My choice to avoid motorways is simple, I don’t enjoy driving on them. That’s another advantage of being in France there is always another route that will get you from A-B. Another advantage of being retired is that adding an extra hour or so to a journey is never a problem.
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Actually I was thinking a bit further west/south-west than Laguiole - the landscape’s less harsh - closer to Rodez or Cahors.
Gotcha. I will snoop. 
What he is saying is that he lives in the best place.
Vachement! I take all such recommendations with a pinch of salt. 
Even so, it’s good to hear about areas that I hadn’t really considered.
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I was down in that area three times in 2024. Parts of it are lovely.
We each have our own ‘best’ and everywhere is a compromise of some sort.
We chose where we are on the basis of cheapness of property, landscape, mild climate and my wife’s previous knowledge of the area. However we were subsequently surprised to find that the variety, price and quality of local produce seems to be better than average.
On the basis of @ChrisMann’s post it would seem preferable to be closer to an autoroute than where we live, hence my suggestions.
I think if I was to come and liven next door to you (not literally!) I would probably not bother trying to drive to and from the UK, I’d jump on an Airbus product from Toulouse…
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We’re actually a couple of hours drive north of Toulouse.
Cahors seems to be about an hour and a bit from Toulouse-Blagnac, which isn’t too bad.
I have some British friends who I visited in 2019 who lived near the splendidly named town of Condom in the Gers until a couple of years ago - they moved up to Normandy as they found the summers too hot.
Mind you they are from Yorkshire so the Norman rain probably makes them feel at home. 
Rodez flies to Stanstead - smaller airport, but less hassle - autoroute north via Clermont-Ferraud, whereas Cahors’ autoroute north is A20 via Limoges
Only on RyanAir and only from June to September unfortunately. 
So no use for Xmas visits. But for that there is still Toulouse…
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Bit like easyjet flights back to blighty from La Rochelle… Flying to Bristol during more than a few weeks in summer would be nice.
Bad news. Easyjet has canned Toulouse and rhe prices on other airlines went up as soon as the announcement was made,
Oh well perhaps I will be continuing to look further north then…
That is the problem with having to rely on airlines (especially budget ones).
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I would never choose where to buy on the basis of budget airline timetables. We’re 30 mins from Rodez airport -which used to fly to Stanstead all the year round, but we’ve only used the airport four times in thirteen years (only once to / from Stanstead).
Incidentally other nearish airports are Breve and Limoges - as close as Toulouse, but IMO a more interesting drive.
And there is a great railway. We had a friend visit recently. In and out of CdG airport, and to and from Poitiers and Angers stations. All on time.
Agreed (as an ex-UK rail worker). We’ve found the FR railways to be pretty good although it pays to check the timetables carefully for some of the more provincial stations as some of the trains are often scheduled to be buses. We have a station in Chinon but tend to take the easy drive to Tours (actually St Pierre des Corps) and park at the station if going anywhere for this reason. But the TGV routes are very good although reservation only - no walk-up fares. One negative is that changing trains in Paris can be a pain if you’re not the most mobile (eg Montparnasse to Nord).
Regarding flying there are 2-3 flights per week from Tours to/from Stansted and the airport has a free car park and is served by a tram. We’ve not tried this as Stansted is a bit out of our way but we may consider this for my partner’s mum when she visits as she doesn’t then have to change trains in Paris.
No of course not, I was being a bit facetious. Comme d’habitude.
If I was starting from scratch that’s a department I would look at very seriously.
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