Been on here a little while now and enjoying all the really valuable contributions from everyone so thought I should introduce myself before diving in and posting.
I’m a fairly new retiree after having a few careers - first in the garage trade, then 20 years in Banking IT, and then finally a change of scene to become a train driver and then moving on into railway management for the next 20+ years.
My partner and I have been planning a retirement in France for some time, buying a classic French bungalow (with the massive man cave in the basement) in Chinon (37500) in 2017 and gradually doing it up and learning the French way of doing things along the way! Have just obtained my first visiteur residence permit but still have to have a foothold in the UK due to ongoing care issues with my father so often do the UK ↔ FR trip usually by motorcycle. My partner who is yet to retire has an Irish passport and so is relatively immune from all the Brexit issues (and enjoys reminding me of it).
We’ve had a few issues along the way - the worst probably in July last year when we were in the UK and our French neighbours contacted us to say we’d been broken into. Cue a mad dash back and follow-up contact with the local Gendarmerie to give evidence of what had been taken
Hope to be able to contribute on the board at some point.
Hi Chris - and yes good to hear motorcyclists exist on here!
Chinon is pretty ideal for us and we don’t find it gets too touristy (we’ve been based in Devon and Dorset, and my father lives in Cornwall so it’s a breeze compared to those areas). Our home is out of the centre but within a 10 min walk of the medieval part with all the cafes and boulangeries etc. We wanted somewhere with good links to the rest of France so we can explore once we get settled here. Another reason for Chinon is that it’s big enough to have all the amenities very close by (markets, medical, tax office, supermarket, artisans, railway,…) but small enough that it never seems that busy. Plus we have a cracking view.
I’m trying to decide where to settle, and have been considering Vienne, Charente or Deux-Sèvres.
I stayed in a gite near Loudun in 2023 and liked the area; I visited Chinon and Fontevraud etc but it was in September so not high season. I’ve also considered Mayenne as my sister’s ex-partner had a longère there but I suspect the weather north of the Loire may be a bit too “English” hence I am looking a bit further south.
@MrC, welcome! Chinon is lovely. @ChrisMann we lived in Montsoreau for 5 months. Overwhelmingly touristy in the summer and dead in the winter. We live in the Vienne now.
Thank you - yes that was my impression (based on a fairly short visit) of the areas along the Loire valley itself… probably a bit further south would be more suitable for me.
Thanks @Porridge. Our weekly treat is to get a chinese meal from the van that visits the market. They usually have a big queue of locals. We never managed to visit L’Entrepotes but it looked decent when it was open. The site is up for sale now. Were you a frequent visitor?
Thanks @Motherrobyn. Montsoreau is lovely but those narrow streets! And yes, very dead outside of the high season so can understand why you might move.
TBH I suspect you may have to go quite a bit further south to get consistently high temperatures as we get a huge range in Chinon although snow is very rare - but we had a light smattering this winter. We’ve had annual extremes of -5C up to +45C so far.
We often get lightning storms and take great pleasure in turning off all the lights and watching them approaching from miles away.
I’m not after super-high temps (though global warming will bring those gradually north I suspect)… just something a bit less grey and drizzly than southern England!
(No disrespect to SF folks who enjoy living in Normandie and Brittany, it’s all personal preference).
You might consider just south of the Massif Centrale - there’s an immediate big difference to further north. It’s further south, but you’ll maybe get only a couple of weeks of 40°C in August. And you’re spared the winter storms of épisodes cévenols etc for the Med départements south.
Thank you for the suggestion Dr Mark - I will certainly have a look - I assume you mean the Aveyron e.g. around Laguiole? Or further south than that?
Although part of my Cunning Plan is to be within reasonable driving distance of the Channel ports so as to make it easy for various bits of my family to come and visit - and for me to pop across to UK occasionally.
(I have heard a rumour that there are such things as aeroplanes, but if the siblings come by car it means they can explore without me necessarily having to act as chauffeur).
This was a big point for us in not going any further south. We tend to use Plymouth-Roscoff as we’ve a small flat in Plymouth to be close to my father and Chinon is around 5hrs drive from Roscoff, and that’s far enough for us. Other ports do give a reduced driving time in France (eg St Malo or Caen is just over 3 hrs depending on whether we use the péage) but then we’ve got the horrible drive along the UK south coast to Poole or (usually) Portsmouth.
Yes if you’re going to/from Devon/Cornwall that makes sense. My brother lives in Woking and my sister is in Hawkhurst in Kent so for me the relevant crossings are Caen-Portsmouth and Dieppe-Newhaven…
I’ve done Dieppe to Angouleme area a few times on my motorbike and that’s manageable - and easier in a car… Vienne/Deux Sèvres of course is closer.
Agreed and the French autoroute network does make A-B travel so much nicer, as does the reduced traffic. Must admit the bike trip from Caen in January was pretty bad due to freezing rain for the whole trip so I’ve just treated myself to a Macna heated jacket. I really don’t know why I didn’t get one earlier!
The area that you’re planning to move to is great for a number of reasons and one of those is links to other places. You will have a choice of local airports with cheap flights to the U.K., the TGV/Eurostar is a convenient and easy route to London and the Channel ports are accessible by car. It’s also well placed for places that you might like to visit from time to time; the coast is a couple of hours away as are the Loire Valley, Dordogne and the western part of the Massif Central. There will be plenty of excuses to get out on your motorcycle.
Thanks David - good to have my thoughts confirmed, though I’m sure almost any area of France has its advantages!
I have usually used the autoroutes (A13/A28 and then the A10) - quite boring but efficient in terms of time, and there are enough aires to allow for comfort and fuel stops. On a motorbike the tolls are not so much of an issue as they would be in a car, and I have a BipandGo tag so I don’t have to faff about at toll booths.
Up to now I’ve been staying in an AirBnB / gite so I have needed to hit the target to check in at a certain time, so the autoroute makes that more predictable. If you are going to or from home then of course you can be more flexible and avoid the autoroutes if you prefer.
hence I am looking a bit further south.
