Yes correct. And Monier is on the main drag.
That sparked of a bit of a debate ! But thanks for all the useful advice guys.
We of course will not be buying a big place in the middle of nowhere ! However, we do want some peace and quiet, and our own space, so being a few hundred metres from our neighbours is quite desirable. We are also aware of the need for certain services to not be more than 10-15 minutes drive away. Which is one of the reasons for chosing Lot et Garonne.
We’ve been living in France for over 10 years now, so we do know quite a bit about how things work over here. Though undersand that different regions can be almost like different countries !
We have also met and experienced some xenophobic locals initially, but after living full time for a year or two, if you go out of your way to be sociable most eventually warm to you.
But there will be some you’ll probably never win over. It’s just how some people are. But then we’ve also experienced similar in the UK when we lived in a small village for a couple of years, so it’s not just a French thing ! and it’s not just Brits/foreigners though, our best friend came from Paris, and he was treated as an “etranger” for a long time too !
Well thats what the locals were I live think of them as.
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Same in Brittany, Parisiennes treated like they were from Mars even though most were breton by previous generations who left to find work in Paris. Its the nouvelle ones that are most disliked and their attitude to thelocals and taking over the property market.
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I live about 10 minutes north of Lot et Garonne, v nice - so consider S Dordogne as well.
And I’m considered an étrangère because I’m from the Côte d’Azur.
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I also had initial wariness, but one of the very first question the postie asked me was whether it was a second home, I said no, I was here to stay, and that was that. I assumed he took that intel back to the Mairie and all was good 
I’m not far from Blade46 at all and honestly all the villages round here frankly seem grateful to the British incomers as I’m not sure at this point there are more than 2 out of 30+ British owned houses that are second homes. They make special mention to say after the 11th Nov parade etc thanks to the British residents etc because we often outnumber the french. I’m not suggesting we’re anything special or doing anything special but while they’d probably rather have a village full of their countrymen not a load of brits we’re all there day in day out, doing up the houses, going to the events, using the post office, tabac, bar etc, struggling through small talk, no one’s a problem particularly, so I think they get that we’re better than no one, or second homers of any nationality. If there had been a load of people who appear for a few weeks then turn the place back into a ghost town things may have been different but people seem to go out of their way to help the brits locally from what I’ve seen rather than be hostile or angry.
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Absolutely, we’ve had many discussions of this kind with both French and British friends. Most agree that we (British) have enhanced the communities we ended up in. Many small villages would have died without us.
But some will always have the view that it’s “their” country, and we should only think of ourselves as temporarily accepted ‘guests’. They’ll happily take our coin though.
We’ve even had one hard core socialist tell us that the house we bought doesn’t actually belong to us, and come the revolution they will take it back !
For our part, we could care less about which passport people are lucky or unlucky enough to get lumbered with i.e. which piece of the planet our mother happened to be on at the time when we were born !
We judge people on who they are, and how they act :-
- Civil, open minded and friendly, all are welcome.
- Rude and arrogant, bye bye !
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That is absolutely true @kirsteastevenson However in the towns where the Brits won’t make an effort to speak French, unlike us lot who live here all year, there is defo hostility and I’ve never met this before. As I said even our French neighbour ran into it because he had a’Queen’ t-shirt on. That says something. Lots of French are fed up and rightly so.
All agreed we keep polite, civil, open minded, friendly and speak the native language whenever we can even if it is hard. And actually we are immigrants in their country so are duty bound to make the effort
Or indeed, better than Parisians. A property owned by two elderly Brits in our village was up for sale and they were told by their neighbours to sell to another British couple rather Parisians. Mind you this is France Profonde .
The one and only time I experienced any sort of negative reaction was when I met a friend’s dad for the first time. He’s rightly miffed at the Brits who’ve moved in but don’t integrate, just socialise with other Brits, don’t attempt to learn the language, etc…
Anyway, as a joke, my friend told his dad I didn’t speak any French. He then sat me next to him when we all had lunch, and told me to just speak English. I even added to it by repeating things he didn’t understand in English BUT LOUDER. It was like a scene from 'Allo 'Allo 
He was fine for the first few minutes but was getting increasingly agitated the more I kept speaking to him in English.
In the end I started feeling sorry for him so asked him, in French, if he wanted some more bread and whether he referred to it as the “crouton” or the “quignon” in his part of France. The best part was he replied to my question instinctively, and only then realised I’d asked him it in French
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