5 months plus 5 years

New to the Forum – but not new to France or the French!

Married a French girl 11 years ago and we are now preparing for “The Big One” – buying the house in France. 5 months and counting until the day when the good deed will happen. I will turn 55 in August and will be using a part of my pension for the thick end of the purchase with a 10 year mortgage to round it off.

Where are we buying? Sunny Carmaux in the Tarn (Andrew Hearne : I will be able to visit your tabac more frequently than just at Christmastime as in the past few years!!) – it is my inlaws house as they want to move into retirement accommodation as the house and garden has got too big for them. They had the house built for them in 1973 and my wife, Florence, spent her childhood there until she left for university in Germany and a subsequent life in Provence. It is in good condition and needs no renovation…….but does need a pool! My inlaws were never keen on having a pool – preferring to travel each summer.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to make the move full-time just yet as we both have busy jobs – and I will need to top-up the pension – but we are both looking forward to the purchase and, especially, looking forward to the French lifestyle in a few years time. As well as our full-time jobs, we have a small company of our own designing, developing and producing radio control ship model kits and this will become our main activity when we finally make the move. This can be done in France just as easily as in the UK – unlike my job as an Architectural Technician!

Right! That’s enough waffle from me…………… Off to have a good read of the rest of the Forum!
A plus tard!!!
Carl

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Soyez les bienvenus, Carl et votre épouse !

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Merci beaucoup Peter!

Wow! I once, long ago in the 1960s, worked with a Tunnicliffe in Birmingham. She was a nurse, and someone to reckon with! Any relation of yours, I wonder ?

Hello Carl and welcome to the Forum…

Lovely idea… to end up living in your wife’s childhood home… :relaxed:

Hi Peter - Not that I am aware of. My father’s side of the family came from Macclesfield.
There are one or two of us about apparently!!

:grin: I’m sure there are a few Tunnicliffe’s around, the more the merrier IMO. But there was something strikingly similar about her flowing white beard that made me wonder if you and nurse might be related. She used to tuck it into the top of her nurses’ apron, and I’ve known her use it as a towel when giving a blanket bath. “Ooh, Nurse Tunnicliffe, it’s lovely and tickly!” the patients would giggle. She was a very popular nurse. :joy:

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It is a lovely spot.

Re the Pool… unless you are going to spend a good deal of time there each year… I would wait until you move permanently.

That is only my opinion, but I know folk with pools… and they do need looking after…not easy from long distance, unless you employ the In-laws to keep it up to the mark…:relaxed:

That’s the plan Stella. The inlaws, specifically Mum, will look after the house while we are not there but we cannot expect her to sort a pool out. Sprightly for her age she might be, but that would be tantamount to slave labour!!!

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It looks a very nice house, and I fell sure you will be very happy and comfortable there. We’ve only briefly visited the Gorges du Tarn on a journey south to Spain, we stayed in Millau (before they built the bridge) and it was an altogether stunning region of France. :blush:

Thank you Peter - The house is great condition-wise, but some of the decor could do with being brought into the 21st century as opposed to the 1970’s!

Re the G d Tarn - we drove our motorhome along there a few years ago. Stunning scenery, but I had to be so wary of overhanging rocks presenting a danger to removing the roof of the van! Cant wait to sample it again on the motorbike though!!

And as for Nurse Greybeard, I am going to have to look her up and see if she will move to France with us to care for my needs in my dotage - she sounds like just what I need :slight_smile:

Hello Carl

I’m in the Tarn as well although a long way from you. I’m on the Herault/Aude border. Really lovely house, I’ve seen a fair few in a similar style but not many as nice as yours.

I hope you enjoy your French adventure and your new house.

Best of luck

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:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin: Beard, motorbike, shades… it all figures Carl!

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une belle carmausine :wink: à +

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It all sounds extremely ticketty-boo, and I am sure we shall be glad to hear from you both when you eventually get installed. It’s like a Nordic saga, complicated and character-driven, and the flowing beard and goggles add to the intrigue and excitement. Do you ever desport a helmet with horns, Carl?

Glad everything is going smoothly, if a little differently to the UK “norms”… your Notaire is doing sterling service. :relaxed:

Bespoke furniture and carpentry… now, that does sound interesting… :thinking::relaxed:

Ferry is booked for the 28th - we are on our way to sign the papers!

Notaire has sent us the banking details - just waiting for the final tranche of my pension cash to land on my bank account then it will be sent. House insurance is sorted. Glad to see the exchange rate going in the right direction!

Getting all excited now!

Even a very old friend of mine, from when we were kids, has decided he wants to move over and especially be nearby so that we can retire disgracefully together so we are going to look at a particular house for him whilst we are down that way.

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Bon Voyage Carl! I’m so jealous.

I noticed people saying that the house looks great, but I don’t see any pics. . . am I missing something obvious?

We’re in the planning stages of an early retirement to France at the moment. . . Started browsing on the interweb at the Dordogne area as my friend had a cafe in Excideuil. . . but I’m drawn to the beauty of the mountains. . . decisions, decisions.

Good luck with the move, are you moving a lot of stuff over too?

Many thanks Joanne - Sorry for the lack of pictures…I had to remove them as my brother-in-law got all uppity about it as we hadnt actually bought the place at the time. He has been a bit difficult about the whole process as he was under the impression that I was trying underhand tactics to buy the house cheaply and sell it on for a profit. We had a big falling out about it a year or so ago. New pictures will be posted just as soon as the house is ours!!!

We wont be moving a lot of stuff over in the beginning as the house is fully furnished - in fact we will need to de-clutter the place!!! However, over the next few years, we will take bits and pieces down that are not essential to our life in the UK at this time.

Been to the bank this morning to initiate the transfer of the full funds to the Notaire - used TransferWise and, fingers crossed, it is going through as I write.

More soon!!!

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Oh no Carl, that sucks! Well I hope that you managed to sort things out with the bro-in-law. It’s sad that he can’t see that the situation benefits both you and the in-laws. . . I’ve heard that houses can take a long, long time over there to sell, so I’m sure your in-laws are very grateful, plus you get to keep the house in the family.

Haha, we’ve been looking at a LOT of French property. . . coming from Australia, where everyone is so obsessed with making their house look like the latest copy of Home Beautiful (us included ;)), looking at most of these French properties is like taking a visit back to Grandma’s house, 35 years ago! Where is the minimalism? eek!

I hope the bro-in-law doesn’t continue to be a problem when you start making any changes to the house. Don’t take any crap! Once it’s yours, it’s yours.

Well good look with the transfer, and good luck with the move, it’s all so exciting!

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