spouse of scouse

All part of the fun, Shard

bigglesworth

Fun????

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Pistolpete2

Looking at the BBC weather forecast for Weymouth over the next ten days it would appear that finally Winter night-time temperatures of around 2c are behind us and we are in to Spring at 7/8c.

We've moved into a smaller place now that our Winter-let has finished and we've still not settled as we can't really find what we want in terms of property layout and preferred location. We are using another storage facility for what we can't fit into our apartment.

Next Winter we are now committed to another Winter let and will then work out what to do in terms of something more permanent come February .

This short-term stuff only works out financially for us because we are only paying for one place to reside all of the time. So when we are away in France for the entire month of July, for example, THAT is the only place we are paying for. Otherwise, things could get rather expensive.

Checking out of a place and moving just about everything across and leaving the place in decent enough condition to get our full deposit back has been rather stressful though.

Weymouth has seemingly kicked off its season and weekends are now very active here in terms of incomers and restaurants/pubs/new ventures are all on last-minute sprucing up with final paint jobs in readiness.

Satisfaction with the move is now based upon an overall balance in terms of positive sentiment for me. But as other posters have commented, it is all very subjective and my positives are partly relative to where I came from and my particular likes and dislikes as a retired person who nevertheless 'works' from home.

I continue to be 'concerned' at the lack of sense in allowing dogs to frequent urban and pedestrianised areas. My sister, who lives in London, was amazed at the lack of discipline on the part of dog owners down here (she is one herself). So to other posters who have not witnessed this I can only say that you are lucky. I do think that it tends to go with the overall tone of a place. If you have significant areas of deprivation present and a lot of (older) single dwellers, then you are going to get a lot of people with dogs and a lot of them who just don't care.

Indeed I am very much enjoying living here in Dorset for what the county offers in terms of safety, climate, history, beauty of landscape and vistas of the sea, food/drink (fish in particular) and provenance and West Country atmosphere. There are plenty of merchants who are very keen on supporting local produce and this is a big plus.

I've not been able to find a really decent Cornish pasty in these parts (ok it's Dorset) but I did find out the other day that Barnecutts (they were the best when we were in North Cornwall)(they are in Bodmin/Wadebridge/Camborne etc) ship up to 15kgs of pasties for 15 pounds overnight - check their website for their varieties and reasonable prices.

Weymouth is a very active angling and fishing port and that adds to the character, for me, particularly as we are actually settled in the port area and can observe the comings and goings.

The bus pass has been a huge plus for me because of the X53 Jurassic Coaster in particular (runs from Poole to Exeter). It allows access to local beauty spots/walks such as Abbotsbury, Chesil Beach, the Jubilee Trail and the towns towards Exeter, such as Lyme Regis and Beer. I've even been to the River Exe area, beyond Exeter, for the day but one needs to work traveline for the best connections to avoid being stranded many miles from home.

Looking back, being adventurous in the Winter and shoulders of Winter is a good idea, particularly making a commitment to get out and about when the Winter sun is shining, as the cold doesn't impede the enjoyment and the inevitable crowds of Summer are missing. I now look forward to the adventures of next Winter to balance the gloom and chill, though I'll take an English Summer first please. It's obviously a good idea to consider what will be available exploring-wise at reasonable/no cost before a move.

Still no signs of a social life - basically I've given up. Does it matter? Not really! I've found a couple of haunts in the last few weeks which might provide some openings in due course but whatever.

Shard

It's been a particularly cold second half of winter (Jan-March) in my opinion. I simply could not believe I had to scrape frost from my car a few mornings last week. Bring on summer indeed.

Didn't quite understand your comment on renting in France? You have a ST let in Weymouth, and will then give that up to spend a month in France, and then return to Weymouth and find anther ST let?

Pistolpete2

No we are filling the gaps in the UK between winter lets and periods away from Weymouth up east and in France with discounted holiday lets. It all makes financial sense when you tot it up on an annual basis fortunately and factor in that we don't have to buy much of anything.

Even the French apartment let is very inexpensive (thanks BE!) but it had to be booked well over a year ago.

It's all rather short-termy which leaves me feeling uncomfortable, but with the passage of time and the fact that there is no social side of things here, I'm thinking it becomes increasingly likely that in a while we will spend more time in warmer (and much cheaper) climes of Spain or Portugal.

Before, I thought this would mean having to spend more time hanging around expats which is boozy and harping on about the 'old' country - been there done that - because I don't speak the lingo but now I think "What have I got to lose?"

fulwood

pistolpete, I like what you are doing with the holiday lets. Think great idea.

Pistolpete2

You need to be careful, since it can get very expensive if you can't cut a deal.

In France I've been able to find in-town places, like here, where you can use public transport if/when it is needed, which is mostly very inexpensive there.

Indeed, if the price is right, the fact that the cleaning lady comes in by arrangement and takes care of the heavy-duty washing and drying is a bonus too.

