Sixteen years later and - despite
a pretty decent summer - we’re thinking of selling up our second home and buying in
France, where, at least in parts, the sun shines with greater reliability.
Actually, we’re dithering. We want, in no particular order:
|
|
Somewhere we can get to by Eurostar and
the French TGV railway |
|
|
Somewhere we can get to via cheap flights (as well as
rail) |
|
|
Somewhere not too far so we can occasionally drive
there, but not very often as we hate long car journeys |
|
|
Somewhere we can go walking and cycling (no hills for
the latter) |
|
|
Somewhere hot |
|
|
Oh yes, and somewhere big enough to accommodate our
children and grandchildren |
 Our first and as yet unsolved problem is location. The trouble with France is that there is so much of it. Avignon takes around 6 ½ hours by train from Waterloo, but property there is
getting rather expensive. The west and
south-west of France seem nearer on the map, but many places are not accessible by fast
rail, or the weather is iffy. Burgundy in
central France is lovely, but weather not totally reliable, winters bitter, access OK
though.
You get the drift…
There’s a website we’ve just heard of
that’s supposed to give authoratative information on regional climate variations
which may help*.
 We are of course asking friends who have taken the plunge. One couple came and proudly showed us their
photographs. They’d bought something
large and rundown. He spends months tearing
the place apart and putting it together again. It
looked like a lifetime’s work. Not for
us.
People say why not rent for a
while, but that doesn’t appeal. You could
shell out an awful lot of money with no return. People
say don’t buy, just get away for weekends when and where you want to. But we found we liked having a second home and
getting to know a particular area. People say go
for a week, tour around an area and then decide.
So we plan a week some time in October.
Watch this space.
* www.meteo.fr
|
