andyandcass

Hi Again
We are looking roughly around argenton sur creuse on the 15th 16th of this month and the surrounding area but info on any more areas would be great must have a school nearby though within 5 - 10 miles of the property..

The only pain with giving my job up at the moment is im still waking up at 3.30am lol but i must say i have learnt more and gathered more info in the last 5 days than it has took me in 3 months,even my mum is supporting us now after being really negative last year,cant wait till the 15th we are like little children waiting to go on holiday,sad or what!!

stinkyinca

I think this is such great news andy and cass, all the research is necessary as it'll make you aware of the negatives as well as the positive. I know giving up your job is a shock to the system (trawling the internet in the early hours instead of working is so much better though!) but the time will allow you to become more laid back and relax into the French way of life when you get there!
I'm a 'lady in waiting' (for when my son leaves for uni) and admire you enormously for taking the action to follow your dreams. I hope the visit, next week, is successful - if not in finding your dream property at least in finding your location.
All the best
Wendy

val50

I don't think it's sad at all, it's great reading such a happy post and I can't wait to read your next one.

Flutterfly

Yes, let us know how you get on! Good Luck!

themoose

It is such great news. Not easy, but one i suspect you will never regret.
Well done and have a great time.

Moving to France is becoming the new 'life begins at 40'.....

...

andyandcass

Hi all again
Well we set off on friday in search of a house or maybe just 4 walls lol thats if we don`t get blown on the ferry to amsterdam instead.
We have made contact with a couple of really friendly agents in the loire valley and limousin and have a real good selection of houses to see so things are moving well now,also staying with an english couple so my embarrassing mancunian french can take a back seat for some of our trip.
I am now beginning to bore relatives and friends with my new found knowledge so we really do have to find something soon before we are disowned totally.
it has been two weeks now since i gave up full time work but to be honest cassie has given me that many jobs to do while sat at home i am working a longer day than i did before.
I can also turn an iron on now and fill it up with water,still not sure how pointing it at the clothes get`s the creases out but that`s something i can look at when we return home.
Thanks again for all your help cant wait to go..

Andy and cass

val50

good luck with the trip - let us know how it goes

themoose

i didnt know you put water in irons. when did that start

val50

don't tell me you are still heating yours in the open fire

Ka Ora!

No he puts the ironing in the fire...how it go with doc.

val50

what is it with men and ironing
bone cracked so still in plaster
bloody snowing again outside too so feeling a bit sorry for myself.
Spring and France seem a long way away

Ka Ora!

Yes its loverly here although there is a storm (wind Lightning blowing in i have spent large part of the day burning back the winter undergrowth on our land. Fun petrol lighter sprayer BIG FIRE. Kept the OH on her toes. I really wished i had taken the camera maybe tomorrow.

L'ainette

just read the whole tread. Andy & Cass, am so pleased for you both & your daughter. Good luck with the house hunt. Looking forward to reading your progress. I moved here in 2001, divorced with 2 kiddies. I'm happy, the kids are bilingual, we live in a super place & I have a job I enjoy. There is life after the UK! Good luck.

Dazzo

Hey,

Just read ur thread and wanted to also give you a little encouragement. Just returned from a week back in the UK and if I could have come home sooner I would have!

Whatever happens on your first property trip, don't be too dissapointed if you don't find anything first time around, these things can take time to find some thing that you feel is the right place to start your new life abroad.

When you get back home, just think of all the reasons why you want to leave the UK in the first place and keep hunting. Eventually you WILL find somewhere and you will have that same feeling that most of us on here have all had, which is the contentment of knowing you have totally done the right thing and it has all been worth it.

We have been in the Dordogne now for 10 months and although our money is a little tighter than the lifestyle we had back in the Uk, we absolutely love our life now. I found that within hours of being in the UK again, my new relaxed attitude started to disappear and the strain of UK life started to get to me enough for me to beg Darren to drive us home earlier than planned!!

Go for it, you are only here once and if it is what you really want then some how you will make it work.

Bon Chance.

andyandcass

Hi All again
Well just got back to rainy Manchester after viewing around 20 properties from barns to houses to sheds,
Although it`s in my nature to waffle and turn this reply into war and peace i will be as brief as i can.
We drove down to st benoit du sault on the friday night - saturday morning,got to the first agent with 5 minutes to spare went to view 3 properties, a small house in the village,a watermill nearby and a barn nearby.
Cassie was blown away by the first property as the setting was fantastic and the sun was out and suprisingly warm,, it took me 2days and 3 visits to the property to convince her it was too small but i must admit it was a real shame
the land was also on a big slope so no way of extending it at all although it would be ideal for a couple with no children anyway.
Sunday we slept.
Monday we viewed over 13 properties including the first one AGAIN !!barns houses but they all had big but`s in our minds either to much work, to near a village-hamlet, to rural but the main thing was we were learning what we could get for our tiny budget, we talked most of the day and night about them also forgetting to eat and forgetting that we had our daughter with us tearing her hair out in the back of the car, so we returned back to the very friendly run hotel and found a channel on the tv with emmerdale on, sat her in front of it armed with crisps and chocolate and a bottle of fanta so that was Charlie happy again,lol.
so still confident and excited Tuesday we viewed 4 more properties including the first one AGAIN!! lol and Tuesday night we stayed in a premiere classe in chateroux what a disaster.
We are not snobs and well aware what 30 euro`s can buy but i didn`t realise that we would all be sleeping in a telephone box with an elephant in high heels doing the riverdance in the room above for most of the night.
Wednesday morning we had 1 property to view 50 miles away,should we go?? can we be bothered?? if we don`t do we miss the one that maybe is for us,so deciding after driving 1600 miles another 50 won`t hurt
so with matchsticks holding our eyes open we drove to meet the agent who turned up on time very friendly again and kindly drove us this time to the property, we couldn`t help but notice the setting and landscape on the way to the property we both looked at each other thinking that we can`t afford anything where we are heading too surely?? anyway the agent parked up.
We went in had a look around although very small had a large area next to it with a make shift barn and plenty of land attached to the back,and lots of potential with a lot of hard work for me!!
Well it was my turn now to get all excited, i started to waflle and waffle while taking pictures wondering why it was so quite i turned round to find cassie charlie and the agent had walked off over the other side of the land, i got the message and quickly shut up,
we asked plenty of questions and said our goodbyes to the agent and headed to Calais,on the way cassie said she loved it Charlie said she loved it and the cats the neighbour had,
so if anyone is still awake after reading this we are home now, we have a few questions to ask and a bit of research to do on septic tanks and a few other things to do with the land boundaries,financies etc but we will be hopefully making an offer next week if the answers that come back are the right one`s.
Also we just wanted to say how friendly all the agents and people we met were, we thought with our tiny budget we would be thrown to one side but this was not the case at all, so all in all a trip well worth the effort and i even have an idea for our own business out there.
Even more excited now and i cant wait to go back if our offer is accepted even if not i will be going back again in 2-3 weeks to view some more
The saga continues
Bye for now and thanks again for everyones support.
Andy and Cassie