lansbury

I've got an account with Chase that gives me a free safe deposit box. Is that the same sort of thing.

Hurley1

Hi MMcD

Yep agree, would love to check out the Napa and Sonoma region. Wish we could afford one of the stunning vineyards there but think France would be more our budget for that route!! I agree why not explore other areas, that's kind of where we are at right now, even spent several weeks in Oz last year. Queensland is a beautiful part of the world, particularly the Sunshine Coast but visa there tricky for us as not worked for last few years and not degree qualified or old enough for a retirement visa yet! Just feel really blessed and lucky to have the choice! No kids just one gorgeous, much loved persian cat who comes with us so no ties at all. We also spent a long time in Nice, South of France, love it there too. At least I will have plenty of stories to bore my fellow old folks with when I'm in a nursing home in years to come!!

Thanks again for your input on this thread, it did get a little off piste at one point. Some people seem to get a bit too serious though! Love seeing everyone's different opinions, very interesting!

lansbury

If that is a serious consideration, consider Oregon or Washington State. Some very good wineries in both, large and small and an industry that has really taken off over the last few years.

jmood

Why are men so hung up on penis size. Tut tut. Most women aren't , you know...

Re the artisanal bakery - it's chef driven and I doubt any good chef will want to stay with owners. They will want their own place.

Speedwell

Yeah, too true, I don't have one AT ALL and you don't see me whinging about it.

dunroving

Besides, who'd eat bread from an artis anal bakery?

jmood

Many, I'd say. If they're anal, they're probably very clean and meticulous with their work

dunroving

Do they specialize in baking brown bread?

Speedwell

Pumpernickel (if you know anything about the word's derivation lol)...

dunroving

I didn't, but I just Googled it and I do now!

MMcD

Hey Hurley1.....

Here's a thought....what about opening an inn or a B'nB?
...and again Northern CA is utterly gorgeous - and perhaps a great place for doing just that - if it appeals to you....
Personally - I prefer Mendocino to Sonoma or Napa - it's got a coastline which is wild, craggy, totally wonderful, and the county itself - is a bit less chichi - than the other two.
As far as CA. is concerned - Mendocino County is where I'd choose to live, if I could - tho it's a bit further from SF (theatre, museums,etc.)
Why not fly out to San Francisco, hire a car and explore?
You won't regret it. At the least - a blissful holiday - just be mindful of the tasting room temptation at all the fantastic winerys along the roads, as you're driving. +

Bob

Well call centres are just as equally shit with a huge level of a lack of understanding, but when it's good, well, it's a call centre. Don't find stores to be any more helpful in the main either.

$40 for parking if more than a couple hours v £2 my mother paid in the middle the city for all day. So you can't really generalise.


My experience of Berkshire and Oxfordshire are the same, mostly dry, mostly warm, light out most of the day during the summer and the winters aren't that harsh.

To the OP, as long as there aren't any kids, so schools aren't a issue, why lock yourself into either of these states?

Personally, neither would be high on my list. The US is huge, so much to it, offering different things. Colorado, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Utah. And as you've got a gaff in a warm place, you could look to summer in colder state like Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine where your money would go further. Just need to figure out a business that you could manage in such a fashion and it's got to be doable because so many folks in those states do just that and head to Florida for the winter.

Wibblypig

To the OP, why not consider an EB5, which effectively is buying a green card. Then you wouldn't have to be tied to any state in particular.

Re the weather, I am surprised no one has mentioned that Miami has more than double the annual rainfall than London!

Most places are as interesting or as boring as you make them.

jmood

But I'm guessing, squished into at minimum a quarter of the total lenght of time it rains in the UK. So again, it's not the inches that count.

joto

An hour inland may be a little bit hotter than LA, but not smoggier. It doesn't really have so much urban sprawl as is normal closer to the city. There are some nice wineries in Temecula, and the land won't cost as much as Napa and Sonoma.