Côte d'Amour - are you trying to tell us something...! ;-)
Lovely part of the world, I taught for a year near St Brieuc.
I like Lesterps (and Brigueuil), it is like one of the medieval towns that are found east of Limoges but farther west. There are so many lovely locations within a small radius of Confolens I’m sure that you will find something soon.
Hi Josie, yes Lesterps has improved a lot over the past few years. The department spent a lot of money improving the centre and even 'bypassed' it making it more 'user friendly'. The restaurant is still great value which reminds me I haven't been for a while.......
It used to have a nice Boulangerie but I believe it's now closed down, i'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong.
Handy for Confolens and Saint Junien with all the services and the house prices are very low at the moment.
Some good agents, as well as a few less honest in the area too if you are interested.
Happy hunting
Hello to all!
My name is Josie and my husband is Steve, we have been talking, researching about living in France for a few years and we are now at the viewing property stage. We had 2 weeks of viewings and travelling a short while ago and was quite dissapointed in what we saw, however, it did focus our minds to what we did want and to the area we really liked so we felt it had been a good visit! we are concentrating on the Confolens area at the moment, i personally love Lesterps! anyone live there? and are planning another visit shortly! looking forward to chatting to you all!
Hello everyone :)
I stumbled across this site a week or so ago whilst aimlessly surfing.
Here goes with introducing myself..........
My OH and I moved here (here being just outside Dinan centre,Cote d'amour ) in early August this year-2015.
It's a move we've been promising ourselves off and on for many a year and we had the chance so we took it!
We'd been running a motorcycle breaking business in the UK for over 30 years and like a lot of independent businesses these days, found it harder going as the market changed.
Anyway, here we are :) Would love to hear from anyone in our area. xxx
Pam and I are Australians currently on a house exchange between our home in Melbourne and a home in Mazamet. We fell in love with the French life a few years ago, when we spent a year in France and Italy, travelling from Gite to Gite, until the money and long service leave ran out.
Now we are both retired and looking to stay on beyond the end of our exchange in March, but we are having trouble finding someone to exchange with. Interestingly, we have found a couple who are moving to Australia in July, and they are happy to exchange then, so we have only April, May and June to find accommodation for.
The main attractions of France for us are the wine, the food, the culture and the history. Also, we both love Celtic music and we spent ten days at the Lorient Interceltique festival with eight other Australians.
We have found the Tarn region to be a real delight, and we are still finding new villages, chateaux and other delights, even though we've been here a year now. Our friends from Australia have also enjoyed including a stay with us on their travels, and we've had twenty one visitors in the last year.
The Tarn has been a huge surprise to us in many ways, and the most surprising is the warmth of the welcome we have received from our neighbours and the friends we have made here.
In terms of surviving France, we have had very little need for assistance. We've enrolled in the Assurance Malade(sic), we've bought a car, and we have made many friends, who have answered most of our questions.
And lastly, we both have English parents, and consequently many relatives in England, so we understand the culture and the way of life there.
Looking forward to an enjoyable membership.
Alan & Pam
Well, we have just bought a lovely longere in Cote d’Amour, Brittany. We are both still working in Uk at moment, but plan is to be spending up to 6 months there each year in about 2/3 years time. My husband loves car restoration and has many other hobbies, so he is keen to take over a lot of his projects as the house has many outbuildings. I plan to get stuck into gardening and restoring the house to its former glory. The place is in a small hamlet with mostly French neighbours and a British couple who are running a B&B and gite business next door. We both enjoy being active and will love walking/running/cycling in the lovely countryside, kayaking in the lake which is only 1/2 mile away and I am hoping to get a few locals interested in Nordic Walking, which I do in UK (I am currently a fitness instructor). I am determined to learn the language. It was really frustrating when our new lovely French neighbour popped in to say hello and we could not have a proper conversation. I am can’t wait to complete and get stuck into our new life.
No one seems to be concerned with how offensive other women find the burka.
It is all about their right to wear what they want.
hi Julia& ‘Springer’ bienvenue and many congratulations - I raise a virtual glass to you! you are likely to get a variety and glut of opinions and info, which you’re probably aware of :-)) I also live in an old house (rented) and renovated our first one with my ex, like you we had the electricity done first - was supposed to be finished by the time we arrived on 12 Jan 2008, 3 days after completion, and so yes camped out also, we had enough ground floor electricity sockets in still wired to the old meter, but it worked cooked on a camping stove + BBQ, but at least I could boil a kettle and make essential the au lait! Tell your grandson it will be a few months till the next 6 Nations competition!
Hello to you all!
I think I have lurked on here for long enough, and will now confess all!
I am about to embark on my (probably!)last great adventure. Have signed the Compromis, and am now in that horrible period of waiting for the Notaire to set a final date for my move to Indre, and the go-ahead to book passage for myself & my (springer)dog. I am buying a very old property,in which I hope to camp for most of the winter, once the place has been re-wired. The diagnostic report simply says 'danger of electocution’in every section!
My daughters think I am mad, but my 9 year old Grandson has only one concern…“When I come for holidays, I won’t have to play Rugby for France will I Nanny?”
