I’m bored of where I live!
Discussion
Know how you feel and one of (many) factors which after a decade took us all the way from The Lot to Spain's Costa Blanca.
Now living a flat km or so walk outside a proper Spanish town with dozens of tapas bars/restaurants (at least 3 with draught Guinness!), 3 good sized supermarkets, roughly 30 minutes drive to the coast and not much more to restaurants of every flavour imaginable and shops where we can easily buy just about anything which takes our fancy.
Living in 'splendid isolation' is not always what it's cracked up to be!
Been there, done that but just one more stop on a journey which is now over.
Sadly for many Brex5hite has made radical relocations at best difficult and at worst impossible.
Now living a flat km or so walk outside a proper Spanish town with dozens of tapas bars/restaurants (at least 3 with draught Guinness!), 3 good sized supermarkets, roughly 30 minutes drive to the coast and not much more to restaurants of every flavour imaginable and shops where we can easily buy just about anything which takes our fancy.
Living in 'splendid isolation' is not always what it's cracked up to be!
Been there, done that but just one more stop on a journey which is now over.
Sadly for many Brex5hite has made radical relocations at best difficult and at worst impossible.
Edited by Expatloon on Tuesday 18th January 09:26
Ussrcossack said:
Carcassone
Nice climate
cycle on Canal du Midi
And, just to the west of Carcassonne is the new Voie Verte cycle track which adds to the already significant network of cycle routes built mainly on old railway tracks, so not too hard, but this is a hilly area away from the coast and the canal so come and have a look before you jump! Nice climate
cycle on Canal du Midi
Smiffy
Are we to take this is a 'within' France question?
If so...
Bordeaux
Decent sized town house with parking. Couldn't bear to have the cars on the street.
Bordeaux just seems to get better and better. 2 hours to Paris.
Cap Ferret
Large chalet In the woods with access to Bassin d'Arcachon
Border towns
I rather like the idea of living on or near a border to have a 'bit of both' or even a threesome.. so
Are we to take this is a 'within' France question?
If so...
Bordeaux
Decent sized town house with parking. Couldn't bear to have the cars on the street.
Bordeaux just seems to get better and better. 2 hours to Paris.
Cap Ferret
Large chalet In the woods with access to Bassin d'Arcachon
Border towns
I rather like the idea of living on or near a border to have a 'bit of both' or even a threesome.. so
- Evian le Bains - Lakes, Mountains, Switzerland, Italy
- Saint Jean de Luz Sea, Mountains, Spain
- Metz Germany, Belgium
Yep,still within France.
We have semi done Bordeaux when the kids were at school,we rented a flat and commuted back home to Dordogne at the weekend.
Staying local to Bergerac is coming up trumps at the moment,partly because my son has just begun treatment for his mental health issues.
TBH I’m sick of maintaining a f
king huge house,barn and the associated land when in reality we live in the kitchen and bedroom with occasional trips to the bathrooms.
Winge over.
We have semi done Bordeaux when the kids were at school,we rented a flat and commuted back home to Dordogne at the weekend.
Staying local to Bergerac is coming up trumps at the moment,partly because my son has just begun treatment for his mental health issues.
TBH I’m sick of maintaining a f
king huge house,barn and the associated land when in reality we live in the kitchen and bedroom with occasional trips to the bathrooms.Winge over.
AndrewCrown said:
Smiffy
Are we to take this is a 'within' France question?
If so...
Bordeaux
Decent sized town house with parking. Couldn't bear to have the cars on the street.
Bordeaux just seems to get better and better. 2 hours to Paris.
Cap Ferret
Large chalet In the woods with access to Bassin d'Arcachon
Border towns
I rather like the idea of living on or near a border to have a 'bit of both' or even a threesome.. so
Definitely Cap Ferret from the above - quite fancy it in about 10 years time as a retirement option. Oh and just to add if you come up to Metz (which I wouldn't bother to include in your list) you don't have to stop at a threesome but rather go for the whole "group" thing if you include Luxembourg along with Germany and Belgium too Are we to take this is a 'within' France question?
If so...
Bordeaux
Decent sized town house with parking. Couldn't bear to have the cars on the street.
Bordeaux just seems to get better and better. 2 hours to Paris.
Cap Ferret
Large chalet In the woods with access to Bassin d'Arcachon
Border towns
I rather like the idea of living on or near a border to have a 'bit of both' or even a threesome.. so
- Evian le Bains - Lakes, Mountains, Switzerland, Italy
- Saint Jean de Luz Sea, Mountains, Spain
- Metz Germany, Belgium
We tried the living in France in the country thing , reality was we could walk to Sarlat la Canada in 40 mins or drive there in 5 mins , but it didn’t suit us .
We did however end up building a holiday house on the plot next door to the original house and my wife used to fly in and we’d take holidays from our holiday house whilst I was building it .
We ended up with a liking for biarritz and after a few trips started discussing maybe selling the new holiday house and buying something there instead .
One afternoon while she’s lying on the beach I went up to town and started looking through agents windows , I found the ideal property , a luxury 4 bed apartment overlooking the beach with a large terrace in an old character building , problem was it was 830k . I did the maths , decided after selling ours , cashing in some savings and taking a mortgage we could just afford it .
