Hi, I’m Australian (well, still a Londoner at heart) Moving to France permanently to retire with my other galf, later this year. Plan has been several years in the making. We’ve travelled around France many, many times and will settle in the SW. Husband’s preference is 24, mine 47. Really looking forward to reading everyone’s experiences.
Hi and welcome. We are also planning to move to 47 as soon as we find a buyer for our house in Brittany.
It sounds as if maybe the area that we are searching in around Lauzun would suit you as you’d only be ten or fifteen minutes from southern 24 so you could both be satisfied. I guess you could do it the other way around but then, like you, we have a strong preference for 47.
Good luck.
Interesting. We are currently in the East and planning to head north’ish and West’ish. Have ruled out 24, and 47 is still in the mix along with 14.
What draws you to 47, and what have made you want to leave Brittany.?
And as you have asked the question of @letstryagain, do you mind saying why you have ruled out 24? 
Fortunately for all of us we will still be able to benefit from your help, from wherever it comes. 
It is of course always a matter of personal choice and preference and I would never be rash enough to vouch that one region or department is better than the other.
I bought my first house in France some thirty six years ago in Seine Maritime, next door to Calvados (14), and have great memories of happy times there. However, it was always just a holiday home where I spent weekends and the occasional longer periods with family and friends.
The next purchase was in the Minervois in the Aude department which was initially my new holiday home but became a permanent residence in 2003. Thereafter I got married there, in the village of Mailhac where we lived, in 2004.
Due to circumstances I shall not bore you with we moved to Brittany in 2009. We bought a ruin which we restored and then a second ruin in 2017 which we also restored. It is now time to move on.
In general terms I favour the warmer climates having lived in Bermuda, Turkey and Texas among others, as well as the south of France. Brittany is certainly popular as many people have moved or are looking to move here but it is no longer for me/us, if indeed it ever truly was. The coastline is wonderful but I really cannot stand even one more winter here. I find it truly, truly depressing. If you like greenery, humidity, rain and constant damp then this is the place for you. I also find the promotion of the Breton culture increasingly grating. Memories of living in God’s country.
I guess we are looking for our new home in 47 partly by chance. We have several friends there already and we both fell instantly in love with the area. The countryside and bastide towns are extremely attractive, the weather is better and the people are smiling and friendly.
Importantly for me, it is ‘big sky’ country which you either will or will not appreciate. This is one reason why I prefer 47 to 24. The latter is also attractive but the forests and valleys seem to close in on me after the rolling valleys and plains of the Lot et Garonne.
Of course there will be other areas which would suit us and I always keenly follow threads extolling the virtues of Nice, the Pyrenees Oriental, Biarritz and so forth. In summary it is the south for us. The 47 seems to offer most of what makes us happy at an affordable price but I will always keep an open mind.
Maybe the next move will be to an apartment in Nice.
Are you sure about 47? Doesn’t sound like you’ll get the type of winter that suits you.
Even the South can be very cold in January and February.
Cold is one thing - it was minus 7 some nights when we were in Spain last week - but it was dry and the skies were clear and daytime was gloriously sunny, albeit only 5-8 degrees.
What is a challenge for some of us is dank days - grey, overcast, foggy, cold. And 47 can have its fair share of those.
Yes, I agree with that.
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There is no way that it is as wet and damp as Brittany. Cold is not a problem. Humidity is.
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You are correct there John. I remember extreme cold in the Minervois on occasion.
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I don’t think you get months on end of grey skies and rain. In all seriousness, the grass does not even dry out at all between about October and March.
Neither does it in 47 - OH despairs in winter as he needs to cut the grass as it continues to grow, but rarely can get to it because it’s too wet.
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AUDEUR rate are moving a lot over the last 100 days with thanks to Trumps election. It has moved nearly 5% since October, meaning a €500k property in France has changed in price by over AUD $15k.
Well worth keeping an eye on if you have plans to make that move, I would not suggest putting currency at the bottom of the list and getting it closer to the top of things to start thinking about.
What are your thought, plans, expereince?
Well I will take your word for that Sue as you live there but I was down there last at the beginning of December and it struck me how much less damp it was.
Have you ever experienced a Breton winter? Perhaps, as the old comedy adage goes, its a different type of rain.
All I do know is that friends who have moved to 47 (and another in the Var) keep telling us, much to our chagrin, how much drier and brighter it is down there.
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Many of us a re talking about moves within France, so currency not an issue. But thanks for the reminder.
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SE 47 here.
In the last couple of weeks we’ve had freezing fog, -5°C overnight temperatures, storm force winds and days where the air seemed to be mostly water and we got as wet going outside as we would during medium drizzle.
Depending on altitude, prevailing winds and how the local valleys line up you mind find you have several weeks of what we call Ping Pong Ball Weather as it’s still, damp and there’s a white wall 50 metres in every direction.
On the clear, frosty winter days, you want to be on the South facing side of the valley or the sun will never clear the frost.
Don’t get me wrong, I love it here in 47, but the winters here can feature some weeks of depressing weather.
Oh, and if you’re planning to live somewhere surrounded by farms on minor roads, you’ll want a car with decent ground clearance to avoid the brick-sized clods of mud left on the roads by tractors and with decent headlights to pick out the grey-brown roads from the grey-brown verges and the grey-brown fields in the winter months.
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I moved to the PO in 2022 after 30years of living in far west Brittany and the damp was something you either accepted and lived with or got out. Since moving, all aches and pains are completely gone but unfortunately now its gone the other way and it gets too hot plus I do miss the green maritime landscape but family being in the next commune is far more important.
Good point - these things are relative. We did try holidaying in Brittany one summer and after a week of rain just drove south. Didn’t stop until Saint Jean pied de port. 
Next time OH complains I’ll remind him it’s not as bad as Brittany.
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Thanks for the input Notalot…all important info.
I have myself been told by the locals down there that the SE is a lot wetter and colder than the west and NW. Your comments would seem to add weight to that argument. Maybe its the maritime climate further west or that famous confluence.