Dust Bunnies! 
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‘Ouss’ in Scotland. (Rhymes with loose).
Ouss in the houss!! 
Louss ouss in the houss?
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There’s jouss louss aboot this houss:
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If you are used to easy access to shops and services getting in a car or on your bike all the time can be frustrating. We looked for places near a town with industry and an active mayor who was bringing in new ideas. We appreciate this more as we get older but of course we still made mistakes in that we have far too much land. The other downside is the rain I would move to the Dordogne if I was buying again, cheap flights and you can get cheap houses.
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A bit further south, the Aveyron has better weather and cheaper property - think the landscape also beats the Dordogne - OTOH if you want actual towns…
Cheap flights can go as fast as they arrived. Bad idea in my opinion to rely on one transport hub, no matter how cheap it is. And cheap houses can be money pits.
I like visiting the Dordogne, but would never live there.
Also look at winds! I could never live anyway that was regularly touched by the mistral or the tramontane, and also sirocco. Would go mad!
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Unfortunately Normandy is blessed with a light drizzle in winter and spring, but it’s not cold. However it can be dispiriting or on the other hand bring exquisite primroses, violets and wild anemones bursting along the country lanes. I love the lushness but loathe the incessant rain and grey skies.
Come and live next to me in Strasbourg. It’s pretty dry and brutal winters seem to be a thing of the past. We just had a couple of very cold weeks this year. Lovely hot summers.
There’s an excellent tram system if the day ever comes when you have to give up your car. And the city is awash with medical specialists.
For access to nature, you have the Vosges on the French side and the gorgeous Black Forest on the other side.
The city is home to large numbers of non-French Europeans so English is widely spoken (I have a Polish dentist who used to live in Sheffield). And for days when France gets too much, you can just pop over the border to Germany.
It’s not cheap, though.
Just remembered this thread is about deserted villages. Plenty of those in Alsace. I cycle through them regularly and they’re mostly very pretty but no signs of life. I think I’d slit my wrists if I had to live there.
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@Helenochka I expect they are full of commuters and vignerons out all day.
Neuf-Brisach gets my vote as grimmest place in the area, you want to slit your wrists even if you make a brief visit. I love Strasbourg and Alsace in general but I am glad I just make occasional forays there and zip back the other side of the Rhine 
But go and have the delicious zander in Rhinau at the Bords du Rhin, and the Auberge de l’Ill is always good.
I’ll second that! Normandy in winter can be very depressing. However, it is very beautiful and I couldn’t cope with the temperatures further south (on the basis that it’s easier to get warm outside when you re cold than to get cool when you are hot!)
I wouldn’t go for a village that genuinely had no facilities nearby but we live in a hamlet just under 3km from a thriving village with facilities and a go-ahead mayor. This means we can walk into the village if necessary in order to get what we need, although we do usually use the car. it’s beautifully peaceful here but there is an active community in the village. Property is not expensive but it depends what you want @JulesV . Very cheap means renovation.
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Ha! Agree Neuf Brisach is utterly grim. Especially on a Sunday. Weirdly, pop over the Rhine and Breisach, it’s German counterpart, is buzzing. Even on a Sunday.
That’s true of all the towns and villages around here. Germany is much livelier.
Oh yes! Even a sleepyish place like Freiburg (which I consider home as much as anywhere else).
Its what they put in the beer I think 
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Lots of oom-pah-pah!
I used to deliver giant slabs of aluminium from S. Wales to Neuf Brisach years ago. Each one weighed about 6 tonnes so 3 was a full load. I never noticed a village but the receiver insisted that we remove all the covers over the trailer to lift them off with an overhead gantry crane. This was a time consuming and very difficult process and we were really fed up with it. Then on one visit I noticed that they had a giant fork lift truck on the site, capable of lifting 10 tonnes at a time.
The next time I told them that the roof was rigid and could not be moved but the sides could be lifted up easily. They fetched the heavy lifter and we never had to go through all that grief again. 
To get back more to the thread title theme, we used to arrive there via the national route from Dieppe (no A-routes then) and my brother and I, travelling in convoy, were ready for a meal. We entered a village called Baccarat which was entirely blacked out, not a shutter was open, this at 9pm. But then I noticed the pavements lined both sides with long distance lorries, all similarly blacked out but I spotted a space and pulled over telling Johnny on the CB to find himself a spot too. We both walked back into the silent village and then spotted a chink of light in one of the houses, a shutter half open. We walked inside into a riot of light and chatter. A 20 foot long room with a table the full length. Drivers, lots of them, and we were soon welcomed warmly into the bosom of French conviviality. Never judge a village by the absence of light and sound.
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You live in Germany? Wow. For some reason I had this vision of you as a Brigitte Bardot type slinking around the Côte d’Azur in a leopardskin bikini.
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Not the only one, I suspect. 