More likely mine!
But it was a great visit. I found Oiron quite a contrast to Pas de Jeu.
We camped just outside Saumur and liked the place, but that was in the early 90s, and I’m sure it’s considerably different now. People in Angers were SERIOUSLY unfriendly towards us (can’t remember the details now) but there may have been a reason at the time.
My choices have always been dictated by proximity to work. As I had come from Germany where public transport is generally there to support mobility, it was easy to live in the sticks in a small town and commute to work.
Moving to France changed that approach, although I did try for a while to commute by train to Lyon, it simply didn’t fit with the work schedule, and then having kids, so I became a car commuter, and hated every second of it. When I moved to the Clermont area, I didn’t mind the commute into work because the roads were far less congested back then. These days, having seen my wife have to commute from where we are in the sticks to Clermont, I would probably not go down that route again if it ever were to occur again, which is unlikely since I work for myself, and my wife works for me! We drive together to the office, a mere 20 min from our house. We actually moved further from the office to our current house 10 years ago, but have gained in peace and tranquility, albeit at the cost of having to drive everywhere - no trains, or even buses out where we are. We’ll keep that up for as long we can. We’re not townies, and the whole idea of living in a town I find kind of depressing, having done it for brief periods in my youth. Perhaps when I’m retired, I won’t mind so much, we’ll see.
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He should buy a robot. 
Or let his garden grow wild and just cut paths through it.
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Just about describes the house we are renting in Cholet. The house is OK, but there are other factors that drive me nuts.
The house is right on the street, with just a sidewalk separating us from a pretty busy road. I have a garage, but even the tiny Pug 207 is really too big for it. It will just about fit, but then you can barely walk around it to get to the washing machine. Can’t really even open both doors. Can’t really back it in safely due to the traffic on the road. I only use the garage when I need to work on the car (like once/twice a year).Parking on the street is hampered by the lack of adequate spaces for cars.
My neighbors- on both sides- are very nice and are helpful- but…. On one side is a family with 3 small kids. Their house has NO frontage on the street, but they have 3 cars all parked on the street. On the other side, an older couple, with 2 smallish SUVs. They have a driveway where they could park one vehicle in, but always park in the street. It is very rare when I can park right in front of my house.
Our backyard is a nice with about 6 pear trees , an apple, a peach and 2 plum trees. Trouble is , it’s only about 8M wide and 50M long. I really have to be motivated to walk to the far end , let alone work on it.
I really like our neighbors and I don’t mind hearing the kids. But, it just seems so much nicer when they are gone.
Oh, and thankfully, we don’t share any common walls with anybody, except the garage, and that’s bad enough.
I don’t think I would want to live in another townhouse….
Nothing wrong with Saumur. We just wanted to be closer to Nantes. I probably would like to live north of the Loire.
It’s a bit too big - I think that’s my problem with it. Too much traffic, difficult to park in the centre. On the Loire Velo Route which I love in theory but not when it goes past my house (which it did when we lived near Saumur).
I think that it really depends upon the townhouse. We live in one now, but it’s on a busy departmental road (fun when the Tour went past, not on any other day) and our village is beyond dead. We park on the sidewalk in front of the house, and don’t really mind it. It’s pretty quiet and our neighbors seem nice, not that we talk to them much as our French isn’t good enough and they don’t speak English. I actually like the bustle of a busy neighborhood, but it would have to be the right situation.
We really like Tours, so wherever we settle will be close. We actually love the area where we are now, but the train situation is ridiculous. In the morning and evening (commute hours), the train from our nearest gare takes 28 minutes to get to Tours. The rest of the day, the journey is 2.5 hours, 4.5 hours (!), or not at all. It’s too bad, we were hoping to settle here, but it’s just not going to work.
Agreed!
We liked Langeais the few times we visited: pretty and not too touristy, though probably too small for you. But I bet you could find somewhere nice on the outskirts of Tours.
No, Langeais is actually perfect for us - perfect size, perfect distance from Tours, on the train line. But one of my non-negotiables is a river through the town. Of course, Langeais is on the Loire, but with the levee and the train tracks separating the town from the river, it might as well not be. It’s too bad, it’s a lovely place.
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Well, yes. But it’s hard to sort out the potential issues before you commit. We were kinda desperate to rent. We visited late on a Sunday evening when there was no traffic. We didn’t get to hear our next door neighbor opening his creaky gate which is bolted to the wall of our bedroom. When you rent, you don’t get many second chances to view the property, though you might if you were to buy. The closer you are to your neighbors, the more likely you will be impacted by them.
Thank you for the suggestion. I didn’t mention a preference, but we’re pretty much sold on Tours - not the city itself, it’s too large, but close enough to go for lunch/shopping, etc. But your area sounds lovely!
I can’t argue with that. We lucked out, though - we can’t even hear our neighbors most of the time. And we intend to rent in the town that we choose, at least, before we even start house shopping. It’s always a crapshoot, though.
Urgences leasing to a delightful week in soins intensifs…..
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Our neighbours are fit and healthy, probably 60. She has taken early retirement from La Posted and he still works, even after a heart attack lsdt year. They have around 7000m2 and they used to spend every Monday with both of them on ride ons plus the push along to get it all cut. They now have a robot which seems to do most of it, the occasional push along noise is now all we hear. The other night I was out on the terrace and could hear banging noises in their garden near their pigeon shed and random torch light. I was a bit worried they’d fallen or something so I called out a few times with no answer. Starting to get more worried, I then realised the light was their little robot toodling around and the noises the walnuts falling on the shed roof 
. She was most amused when I texted her and said it was ‘mal élevé’ to have not replied
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It does depend on how far above the river you are. We have a river that goes straight through the centre of our village, but it’s never been seriously flooded, even in the October 2018 floods which devastated a lot of the area near here. A lot of the village is 20 m above river level.
Maybe I wasn’t clear, or else I’m confused by your comment. A riverside town is a must for me. The second village that we lived in was on the Loire, and there were boats, fishing, walking paths, a restaurant on a boat, etc. The river was a feature, basically. The way that Langeais is laid out, there’s a separation between the village and the river, with a high levée and the train line running along the top of it.
How many places are there within half an hour or an hour of Tours? I’m sure I’m teaching you to suck eggs but can you narrow your search down to that?
We like Azay-le-Rideau which we’ve only seen in spring or summer but it seems to be a year-round place. Lovely chateau that has the occasional event, a few shops and restaurants and a pretty square in the middle. The river Indre flows thought it. You can even live on the hill if flooding is a concern.
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Ah. I got your comment about a river the wrong way round, possibly because people here have mentioned flood risks and ruling out houses because of it. I thought you meant a river would be a negative and not a positive. As I said, it really doesn’t have to be an issue as long as you find the local risks plan and look at the lie of the land.
About a thousand, and I feel like we’ve seen them all!
We have narrowed it down. All three of our identified towns are within an hour of Tours, as is the fourth that we need to explore further. They ALL meet our criteria. That’s where we’re stuck.
Azay-le-Rideau is beautiful, and was on the list for a while, but I think that it’s probably too touristy. One of the villages where we have lived is a “tour bus town”. I’m not doing that again, lol. Thanks for the suggestion, though.
Gotcha. Yes, you are correct. I probably won’t pick a property that’s actually on a river, but a view would be nice!