We live in Angus, about 85 miles north of Edinburgh, 90 north of Glasgow and roughly 45 south of Aberdeen airports. We are thinking about buying a French property, as a holiday home initially. We are considering Poitou-Charentes or maybe Languedoc-Roussillon. However looking at travel, the only budget flights are seasonal (some starting end March, but mainly from April or May) to September. To get full use out of a property we would prefer to visit at least 3 or 4 times a year, in all seasons, including winter.
We think the distances involved make driving impractical - does anyone do this on a regular basis and how is it for you? Scheduled flights are expensive from Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen, and could involve more than one change.
Any ideas or suggestions? How do other people manage?
I am from the Var and went to school in Perthshire & then Fife. I went home for 1/2 term & holidays. I used to fly from Edinburgh to London to Nice or take the sleeper down to London & then the tube to Heathrow & get a 'plane. Sometimes, but rarely, my parents drove... it took getting on for a (long) day with a hovercraft or ferry in the middle. I can't believe it can be more difficult now than it was some 40 years ago.
Adrian - I'd be interested to hear the details of how you can get tickets to do the trip for around £100 - I can't seem to find anything even close to that price!
I don't know about any cuts as we are only there for 2 months each year, until I retire, when we will be in Europe for 6 months at a time. I will keep an eye out but no-one has posted anything on any of the Carcassonne blogs I follow. I just checked Ryanair flights to Glasgow(Prestwick) from Carcassonne for April and there looked like one or two flights per week. I was told that Ryanair are subsidised to fly to some airports, so maybe that is why they fly to Carcassonne all year???
Originally from Kincardineshire, we now live in Dumfriesshire, just over the Border from Carlisle.
We have a house in Charente Maritime, near the Gironde. Holiday home just now, but fulltime from next year, although my wife will have to fly back to Manchester once a month for work (Bordeaux or La Rochelle). I know the Aude well and we did consider that area, but decided the hotter summers/colder winters did not beat Dept 17, an area we also know well.
From Scotland it is a 2 day drive, with an overnight in the Calais-Abbeville area. We are doing it every 6 weeks.
A friend, working in Hamilton, has a yacht he now keeps at Rochefort. He flies over from Glasgow or Edinburgh to La Rochelle on a regular basis, sometimes just for a long weekend.
French friends, living near Libourne, flew over to our wedding in Kincardineshire two years ago, and did the trip Bordeaux-Gatwick-Aberdeen.
And friends who live in Keilder make the trip over on a very regular basis, trading across Europe at history festivals. They do the ferry from Newcastle.
Plenty of options - and while I love the Aude, I'd recommend Charente/Charente Maritime or the Gironde : it depends on the type of area you want to be in (sea and sand or inland). The weather is second to the Med in terms of sunshine hours - and far nicer than the cold, wet and har of Angus.
Hi there are trains from Edinburgh and Glasgow that go direct to Manchester airport, where there are choices of destinations via EasyJet, book your flights early and they are very reasonable indeed. Probably there are other choices too on a similar vein. Also look for a Railcard that may give you discounts, see the National Rail website. With that in mind Stansted has a rail connection too.
We are from Pittenweem and still have family there. We live in the Creuse, a haggis toss from Poitou Charente. It is a much underestimated region with only a minimal smattering of Brits. Flights to Paris are cheap from Edinburgh, and the train link this end is really good and again reasonably priced. Clermont Ferrand is due to come on line for direct flights to Edinburgh too.
When my wife still worked back home, we found we could use a range of 7 or 8 regional airports which flew from Edinburgh: Limoges, Poitiers, Tours, Bordeaux, Orleans, Beauvais. Brive, Chateauroux and Lyons are not beyond use either.
We now have a decent camping-car, and so road travel is both leisurely and very pleasant.
Dive in, why don't you? the water's warm and the English are well behaved over here!
Hi Peter, I'm originally from Perth but live in the south-west of France. The cheapest flights if you choose to go to Languedoc-Roussillon are probably Glasgow Prestwick to Carcassonne. There is always the option of Dundee to Stansted with Fly-be and then onward flights but it may be expensive. You can find the Glasgow Prestwick - Carcassonne flights from around 50€ return if you travel outside the main holiday times.
