Hello,
We previously lived in the Languedoc and are presently in Brittany. We have lived in France for twenty years and are now contemplating returning south. This is partly for a change of environment (I personally get wanderlust) and partly to avoid the damp, lengthy Brittany winters.
I would appreciate any pertinent advice on living in this area. For no reason outside of internet research we seem to be zoning in on an area around Marmande and Lavardac. I have seen several attractive and affordable properties here and, prior to an exploratory visit would appreciate any advice from locals.
Thank you in advance.
I guess nobody lives there.
I live not very far away, in S. 24 - but you asked specifically about a particular bit of 47.
Be careful with flooding around the Garonne. In recent years there have been several âonce in a lifetimeâ floods. There are some lovely rolling hills above the flatter areas - have you looked at places like Beaupuy which look down on Marmande? You have the convenience of a very good commercial centre plus stacks of history, good restaurants, and good local resources like doctors / dentists / etc and at the same time you can quickly be in unspoilt country / farming territory with little or no traffic.
You have the joy of two major rivers with very different characters plus the lateral canal - great for walking along the tow path on a hot summerâs day.
Temperatures can get high - this has changed in the last 16 years. High 30s are not unusual in June / July.
Winters tend to be short but can be damp - we have had snow but not in recent years. My favourite times of year here are Spring and Autumn, the latter especially can extend almost up to Christmas.
Itâs not a major tourist area so summers tend to be tranquil - the occasional camper van parked in the Leclerc carpark.
Youâll hear English voices, but not in large numbers. Saturday afternoon in the supermarket (especially in summer) the dominant language is more likely to be Spanish or Portuguese as the workers come in from the surrounding farms. Itâs a major agricultural area for France - some vineyards and some nice local wines but because the alluvial soil is rich itâs mainly arable / fruits / veg and salads.
Depending on where you look the ground is clay on top of sandstone, so thereâs a fair amount of subsidence with the change in the seasons from wet to dry. That said, our 350 year old house has cracks, but no-one worries much as itâs been here for quite a while.
Edit: @NotALot mentions the weather. There is a fascinating diagonal line up through L&G which bisects the terrain around Marmande. So when there are storms - none last year, several this - that come in either over the Pyrenees or in off the Bay of Biscay they can touch Marmande and then swing north east.
Itâs strange to say this, but almost certainly weather in Lavardac will be different from Marmande.
Bear in mind that this part of France is still rural. Check the presence of fibre and 4G, if this matters to you - donât assume they will be there!
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Iâm on the other side of Agen to those areas and have only been to Nerac sightseeing the once.
Seemed to be more rolling hills than the many tiny valleys out my way and I think the Western side of the dept. does get more than itâs fair share of any bad weather. I seem to remember Marmande getting flooded twice in 2021.
I always thought I wanted to be close to the river. Weâre in Gironde not L&G but I remember us seeing this video when we were still in UK and looking at towns like La RĂ©ole⊠I no longer want to live quite so close to a river now 
This was shot in 2019 but there were also floods there in 2021 iirc.
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Thank you for advising me of some very pertinent factors. I did not realise that the Gironde was so susceptible to flooding. Having been victims of a flood ourselves in the Languedoc in 2002 (two and a half metres of water in the house) we have no wish to repeat it. The Red Cross, neighbours and community were brilliant otherwise it could have been rather soul destroying.
Micro climates seem to abound all over France so that is no surprise but this âfascinating diagonal lineâ interests me. One of the reasons for the move is to avoid the high humidity and damp of Brittany and benefit from more dependable sunshine. The cold is acceptable if the days are generally bright.
If anyone is able to offer a rough synopsis of weather patterns east to west or north to south that would be appreciated. We are realists and know that the perfect climate does not exist but if we wish to avoid floods and damp whats the best shot?
In what way would Lavardac be so different to Marmande by the way? I assume Lavardac and Nerac etc are equally susceptible to flooding.
If I could impose on your kindness a little further, I will continue my research (prior to an exploratory trip in the next few weeks) and a little later I will mention a few towns/villages with properties that we are considering making appointments to view. If there are any really strong considerations why we should avoid (or favour) these areas your comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks once again.
See map below. (If you click on it, it enlarges, easier to see) Marmande is to the north west of Lavardac. The LH black line shows you where the weather pattern changes - to the west (direction Bordeaux) wetter. To the east of that line dryer. The storms very often split in their journey north east and there is another line to the east - Agen is wetter than the countryside in the middle of the two lines.
We donât know, but we believe the junction of the Lot and the Garonne at Aiguillon impacts on the movement of storms somehow.