Fortunately Weymouth is a holiday town so there is plentiful supply.

Shard

Sorry, still not understanding...are you simply going from holiday let to holiday let in Britain and France (i.e. Not committing to anywhere)?

Pistolpete2

Winter lets are proper leases with council tax and utility bills but you get properties that come with everything, so we have no obligation to buy furniture, which works well because we may only be in this area for just under two years and are just not sure what will happen then. Winter lets do only run for six months though, so we are now in a holiday let for three months until college term ends and we move to France.

Indeed we are not committing, but there is nothing to really commit to because there turns out to be very little rental supply of what we are looking for in the right area. This is not helped by the costs associated with using several agents as each would stick you with charges of around 350 quid at sign-up so we are sticking with one. Overall, with the discount for a long holiday let commitment we are not paying much more than we would from a lease and we get a far better location to stay in. We are doing a one month holiday let in September to try out a new good residential area here before we move into our winter let again and then we will have to see what supply comes onto the rental market next Spring to meet our needs.

The moves are a pain but with planning we are going to be better at it to relieve some of the stress.

When we first arrived in the UK we had considered the River Exe area south of Exeter for Exeter College. It is a very desirable area but it too suffers from acute shortages of property to buy and rent so we picked Weymouth College partly for that reason. Weymouth has rough areas and lovely residential areas with views of the sea and across the Jurassic Coast but in the latter there is precious little rental supply if any. Other known decent residential areas suffer from a lot of traffic noise. Whatever, good furnished properties are very hard to come by with the right timing for us.

In the last three months I've checked out just two properties which were the possibles. One came on in early January and nobody has taken it up as of now (it was a property the landlord is looking to sell and rent at the same time) and the other is not actually available for another week or so, so we would have been struggling for a month. Both of these would have been with new agents. Just to make it harder, it's not just about the grown-ups, as our kid's friends have to be factored in to the equation, as well as his easy access to college.

I have considered buying but Weymouth can be tough there too and it seems that many properties do not hold their value well unless they are in the best residential areas, which are typically beyond our budget. This is Dorset which is prime second-home country so the market is two-tier because the locals have precious little opportunity to make anything like decent money unless in the public sector (in Dorchester) or they commute great distances.

I've looked at several properties to buy but they are typically in newer developments and have high service charges (they've got lifts) and have gone down in value in recent years back to where they were as new-builds eight or nine years ago which is not exactly a big plus from an investment perspective which is important since the money to buy would otherwise be used to live off.

I've been told I cannot get a mortgage until I can show a pattern of income, after being in the UK at least a year and that lenders would not want to lend to me anyway as I would only be eligible for finance until I reach 70 in six years time so they can't make anything out of me.

BTW, I ain't whinging - it's all just fine. But some might think we are simply fence-sitting in the UK, so I've explained the predicament.

Shard

Are you considering an eventual move to France? Certainly some good value in Bretagne compared to Southern England, and there is ferry service to Poole as you know.

Thank you for explaining your predicament - it's both impressive and the amount of moving you are doing in your sixties.

Pistolpete2

We love France (Brittany, Normandy and the Loire in particular), and indeed Condor serve St Malo indirectly (connect via Jersey and Guernsey) from Poole but I don't have any intention of buying there and becoming tax resident in some fashion and I think that I can say the same for Spain and Portugal.

Right now there is a (dreamer?) ferry operator pitching at Weymouth Council to operate high speed service from here to Cherbourg next year but we shall see where that goes. The last Condor ferry left here yesterday morning (for Greece?) after finishing up (service to the Channel Islands and onwards to France) here last week.

I want to deal only with the knowns and fairly easily comprehended for tax, which are the UK and St Lucia. One can stay in Portugal for up to six months without becoming tax resident and I would like to see how that can be put into practice linking up with a place here in some fashion, with St Lucia also from time to time.

France is just (for us) a lovely place to go for a month or so and I'm pleased that we have found a place (suitable for us - without wheels) that we can stay for that month (did it three years ago) at a rate quite a bit less than a typical month's rent here.

We are big fish and shellfish eaters and that suits in Weymouth and Dorset at large, in terms of variety, quality and price.

In Portugal, in parts of the Algarve in particular (and actually even in Lisbon) it is very inexpensive to eat in decent restaurants/cafes (5 to 7 Euros for a main course and large side salad dressed in olive oil), along with the wonderful and equally inexpensive local wines, and I need to look into that further beyond simple short vacations.

In France we can always buy the superb fish and shellfish in markets.

In St Lucia, we ended up pretty much living to a Mediterranean diet because the farmers do a great job with local veg and I would like to get that back into our way of eating. Here in the UK, the euphoria at the novelty of the wonderful variety of fresh fruit and veg (often imported of course) hasn't worn off yet. Fortunately, for the Scotch Eggs, pork pies and fish and chips, it pretty much has.