We are very lucky because we do have everything we need in our wish list, we have 10 out of 10 and much more.
Good luck with your search, and be happy.
Maureen.