Bear in mind dryer weather these days is not necessarily a virtue if you like your garden. Last year we had no rain (or storms) from April til end September - there were whole parts of the garden I just had to leave to get on with it and some bushes are only recovering now.
I recommend watching websites like Lightning & Thunderstorms - Europe
and Ventusky - Wind, Rain and Temperature Maps They are great for monitoring weather patterns if this is important to you.
Thereâs another major distinction between Marmande and Lavardac. Marmande has excellent train communications - straight to Bordeaux and then up to Paris in two hours for lunch. Both are equally good for getting onto the A62.
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This may be of use or interest
Weather varies hugely over relatively small distances though.
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Forgot to say - Marmande is the tomato capital of the world! 
Difficult to believe, but in late summer three days of celebration are devoted to the tomato.
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Why is it difficult to believe? Itâs like sardines in Aude and Brittany, lemons in Menton and flowers in Nice, etc etc etc, of course we celebrate them 
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Iâm happy to celebrate anything⊠any time⊠hic 
My missus would love that⊠sheâs crazy about tomatoes. Personally I canât stand them and only eat them when itâs in a purĂ©e on a pizza or in a ketchup on a burger.
I used to live in the Aude and never realised that sardines were so important there as it seemed to be all about the wine. However, i can attest to the fact that here in Brittany they are very important. We have entire shops dedicated to the sardine. The cans are wonderfully decorated in a blaze of design and colour and every possible permutation of sardine purchase is available. I do generally leave them for the tourists though as the prices are equally decorated.
Reverting to the matters of L et G your inputs are very informative. Thanks once again.
These micro climates are very pesky. Get it right and life can be blissfulâŠget it wrong and you pay. As ever it would seem that local knowledge must be sought. The trouble with France is that it offers so many attractive options that with only one life to live its sort of important to get it right. As one gets older even more so as there is less time to correct any poor decisions.
I have considered returning to the Languedoc but generally dont like âgoing backâ anywhere. Its rarely the same. The Var might be an option but that can be super hot and its pricey near the coast (as is pretty much anywhere nowadays). We visited the Medoc last month and although our reaction was favourable we were slightly disconcerted by several locals telling us that the people were âsauvageâ. Its also like living on an island which I have done and am not too keen to repeat.
Given that my wife is from Guernsey and has to be within striking distance of the coast (two hours absolute max) we have considered also Charente Maritime (too flat), Charente (pretty but too far and too cold and dead in winter) and also Landes, Gers and Herault.
Now I am old enough if not wise enough to know that it is not always possible to make generalisations but for some reason as I said in my OP my brain seems to have settled on Lot et Garonne. We dont know anyone there or have any friends but that has never bothered us too much. Friends can be made.
We shall be making an initial visit within the next few weeks. Several properties offer potential. Apart from those in Marmande and Lavardac/Nerac, where the former seems to have better transport links but the latter better weather, I have identified houses in âŠ
Monflanquin
Lougratte
Saint Front sur Lemance
Saint Astier
Savignac de Dumas
Villeneuve sur Lot
I do realise that members on here are not my personal estate agents/tour guides but if by chance you have any observations to make about any of these towns/villages I would be interested to hear them.
To end with a couple of big questionsâŠ
From what I have read the department is very active in the summer but would seem to be effectively dead in the winter. This would hardly be unique to L et G but is it generally true?
Health services here in Brittany are excellent. Can the same be said of Lot et Garonne?
Finally, for anyone that does live there⊠SuePJ that would seem to be you and NotALot so far with Vero a close neighbourâŠwould you recommend it?
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Given that weâve been here 16 years I would have thought the answer to that was pretty obvious.
But so much depends on what kind of life you are looking for. Yes, L&G is buzzing in the summer with all its night markets, concerts, theatre, etc etc. but the rest of the year is what you make of it and what your interests are. I belong to a photo club and a weekly Zoom French conversation group, OH used to play bridge. Friends enjoy walking groups, dance, art classes and so on. The beginning of September is when people sign up for their winter activities. When we first came here we used to meet up with friends and eat out regularly, often twice a month. These days, we are more circumspect and choose to go out less but choose better quality restaurants.
Health services? Depends on your area. Ask around. You may have to travel further. I go to Bordeaux for a top quality ophthalmologist whoâs based there because I have complications. He also works in Marmande and did an excellent job on OHâs cataract. Agen has excellent hospitals and surgeons and the nursing support is superb. Both OH and I know from first hand experience. I go to Villeneuve for my dentist - again, because I have complications, I could go more locally. We have a good MT group practice in town. (Thatâs something new in the last 6 or so years - the town spent a lot of time recruiting/investing in medical support) We have first class laboratories, radiology departments.
