Jeremy, Where in France do you fancy living? If not sure, look at destinations from Bristol by air. I know Beziers was one, close to the Mediterranean. Perhaps Pau in the SW, near the Atlantic. Brittany and NW REGIONS have climates mor akin to UK, so the more S or SW you go, the warmer times will be warmer more often than UK. The South of France def hottest part.
is health a priority?
Towns, cities will be more expensive to buy in. Rural areas have smaller towns, villages and communes.
A local Notaire or Mairies bureau will have details of more local properties for sale - are you aware sales on average take 3 months to complete and youâll also presumably need a French bank account at some point. Does your UK bank also have banks in France. I.e. HSBC, BARCLAYS. Their Branches are few and far between here, unlike French banks in general. Credit Agricole here, used to have one called CA BRITLINE.
Sorry if I sound like a wet blanket, but wasnât sure from your discussion how much you are aware of in France. also bring at least a couple of photocopies of Passport and birth certificate to keep separately from the originals, plus your most recent utility bill, as proof of current residence, if you put a deposit down.
Personally I would wait till in IN/OUT Referendum result is known, before moving and buying here
Permanently. We(in general) who have not taken dual nationality here, still need to be certain of ramifications of our status and position both in UK and France if itâs an out vote!
Notwithstanding above, it seems like France is your oyster! Search internet websites for property sales in regions you select to look at?
Bon voyage and hope you wonât need a park bench for long!
Hi.........i looked at property in Brittany, but decided to settle for one in more pas de Calais instead as the commute was easier.......I still have my house in Wales as well.I get frequent traveller tickets with Eurotunnel and each journey costs just £43.........having a car is a necessity as I'm in a small country village with a very limited bus service.........the house I have looked as if it didn't need major renovation, and a septic tañk had to be installed ,which was reflected in the price.......however........i found lots of hidden gems, and it has cost far more to make it into a habitable, comfortable home, than I expected!.......costs of materials are reasonable but I found the cost of actually paying someone to do the work exorbitant!......my advice to you would be......get at least three estimates for anything......and if possible, a personal recommendation from a local!........
Sadly It's Brittany, so no useful flights from Bristol airport ... probably no cheap flights at all.
By the sounds of it I almost need to be made favourably redundant to force me into getting over there.
But even Brittany is such a large area to cover.
All I know are a few basic physical requirements - reasonable proximity to the Atlantic, minimum size of garden, proximity to shops and services - my broadband requirements are modest.
It's the intangibles - above all, people ....
Perhaps I should install an ad blocker so I don't keep being shown tempting properties.
Ryanair or Jet2 flight? Is the place near an airport they fly into? You can often fly for under ÂŁ100 return outside of school holidays. We moved over here last September and started off renting. After 3 months we realised we weren't cut out as tenants and I walked into an estate agent one day to see if they had any properties for sale in a nice village we'd found. They had two. We liked the look of one on paper but after visiting both we have now been living in the other one for 3 weeks. It needed much less work and was more practical for us. We're also looking at about 20k to get it up to scratch. Generally, I always think it's best just to get on with things and see what happens.