My mum came to Beziers by train from Berwick on Tweed in one day. She loved the journey and found it very much nicer than flying or driving. She left Berwick at 6.30am and arrived in Beziers at 9pm. She went to Kings Cross, then walked across the road to St Pancras and went via Euro Star to Lille, then changed platform and TGV to Montpellier and changed to a train stopping in Beziers. You can do Eurostar to Paris but you have to change stations and mum decided this was a step too far and Lille was easier with all her luggage....(Mainly goodies from home for us!)
I have lived in Roussillon 10 years now and travel to Scotland several times a year usually to Fife.
Until recently I would fly from Girona directly to Scotland with RyanAir running all the year round - They have stopped these flights though.
Now I take the high speed train to Barcelona airport ( AVANT in Spain & TGV in France ) from which several airlines offer competative prices to most Scottish airports.
We travel back and forth from Newcastle Upon Tyne to the Charente about 2-3 times a year. We have found that, for us, the best way is to sail from Newcastle to Amsterdam overnight then it is possible to do the trip to the Charente in about 9 hours. (although we tend to break the journey just S of Paris). Admittedly the journey is a real grind, but driving does mean that you don't have to maintain an extra car in France or hire. Also when you do get to have a good look at life over there, you will find that many items are unobtainable/hideously expensive/terrible quality. We invariably end up with a very full car one every trip. If you keep your eyes open DFDS regularly offer discounts for early booking - currently 20% off this route if youu book now.
Finally, I've crunched the numbers for all the driving options; tunnel, assorted ferries and, cost-wise the bottom line varies little, so we now go for comfort and convenience.
Just remembered that we once had visitors that came on the coach from Edinburgh to Lyon with a change in Paris. Think they were slightly sore though. This was pre EasyGreek days though.
Many thanks to you all - what a wealth of knowledge and experience there is here to draw on!
We hadn't thought of the train at all - that's one new avenue to explore!
Also flights to Paris CDG aren't too pricey, so TGV from there is also something to ponder.
We visited Poitou-Charentes last summer and liked what we saw. Languedoc-Roussillon also looks a very attractive destination but the additional distance IF we were to drive was putting us off. Maybe a visit there this year?
The option of keeping a car in France, rather than hiring each time, is also a good idea. Has anyone considered setting up a co-operative to do pick-ups from the airport on a reciprocal basis?
Depends where you are going to and coming from. I have looked into it. I pay my €60 a year for seniors reduction and get discounts above and beyond, especially by booking trips well ahead. However, it often comes to nothing. To get the trains to link just to get to London, I have to get a train early in order to get to Bordeaux to link to Paris. The first trip can be booked through BUT because the first trains are not included in any discounts... So I buy the full price Bergerac to Bordeaux. Because I book online I have my discounted Bordeaux to Paris ticket and reasonable time for the change. It costs me as much to do that to Paris and back as the reduced price Paris to London, in fact I saw it cheaper on offer on the TGV once. It is comfortable and not particularly stressful but it is a long journey nonetheless and actually costs me more than many flights.
So Simon, I am not disagreeing really, but it really does need careful researching before choosing trains and routes. If I wanted to do go to Scotland that way it would cost me approaching £300 return with my reduced prices and advance booking discounts. As the French say, boff!
was just about to say using the train a better option, no hanging around at airports and if booked months in advance you can get cheap tickets, plus you are not rushing around nor getting tired by driving.
We have a holiday home in Creuse and I work offshore out of Aberdeen.
I use the Caledonian sleeper to London,eurostar to Lille, then the Tgv to la souterraine. Total cost about £100 each way. Usually about 24 hours travel time but no hassle or stress
I forgot to say that for a short while we were able to use the ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge, but that is closed now. An alternative is a ferry from Hull, which let's you bypass some of England.
Hi Peter, I've been doing it for 20 years from Kirkcaldy to Riberac in Dordogne and the methods change from year to year. originally it was by car and overnight crossings from Portsmouth to St Malo/Caen etc. That is now too expensive, what with the boat fares and the tolls on the motorways. In recent years it has been cheaper to use the low cost airlines (with all their restrictions) and keeping a car here in France. You nee d a friend to collect you from the airports -Bordeaux & Bergerac. To be honest you just have to make the best of what is available at the time. Driving is now quite expensive - using the AA's calculations + tolls +boat + fuel, a return trip costs around £1000 in a Volvo estate. Flights by RyanAir from Edinburgh to Bordeaux rarely cost more than £100 and can be as little as £6. So you need to balance the cost over the whole year. Howver the pleasure of waking in the Dordogne or surroundings is worth every penny. Good luck with your plans.