Itâs worth looking at whether the place you are moving to is thriving - new industry coming in, new lotissements being built, schools expanding. You may not want that type of environment (we donât, weâre in the country) but it shows us how healthy our local community is.
And the sea? Two hours across the Landes to wild Atlantic rollers. Two hours to Lacanau (wonderful, crazy, holiday town, heaving with places to eat). Under two hours to Arcachon and its huge bay - calm waters and elegant locals. This is where the French holiday and where young Germans come to surf.
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Haha, I hear that a lot. Weâve been here 3 years now and the Medocains are actually not that bad. I think the worst complaint I have about them (more specifically, the males) is that they think nothing of peeing anywhere and everywhere. We have some friends who will happily go pee in the garden when weâre having a BBQ, despite us having perfectly adequate toilets at their disposition. I also see it regularly when out driving⊠the men will happily stand at the side of the road taking a pee, not trying in the slightest to hide what theyâre doing.
Iâve also heard that theyâre supposed to be an unwelcoming bunch. But thatâs not true at all⊠Iâm not sure where this rumour comes from originally, but theyâve been very open and warm in my experience.
The Medoc is largely surrounded by water so I can see your point about it feeling like living on an island.
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The Var is chez moi, I come from a fishing village on the coast and wouldnât buy a house there now, too much of a nightmare in summer and not somewhere Iâd want to bring up children nowadays.
Lougratte is down the road from chez moi, looks ok, nothing happening. Thereâs a recreational lake.
Villeneuve sur Lot is full of kĂ©kĂ©s according to the garderie assistante at my childrenâs school.
The MĂ©doc is full of people who marry their siblings, think Forest of Dean.
Monflanquin looks ok, I donât know anyone from there, the agri coop is good.
Thereâs Cancon as well, not far away.
Funny you should say that the MĂ©doc is full of people who marry their siblings(even if tongue in cheek) because many moons ago(maybe 40 of them) I was picking grapes in the Haute MĂ©doc(maybe ST Seurin de Cadourne)and I couldnt get over how a lot the villagers seemed to resemble each other.It was fascinating;
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Itâs what people say about the MĂ©doc both here in Dordogne and where I work in Gironde, a bit rich since neither is particularly diverse if you ask me, thank goodness for bicycles which meant you didnât have to rely on family get-togethers to find a fiancĂ©(e). Clearly bicycles havenât reached the MĂ©doc.
Thanks again for all the helpful advice and amusing anecdotes.
We did like the feel of the Medoc but, Garethâs contentment aside, there seems to be something about it unless it is just careless whispers. It is strange though that three people advised us not to move there. The first was a rather snobby chap in Soulac sur Mer (a rather isolated, comfortable community), the second the owner of a restaurant in Lesparre-Medoc and the third the manager of a restaurant in Pauillac. This last was the most amusingâŠhaving muttered responses to my questions whilst inside the restaurant she chased me out when we left. It turned out that she herself was a Breton who was temporarily there for employment. She explained that she couldnât say too much inside the restaurant as there were locals eating but that whatever we did we should not move there as the people were âwrongâ. All rather amusing and somewhat disconcerting to us. Anyway, with respect to Gareth, we did like the area and would probably otherwise take a punt anyway but the âislandâ thing turns me off.
So to Lot et GaronneâŠI did not know that you have lived their for sixteen years SuePJ. As you rightly say that answers my question.
Quiet winters do not bother us and I simply asked out of interest. Unless I am mistaken the winters are shorter there and it seems that, despite cold temperatures overnight, the winter days can often be sunny and bright. The Morbihan may well be milder but the dampness can persist for days on end between October to March/April. I did however notice from Veroâs weather reports that there seems to be a lot of fog?
As to the area it seems to me that the southern area with close proximity to the A62 offers good transport links and providing that one stays out of âzones inondableâ it could be a suitable option. The problem is that a lot of the properties Iâm finding to suit my project and budget are further north and west in the department which adds an hour to the ninety minute jaunt to the beach.
I shall keep researching. We plan a trip down there in about five weeks so plenty of time and we wouldnât be moving for at least a year anyway as we will need to sell up here. Perhaps we should also look at the southern Dordogne area? I have previously been biased against it believing it to be swamped with Brits. Iâve obviously nothing against fellow countrymen per se but do not want to be susceptible to that little clique mentality.
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