We are looking to move to France from South Africa late next year. After a lot of research we are feeling drawn to the area East of Pau, specifically Nay and surrounding towns. This area doesn't seem very popular with expats as I have hardly been able to find any English speakers living in the surrounding area to ask for advice. Anyone out there who is familiar with this area? Tx

Welcome to the Forum, Pau attracts a lot of Brits due to it's connections with the UK. Personally I found it's surrounding areas a tad remote.

Hi Jambot. This is a beautiful but very rural part of France, however there are plenty of English speaking people living in the area. We've have a house for 8 years, about 35 minutes from Nay, near Oloron-Sainte-Marie and you'll find a lot of English speaking people nearby, especially in Navarrenx, Salies de Bearn and Oloron. For work reasons in the UK, we've just put our house on the market in case you're interested!!

Welcome to the Forum, Could I attract your attention to the Site Rules No9 makes for an interesting read. If you get any issues give me a shout.

Hi Kate. Tx for your reply. I know there some English speaking people living in the area, but I was hoping to get in contactmwith someone who lices in or near Nay and is familiar with the schools etc. tx for telling me about your house. We are only coming over towards the end of the year and we will rent to start with. Good luck with the sale. L

I would recommend more the Basque Coast, 100kms from Pau. Bayonne and Biarritz are beautiful, the surroundings are stunning, and you can ejoy both ocean and Pyrenees mountains.

Since I posted this we have also been looking at Orthez and Salies de Bearn. Nearer the coast, but more the size towns we are looking for. I think Biarritz and Bayonne will be too big.