I suppose it depends on what stage you are at in life, if you have children, what your job is, etc.
In the past three months we have taken on jobs in over thirty properties recently purchased by Parisians with the intent of permanently moving away from the city and making their new home in the relatively stress free country side. of La Creuse.
Definitely the case around Clermont Ferrand too.
A useful tip - Go to https://www.worldweatheronline.com/ enter your place and look at history, it gives the past weather for a particular day over the last 10 or more years. For instance in Limoges, on 02 Feb it rained on 9 of the past 13 years! Therefore reports of it being wet in winter are accurate.
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If somethng looks too good to be true etc., We looked at a property in the Gironde until we found out there had been an accident at the nearby nuclear power plant. When I told a friend in the UK we bought a house on the Loire I was expecting āOhsā of envy. Not a bit of it. She did say āOhā but it was āwe took a cruise along the rivers of France and all we saw were massive nuclear power plantsā. Iām still laughing as I write. Martha Gelhorn wrote a book about disastrous travels comme ca. Anyway, we have very happy memories of Limoges. Read our posts on it Limoges | Search Results | Roytrs
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I live in the brenne on the border of indre/haute vienne, the creuse is closeā¦been here for 7 years and like you came over for a lifestyle . Itās a beautiful part of France if you love nature, the outdoors, not too fussed about too many people (they are here but tend to be discrete and private, French that is) and you will get a lot for your money. Our local train station is 25 mins away with Paris 2hrs 30minsā¦there is lots of culture you just have to seek it out. Down sideā¦3 hours from La Rochelle the nearest seaside town bit too far for a day trip but do-able. I love it here. But it might be too quiet for you and the creuse is even quieter but stunning! Good luck with your search.
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Yes, microclimates!
We used to live in the Aude. On travelling south, approaching Limoges, to visit friends in the area, the weather begins to change. I do not know what altitude Limoges is at, but travelling through especially in winter, the weather deteriorates quickly . Summer ends earlier than further south, in September a fleece or jumper is needed in the evening. If you are looking for something more reasonably priced, try looking in the Charrant but then again, it is further North. Hope this helps.
Good .
Bob Hird.
To the original poster. Think very carefully before making your decision. Best to move here and rent for a while. See how you find it.
The Limousin is a huge area, not much smaller than the whole of Wales and it varies from department to department.
We originally chose Charente (16) when we moved to France in 2014 and we just didnāt settle. For us - boring countryside (mainly flat); way too hot in summer and pretty bleak in winter. Too populated for us also!! We moved over to Limousin in 2017 and settled in the Plateau Millevaches Parc Naturel Regional (the most remote part of the region). There is lots of landscape variety; lots of rivers, streams and lakes; mountains up to just shy of 1000 metres (Mont Bessou, Correze). Forests and woodlands. Plenty of walking, cycling, swimming, nature based activities; nature reserves; wildlife; It is however a fairly poor and neglected area and many of the towns and villages have a run down feel and not in a good wayā¦more shabby than chic!!
However, it can be a beguiling area if you like peace and solitude and lovely countryside with a wildish feel. Even in summer when all the Parisians come to their second homes it is still pretty quiet compared to Dordogneshire which is crawling.
The climate can be a challenge!! We seem to be having a run of awful winters but more likely (in my mind) climate change. Last winter was very mild and very, very wet (no snow). This winter despite a brief cold snap around Christmas/New year has been unremittingly grim with barely any winter sunshine and relentless rain. We researched the climate deeply before moving here (Haute Correze) but it is nothing like the long term climate records. The cold and snowy winters with sunny/frosty days are not exactly nailed on anymore and the summers can be crazy hot here, pushing 40 degrees at times, even at 800 metres altitude. Just bonkers!!
The summers recently have seen record breaking hot spells and also extremely dry with several droughts, Creuse being especially badly hit by drought in 2019/20. Also the recent springs (apart from a blip in Feb 2020 - technically winter!) have been cool and wet and pretty uninspiring. I would say compared to nearly all of the lowland UK it is a very extreme climate. I have lived in Snowdonia and the Highlands and actually the winter climate here is just as bad if not worse. Itās not uncommon to not see the sun for a month at a time in winter!
Property wise (in our area) thereās loads of really bad quality and dated housing stock and all the cheap properties for renovation need a small fortune spending on them. Many houses are an energy efficiency nightmare with single glazing; oil boilers and limited or zero insulationā¦a recipe for huge heating bills/costs. When it does occasionally get cold here it is bloody cold!
