Happy in the SE of the Dordogne. Anywhere else in France - can’t afford the Ile de Re- given how inexpensive it is then Indre - home of one of out favourite winemakers. Handy for autoroutes - Argenton end of Creuse is gorgeous.
If not France maybe Lanzarote - in laws had a time share out there and we had annual family holidays for a dozen years or so. Never too hot as was always a sea breeze.
Absolutely. That little walk in the morning to the baker, the daily gamble as to whether I’ve got the money right, feels very healthy.
Maybe also consider a bungalow, or at least a house with a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor.
Thank you - no I am aware of that trap! I am not a fan of gardening or home maintenance so will be looking for somewhere with a reasonable métrage carré and just a courtyard or postage-stamp sized jardin!
And in a village or town not an isolated hamlet!
I don’t know Mayenne well, but my sister’s ex has (or had) a longère between Sillé-Le-Guillaume and Villaines-la-Juhel. Nice enough but cows seemed to outnumber inhabitants by a fair margin and lots of shuttered village houses!
Mayenne is on the list if I decide to prioritise ease of getting back to the UK by car. But the weather is possibly a bit English! Laval does look nice from what I’ve seen of it on Google and YouTube.
Also noted already! A fairly modern (or at least modernised) bungalow would suit me well - I get the appeal of wooden beams and pierre apparente but something you can whizz over with a coat of white emulsion is more sensible!
Never had to paint pierre apparente
Well OK but it might need repointing. 
Externally yes but if it done properly, internally no, pointing is sacrificial to wear faster than the stone so it protects the stone. Internally not affected by the weather. Pedant mode off 
I don’t live in France (I’m English born and bred), but if I had to move to another country, I’d probably choose Germany or America.
I am a recent convert to a modern villa (bungalow) and much smaller land mass around it plus the wooden beams in the old house were always needing dusting and checking for pests - none of that now, tiled floor right through with no carpets or mats for easy keep clean and hygiene and walls of white apart from two to break up the big area. Never want an old place again I can tell you nor all that grass to cut.
I assumed @ChrisMann was thinking of poutres apparentes - I’ve got the two mixed up before - because, as you imply, pierre apparente is the non-bricoleur’s dream wall!
We were viewing places to buy to retire just when they brought in the requirement for foreigners to leave the country for2 months every year! Previously you just had to fly to Nepal for a day, get a passport stamp and return to Goa. I don’t know if that law still applies to foreigners.
I was actually thinking of pierres apparentes, but not specifically in terms of how easy such a wall would be to maintain - more in the general context of that being a wall style you get in an older house that would perhaps be more likely to need expensive maintenance e.g. roof replacement, treating timbers for bugs, draughty windows etc.
The obvious that most insurers obvusy don’t mention is that you’d better keep the certificate in the Bank!
I can just see you two waving your fingers at each other at the local pub, screaling at each other and ending up in a brawl. You would both get turfed out and not without good reason.
I’m sorry Joyce Ann, but I would suggest you don’t know Dr Mark very well. No way would he be doing that. 
What a strange thing to say.
I relember when I was a kid, my Dad bought 2 Morris Minors, took them to pieces and ended up with one that worked. Nowadays, you need to demand to see the spare part they removed every time you go to the garage. Need a dentist, get the work checked by a second one if you are to be sure. Fix the washing machine - €60 on the clock before he even takes a look and no refund of the €60 unless you buy a new machine from him 25% more than Darty!
You’re the one who seems to trying to pick a fight - apparently with both of us!
Actually I find @Johnboy a rather fine fellow and neither of us would frequent the sort of pub with which you’re seemingly familiar (he’s TT and it’s years since I was last in the UK, let alone in a pub).
I have a pal called Tracy. She has a choice - surf or turf
Far less, DK
Or Piddletrentide/Piddlehinton, Dorset
Or
Dartmoor
Hole’s Hole is just upstream of what was my boatyard, on the Tamar.
Peaselake, Surrey used to be Pisslake before the Victorians changed the name. Typical Surrey.
Wow! didn’t see that one coming.
The banter you refer to is over 6 months ago. Perhaps you should read further back on various topics to see that on one in particular Mark very kindly offered his hospitality over a meal when we were next passing in our camping car. Indeed we come from very different backgrounds and have differing views on life but that aside I think we do have mutual respect. As mark has said in his response, it isn’t us.
I don’t understand why you see the need to send me a private email that reads:-
You and Dr Mark H seem to enjoy baiting each other. Can’t you just sort thing out privately?
An American I worked with moved from NYC/divorce to S.A. He moved to London after finding that his new g/f had a gun under the pillow.
For me, back to Valencia if I could afford to return, which I v. much doubt.
I’d eliminate one of the reasons I moved to FR by making a gt deal more effort with the lang and taking my time to choose a place in the city with a bit of a balcon, be it ever so tiny.
Reason No3, the impossible heat in summer now, would be dealt with by spending my 90 day allowance either on the Biscay/Atlantic coast and/or in UK, fishing lovely Clatworthy lake. Somerset, land of my fathers, at its best
Since the fishing was taken over by the troutery the stockies go in at 1kg! And are soon double that.
To top off that I’ve always like the idea of living in
which happens to be only minurtes from Clatworthy.
Huish Champflower ought to be twinned with Florimond Gaumier in SE Dordogne, they both sound like Hardy heroes.
