jenny and charlie

Hi Herman,
We can only speak from our experience and as I said in our earlier post we love it here in France. If we had retired early back in UK, we would not have been able to live as comfortably as we can in France. We have three vehicles and the road tax takes a big chunk each year as does the council tax. When we left UK things were just starting to hit the "crunch" and food/electric/gas/diesel etc. was going through the roof. We watch the UK news and see companies going under each week, if our house sale had fallen through we wouldn't have been able to think of retiring or moving over here for maybe five years. Believe me, we do feel very humble and extremely lucky to have been able to "live our dream". There is never a moment that we regret doing this and we know that we are here for good.
Jenny and Charlie.

Blackladder

Hi everyone, just joined, just like to say hello from Sweden, hope the winter is not too hard on you down there in la douce France!
Cheers
BL

onlyonebrenda

Hi, I'm Brenda, living in the Dordogne between Périgueux and Limoges. I worked for a short while in Limoges in, er, 1968, on a teaching exchange but never dreamt I'd retire here. I've lived in Surrey (born there), Brighton, Scotland, Birmingham and Bristol. I came over on my own in 2006 much to the shock of some of the locals. I love it here and all my old friends comment on how well I look. I've even slimmed down and become fitter in spite of all the good food!

jenny and charlie

Hi Brenda,
When we first came over in August we had plans to live in the Dordogne. We wanted to move as near to Montignac as possible. We looked at a few houses, but they needed such a lot of work on them and you could easily throw the purchase price at them again to make them habitable. So, we then started to search the area where we were staying in the Gironde and decided to buy a nice plot of land and have a bungalow built. It's in the gentle rolling hills terrain as opposed to the deep, pine forest terrain. We have gorgeous views over the hills and we are surrounded by sunflower fields and well-kept vineyards - breathtakingly beautiful ! We could never have this where we lived in Romford, Essex.
Jenny and Charlie.

onlyonebrenda

I think you made te right decision to have a new build, especially with current heating costs,older buildings eat money. I love the sense of spaciousness and contact with the natural order of things. I hope you both continue to be happy and content

smithyandlisa

Hello Everyone, We've been visiting this forum for a few months now and have found some really helpful info. We have lived in Sarthe since April 2008 and love everything about it. We seem to be enjoying the same positive experience as Jenny and Charlie. We came here from Brentwood, Essex. Nice to meet you all and look forward to swapping tips and experiences over the years.

Ka Ora!

Welcome to the Forum, It's a Mad House but fun someone here is always happy to help.

jenny and charlie

Bonjour Smithy and Lisa,

We were just down in Harold Hill, Romford not far from you at Brentwood. I used to like shopping at Brentwood it was a bit more civilised than barmy Romford on Saturdays.
Jenny and Charlie, xx

smithyandlisa

Hi Jenny and Charlie, Tesco at Gallows Corner seems a million years away! S&L

jenny and charlie

Smithy and Lisa,
Oooh doesn't it just !!
We have to admit - we DON'T miss it one bit !
We are now in the Gironde about 40 minutes from Bordeaux. I would swop Gallows Corner Tesco for LeClerc at Langon any day We use the village markets for all our fruit and veg and there doesn't appear to be anything we can't get hold of. There is a British Grocers Shop at Pau if we get really desperate for anything !
We noticed you are in Sarthe - without sounding too thick whereabouts is that ?
Jenny and Charlie.

smithyandlisa

Hi Jenny and Charlie, Department 72. About 60km East of Le Mans. We absolutely love it here. Keep pinching ourselves to be sure it's real. How lucky we are!! S&L

jenny and charlie

Hi Smithy and Lisa,

I think it makes all the difference the fact that we were able to retire early and not have the need to work. We never get bored or fed up and we potter about, go shopping and do things when we want to as opposed to having the "daily drudge timetable" we had when we were both working full time in england. We really do feel very humble and lucky. we too pinch ourselves now and then !

smithyandlisa

Hi Jenny and Charlie, You sound sooo much like us two. We 'mooch and potter' too and love it! I don't know how we send a private message on here but perhaps that might be an idea so that we don't bore everyone with our ramblings. S&L

paulajayne

Dont worry you not boring me yet - although there has been a suspicious lack of people on here so maybe you bored them all to sleep LOL

PJ

Blackladder

Hi again everyone,
Haven't moved to France yet, still looking for a place somewhere in the SW, as far away from the Swedish winter as possible! I have met some interesting people here, and always think it's fun to make new acquaintances. Wonder how difficult you thought it was actually finding the right place to live! It seems there are literally hundreds of properties on the market at the moment and prices are falling steadily. Just have to keep looking I think.
BL