Itās actually really, really hard to find a secluded house with land down a track away from everybody. We looked for ever and when we did find one the work was massive and the land was basically a bog (tourbiere)ā¦so we passed on it because we needed good growing land.
Thereās not much in the way of shopping and commerce, so any big purchases you need to travel to Limoges; Brive; Clermont or even Gueret. Local shops/supermarkets are overpriced compared to the big centres.
Youāll generally have a milder climate the further west and south you go. Brive is noticably warmer than Aubusson for example.
I would recommend the area but with reservations. If hot and sunny summers are your thing then it seems they are fairly reliable at the moment. If you cannot abide UK style wet and grey winters then go further south. The eastern side of the region is noticeably drier than the west. I guess Limousin is green for a reason. Property prices are cheap compared to much of France, but there aināt a lot going on here and it seems to be very seasonal.
Many urban French seem to be snapping up the rural properties so there is a chance the more isolated parts of the region will be stimulated by the influx of younger people and money. We recently got Fibre broadband and it is a gamechanger. Should be rolled out across the whole region by 2023.
Hope that was helpful to the OP
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Itās not wet year round like certain parts of the UK (Wales/Scotland/ south west/north west England). In fact it is often very extreme, going from extremely dry and hot in the summer to very wet and extremely grey in the winter/autumn/spring. The lack of winter sunshine is the most debilitating apsect. Stock up on your vitamin D supplements!!
We have been surprised by the fact that apart from ocassional blips (Feb 2020) that springs are pretty rubbish recently with summer arriving with a bang in mid June. We had a frost last year in early June that wiped out our tomatoes. From my experience here I really donāt think historical weather data is much use anymore. We had a tempete in spring 2018 that felled hundreds of trees in North Correze. We had a drought in summer 2019 with virtually no rain for 14 weeks. 2020 was touch and go too. 2017-18 saw record breaking winter rainfall. Records being broken all the time now.
Our area (Plateau Millevaches) is known for cold snowy winters and mixed cooler summers (high 20ās) with regular rainfall. It may be a blip but we are not seeing that anymore, at least not the last four years. Food for thought maybe?
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Hope you are well! Did you decide against the Ariege in the end?
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Hi there Marijke. Was that message to me? Yeah property prices down there were quite a bit higher. Not many places with attached land of any size. Also it felt crowded and busier compared to here. I was surprised how run down it was also. Stunning scenery though with snowcapped mountains and very green and a hippy/eco vibe. Loved that side of it, plus better weather. The more remote hamlets and villages close to the mountains were full of empty properties, some falling down. For a British person used to picture postcard villages in the Lake District/Dorset/Yorkshire Dales etc it is a bit of a culture shock to see such abandoned and dilapidated places in rural France, especially in such stunning and attractive locations as the Pyrenees. Iām sure itās not all the same across France, but my experience of Auvergne, Limousin, Ariege, Charente, Deux Sevres is of a rural environment that is really struggling. Maybe Covid 19 will be the spur to revitalise it.
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Hi Paul, yes it was. Come to Saone et Loire!
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Thank you, Paul, for your detailed feedback; much appreciated! I think your suggestion to rent a place before buying is sound advice. Despite the variable extreme weather, I still really like the idea of moving to Limousin. We have a very limited budget but we are eager to find a small house with some land to settle down and live in peace and quiet. Limousin sounds like the right place for us.
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Have a look at seloger.com for instance, but be careful about the diffence between a location and a location de vacances, the latter will be far more expensive.
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Do check out the Plateau Millevaches Regional Parc Naturel if you come over. It has some beautiful areas and is very peaceful. Eymoutiers is a good base for the Haute Vienne part; Meymac is a good gateway for the highest Correze part and Felletin is a good base for the Creuse part.
hi all,nearly had a heart attack at the start of this topic but dont feel too bad now iāve reached the bottom,we are not far from our house purchase finally going ahead in a small villiage near lake vass,we have been visiting france for a few years now mainly the dordogne but after a visit to Haute Vienne last summer we fell in love with the area and have had an offer excepted on a house in a villiage .
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Hi Colin, please add your full real name as per our T&C. Thanks.
Radon from granite in Brittany and also here in Burgundy.
We live in a house with a sous-sol, so it does not bother us.