it's taken a long time but final on Thursday of this week we are moving lock stock and barrel to France... after a pretty troubled two years of lots and lots going wrong at the house in France, my mum's stroke, Nicholas's mums death, lack of finance, my house sale falling through -twice.... and use both having health scares - D Day has finally arrived....
Let the main French Life begin.....
Thank you Anil and sorry about my spelling of froid cannot blame ‘predictable text’ -) if I find nothing this trip will look to come over and rent then I can take more time to search.
you got me worried with "fwa", elaine! "froid" we have got used to -- but not yet "fwa", which sounds more severe!! Have you considered Charente-Maritime (known to be the second sunniest place in France -- and 70-odd lovely beaches close by!). Try Immo Internationale Gemozac or Saintes -- English speaking too! They had a stall in London France Show this February. I have no commercial or any other interest in this agency -- but they are and can become good friends.
Will give them a go and thank you David , nothing wrong with keeping up with the weather reports -)
Have you tried Square Habitat? They're Credit Agricole's estate agency - they're throughout France so if you just type Square Habitat into your search engine it'll bring them up (so to speak!)
Just got it (fwa) - sorry Elaine - thought it was some sort of french slang! Well it's cold here most winters and now and again a mild one - e.g this year it's rarely gone below zero during the daytime and not much below zero at night apart from a week or so in November. Hot summers, warm springs and autumns - our main "gripe" is that températures stay very pleasantly warm until usually late October/early Nov, then drop by 10 deg or so rather than a gradual cool down - so all of a sudden from shorts and tshirts we're in longs and jumpers and still feeling cold!
The climate in Haute Vienne is pretty similar - I know because I'm a saddo who gets the meteo france email every day and reads it!
Thank you Norman - will start looking
Cold fwa means cold but I am probably mis spelling… I am looking at everyone and everything at the moment… Green acres, Leggett, French property agents… I have just had a quick look at the lot and it certainly looks beautiful, I have some more properties to see around chabanais and the blond region tomorrow then may take a drive further south - only here until 9th this trip but seriously considering coming over for a few months next time.
If you mean the one up the road from us Catherine I agree! For what it is and the condition it's in - plus the photos are cunningly taken so as not to show just how massively overgrown the garden is - worse than ours was when we moved in. And no views! Valuations do seem to be pretty arbitrary...
Flipping heck that is expensive!
Again so beautiful but out of my price range - I decided not to sell my uk home but rent it out instead so to have some income whilst living here and until I got my practice/lifestyle off the ground, therefore my budget is only around 100,000€ sorry …
Prices have gone down if anything - at least that's what we're being told. May be different in other départements of course...
Which agents are you trying so far? And do say what 'fwa' means - if you could say what it means I could either agree or disagree (with evidence natch) on behalf of the Creuse. And we're 1 hr from Limoges here - although I'm told many people do it in 45 mins!
Cold… My attempt at French -). Thanks for the link, it’s lovely but massively out of my budget and I don’t want to go to the creuse, I want the sun but thank you so much for this
Losing the will to live at the moment…houses with asbestos roofing…houses with no roofing… Houses that have been rebuilt after a fire…houses too close to roads so you can hear the traffic…houses with a shower room you cannot possible shower in…am I being too fussy?..BUT all with nice pieces of land…my budget is around€100,000 so not bargain basement but not massive as I chose to keep my house in England - have property prices boomed since I started looking 3 years ago or am I being unrealistic I wonder?
Great time of year to make the move - the sun is out, sky is blue here in Haute Vienne; has Spring sprung? I don't know about that but we are 12 years down the line since we moved and wouldn't change a thing ...... good luck to you and your new life.
A new book to be opened for you ..... blank pages ...... 17 hours of driving and you're there ! For me it was a flight from the bottom of Africa ..... I moved from Namibia many years ago (but I still miss the sunshine terribly!). However the pull to France was too strong to ignore. Happy days ahead for you and your family Christine!
thanks all - it's weird how emotions change from day to day and now hour to hour... packing up this house is emotional because we held our wedding evening 'do' here - and had an amazing day... but it's a hard life where we currently live - very isolated and remote (being a pig farm) and so leaving it in that sense isn't hard at all... finding documents that I haven't seen for years creating an emotional rollercoaster - is difficult... but all in all - one day to go and then we will put the cats in the car, close the door for the last time, drive 17 hrs..... and then open the door for the first time of this life changing adventure....
Well done Christine, all the very best ...... it always makes me smile with joy when folk decide to "make the move". It's something we all did, despite knowing that starting over isn't always easy. I don't know which area you're moving to, if it's the Dordogne, super ! I also started out there ...... Bon courage!
Hi Christine...I'm just looking across the valley over the apple orchards...and watching the 7.30 am train from St Foy la Grande...going past in the far distance...knowing that in about 5 minutes it will pass through Montcaret...not far from your property.
It's promising to be a lovely day...the sun is just rising and throwing a soft light on the Marie's building in the distance...within a few minutes it will light up the valley...and be shinning on our property too.
I wish you a safe journey...and a BIG welcome to our part of God's Paradise here in France.
I've never looked back since moving here in 2006...Blessings to you and yours.
Elaine, where we are is too far from Limoges Airport - about 90 minutes drive,but the Brive/Limoges area should provide what you are looking for PLUS the A20 Motorway which is also useful?