I sold my wife the idea and off I went to organise a viewing , use it for ten years as a holiday apartment then sell up in England and retire there debt free .
As I was looking again at the description for the reference number I noticed the price wasn’t quite what I first thought , my 830k would only be covering the ten percent deposit for the 8:3 million luxury apartment !
At that moment I decided biarritz probably wasn’t for us .
I’m pleased I didn’t actually go in and ask about it !
We did however end up building a holiday house on the plot next door to the original house and my wife used to fly in and we’d take holidays from our holiday house whilst I was building it .
We ended up with a liking for biarritz and after a few trips started discussing maybe selling the new holiday house and buying something there instead .
One afternoon while she’s lying on the beach I went up to town and started looking through agents windows , I found the ideal property , a luxury 4 bed apartment overlooking the beach with a large terrace in an old character building , problem was it was 830k . I did the maths , decided after selling ours , cashing in some savings and taking a mortgage we could just afford it .
I sold my wife the idea and off I went to organise a viewing , use it for ten years as a holiday apartment then sell up in England and retire there debt free .
As I was looking again at the description for the reference number I noticed the price wasn’t quite what I first thought , my 830k would only be covering the ten percent deposit for the 8:3 million luxury apartment !
At that moment I decided biarritz probably wasn’t for us .
I’m pleased I didn’t actually go in and ask about it !
AndrewCrown said:
Oh dear Smiffy.. its January, its dark I think you're ok to be a bored...
You’re right,I think it’s mostly boredom,however we are going to down size as the house and land don’t fit our family anymore.On the plus side I have just started(been out 3 times) enduro which I really enjoy.
smifffymoto said:
You’re right,I think it’s mostly boredom,however we are going to down size as the house and land don’t fit our family anymore.
On the plus side I have just started(been out 3 times) enduro which I really enjoy.
In late December we were wondering round Bergerac trying to walk off the endless lunch one has at the Le Tuquet in Bouniagues. There are some absolutely wonderful old Bourgeois town houses.On the plus side I have just started(been out 3 times) enduro which I really enjoy.
https://www.green-acres.fr/en/properties/24813a-86...
Forgot to mention Libourne
We also pass, never stop but have been making an effort to try other towns.. Once again some amazing property there, seems like a civilised little place.
nickfrog said:
Paul you could gone to Sarlat-la-Canéda instead. 
Or Sarlat as everyone ever calls it
I’m obviously trying to block it from memory ! Or Sarlat as everyone ever calls it
I know a few who moved to France into the huge house and realised a few years later they lived , as previously mentioned , in the kitchen diner or outside on the terrace beside the pool . I know we did , albeit we bought a smaller more manageable house as there was only the two of us .
AndrewCrown said:
smifffymoto said:
You’re right,I think it’s mostly boredom,however we are going to down size as the house and land don’t fit our family anymore.
On the plus side I have just started(been out 3 times) enduro which I really enjoy.
In late December we were wondering round Bergerac trying to walk off the endless lunch one has at the Le Tuquet in Bouniagues. There are some absolutely wonderful old Bourgeois town houses.On the plus side I have just started(been out 3 times) enduro which I really enjoy.
https://www.green-acres.fr/en/properties/24813a-86...
Forgot to mention Libourne
We also pass, never stop but have been making an effort to try other towns.. Once again some amazing property there, seems like a civilised little place.
We had a big old farmhouse in rural Charente Maritime for 20 years. We never lived there full time but always thought we might.
We ended up holiday letting it to cover the running costs and so it was always hassle. When we were there it was too big and too far from anywhere. Our nearest large village was just a bit to far to walk to and when you got there it was pretty dead.
So .. we sold it last year, but don't want to lose our French connection. We are now looking for an easy to manage apartment in La Rochelle.
Our requirements are it has to be small enough to be easy to manage and that it has to be very central so that pretty much everything we need to do can be carried out on foot or by easy bike ride.
La Rochelle, population about 90,000, is a buzzing town in the summer but still OK in the Winter. Fast train link to Paris and only 4 or 5 hours drive from the western channel ports. We've considered other parts of France but know La Rochelle well and it keeps drawing us back. It's also hideously expensive - about 5 time the cost per sq metre of the hose we just sold.
We ended up holiday letting it to cover the running costs and so it was always hassle. When we were there it was too big and too far from anywhere. Our nearest large village was just a bit to far to walk to and when you got there it was pretty dead.
So .. we sold it last year, but don't want to lose our French connection. We are now looking for an easy to manage apartment in La Rochelle.
Our requirements are it has to be small enough to be easy to manage and that it has to be very central so that pretty much everything we need to do can be carried out on foot or by easy bike ride.
La Rochelle, population about 90,000, is a buzzing town in the summer but still OK in the Winter. Fast train link to Paris and only 4 or 5 hours drive from the western channel ports. We've considered other parts of France but know La Rochelle well and it keeps drawing us back. It's also hideously expensive - about 5 time the cost per sq metre of the hose we just sold.
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