Moving to France

So we’re off to France.  That’s the two of us, Anne and Andy, three dogs, Charlie, Lily and Bob and the horse, Shiloh.  We have a loose plan of renting for a year and enjoying the lifestyle.

Life in North Yorkshire is lovely and we do enjoy where we live in a village not an hour away from the coast and ten minutes away from the historic city of York but we always fancied being down ‘south’ too.

Our desire to live in the south of England  sort of migrated across the channel at some point.  It culminated from winter escapes to Spain when we’d travel through France in January and return in April. Even when France gave the impression of being ‘ferme’ for the winter, we resonated with the country. 

Of course, it could be the nostalgia it invoked in us as we viewed ‘free to roam’ open space which in turn set off a number of  wistful memories of the days of old in the UK. 

France shouted a welcome to us like the south end of Britain never did.

We settled on Brittany because the euro tunnel isn't a massive trek so would be less stress on the dogs and for the ease to drive to northern Spain.

We looked around the diverse region and decided  we wanted to be close to the Nantes Brest canal and an inland lake but within easy travelling distance of the coast.  We’d like warm weather and a lively, possibly vibrant environment.  It was all doable in a small hamlet 10 minutes drive to the medieval town of Josselin in the department of Morbihan. We could cycle or horse ride into the local village with our dogs for the daily bread.  Room enough for all the animals and a house that was perfect in every sense.

Josselin has chocolate box looks and a chateau overlooking the Nantes to Brest canal.  It’s fairytale appeal is inviting and has a mix of everyday and tourist shops with all facilities necessary to live day by day.  

There is a strong French/English community. Poermel is about a 20 minutes drive, a much larger town and by the magical Broceliande forest.  Further afield again we have two cities, Vannes and Rennes and the atlantic coast.

We found our house by fluke and cheek.   The only house letting resource we had were two sites offering holiday homes.  I used the Anglo info forum and started a discussion which turned up a few offers but not suitable for us. We have a friend in France who was also looking out for us.  We wanted an uncomplicated let and came out to look at two houses but the owners had stretched the truth and they were totally unsuitable. 

House renting isn’t easy when you are far away.  Most of the estate agents were looking to sell. As luck would have it, we were in the company one evening of a couple who looked after holiday homes and gardens.  They also had the homes of British people who were back in the UK and who couldn’t sell.  We signed a contract for a year minimum with a couple who had to go back to the UK, couldn’t sell their house and were delighted at our offer as we were at the prospect of renting a beautiful home – not holiday home – a real home.

What started out as a potentially complicated and lengthy house hunting procedure was finalised in a  over a cuppa and we will be in Josselin around November time.

Look out for the next blog on dog friendly France