My thanks to you all for providing so much practical advice and information…I am sure to be back with questions in the not too distant future.
Julia
Welcome Chris et Famille, at least the water can be used to soften the baguette 
sounds a mammoth task you have taken on, I know a uk family who moved to Brittany just a few days after us in 2008, we went farther south, but they had also bought a longere in Brittany, So yes your possibilities are boundless.
Hope all goes well, there’s also a mine of informTion to be gleaned from fellow members on SFN as and when the need arises. Have a look at the Groups Sections, many very practical people on those. Not to mention the fun you have or Not, joining in general discussions on a variety of subjects.
not the point John! I see you chosen only to pick up on my last sentence and ignore the rest.
Given that only people I know personally would be the ones likely to be invited to sit at my dinner table, then no I wouldn’t expect them to sit wearing a hat, yes I would be aware of their cultural traditions, and none of the examples you you cited above wears headgear that stops you seeing their faces!
Just dropping in for a cuppa is a different scenario, unlikely to happen for me with complete Strangers, other than the JW’s I see arrive en masse in the village about 3 times a year!
Yes, Brian, it was badly phrased....I meant to use it just as an example of nasty practices that we don't want to tolerate...just because it's allowed in the home country.....You could add to that forced, arranged marriage and a few other things.....
The hijab (I think) is the headscarf arrangement......I don't have a problem with this...It's the full 90% cover up of the Burqua/burka that I hate...the black 'pillar box'.....dreadful, wherever you see it.....
Bonjour à tous,
I've only recently discovered this website and I think that it is going to become very, very useful as we are just about to start a huge renovation project in Brittany.
I have lived in Paris for 15 years and love the city (even though it must win the award for the filthiest city in Europe.....). I work for a well-know airline based in the UK which requires me to commute over at least once a week but the more time I spend in the UK the more I know that my heart belongs in France and I shall never leave here.
We have aquired an old Breton house (long story...) which we are going to divide in two to provide seperate places to stay for family and also to rent out. At the moment it still has stamped earth floors over much of the property and hasn't been updated for decades so there is a lot to do. We are just waiting for the architect to finish the plans and then we are off. I think that we will be living off stale baguettes and water for the next couple of years though.
Looking forward to participating in discussions on here and also seeking advice as and when.
Chris.
Blimey, this topic has gone way off track.
It's nothing to do with being 'racist' or disrespectful simply a wrong choice of words. PC ? maybe but we must maintain certain levels and I, like John it seems found the use of the 'burka' word inappropriate that's all. It's no big deal just a matter of opinion or more an observation. No harm done, let's now leave this topic to 'introducing ourselves' ...
(Glad the moggy is doing ok Shirley)
Careful Hilary, female circumcision is not Moslem, it is mainly a 'tradition' in places that have become Islamic but not exclusively done by Moslems. Most Islamic countries have totally banned it but it persists. So bad comparison there. I also remember back in the late 1960s and 70s when there was a reactive refusal of many women to wear a burqa or simply a head scarf, certainly the 20 - 22 year old Benazir Bhutto led the fray there - although she later began to cover her head again. People who really understand it have said that it is a reaction against the parent generation that is mainly from women themselves in the west. My point is that when comparing the black box people with the burqa it is a bit far from the point, choosing anonymity may be an attempt to cover up something but may also be to protect anonymity. In that case people should say that is their reason to admin and have a different kind of blank box. Mind you, I would then prefer it to be a good reason and not just 'because'.
Notwithstanding that Muslims have their heads covered by a scarf usually or that if Her Majesty was to drop in for s cuppa you would insist she removes her head gear and I don't mean her crown ha ha.
And what of the Jews, would you still insist?
Hilary et al Maybe Catherine could split the topic off into it's own thread? as I would like to continue to chat but it's a thread creep and a half to keep on.
Charlie wasn't just speaking freely, they were deriding someone's ideals that's a bit too far and whilst I don't follow any organised religions if people want to waste their lives following one that's up to them. When Monty Python did the life of Brian they received death threats etc from all sorts. They were just film making.
at risk of upsetting my good friend Peter, here and or John and Catherine, which is not my intention - I would like all to consider the fact that the issue of non photos has gone on and on over the years I’ve been a member of SFN.
Have you never used the first word that comes to mind when looking at a picture of something - psychologists call it word association! that does not make Hilary or myself racist or demeaning by using the name of Muslim women’s headgear (yes I know, no one has said that, but I feel the implication is there). There is a lot going on the world right now, and be it balaclavas or burquas, they are both current reminders of crime and terrorism that goes on these days, (purely by association with certain parts of the world, whether intentionally or not!
So I stick to my suggestion of a different ‘anonymous’ square. if there has to be one at all, although why become a ‘member’, join a ‘club’ then want to remain anonymous - I don’t see the logic in that!
it’s not the members who set the ‘Rule’ either, we just try to enforce it in the spirit of openness and friendship!
I would not let someone I didn’t feel comfortable with, make or female sit at my dinner table
still wearing their hat!
oh is that what the black square is Catherine, a Balaclava? or have I missed the point again ?