In early , we decided to start looking in earnest at France as the destination for the next chapter in our lives. We instantly found Leggett Immobilier , award winning estate agents specialising in UK buyers looking to re-locate to France. Through the winter months of , the Sunday morning ritual became an hour of coffee drinking in bed with iPads focussed fully on Leggett and mortgage calculator sites.
This then lead us to discovering the publication Living France Magazine Between browsing Leggett, reading Living France magazine and their sister publication French Property News, we became almost instantly obsessed with the dream of relocating and setting up our new business in South West France. We have and do live a very nice wee life in the countryside of East Lothian in Scotland, but we have recently felt the need to move on, have an adventure, meet new people, see new sights, experience new tastes and of course, engage in new challenges.
Relocating to France and setting up a new venture holds all the necessary prerequisites for my idea of a wholesome and fulfilling life; learning the language, driving on the right, having to slow the pace of life down, discovering exciting new opportunities and recharging our general joie de vivre. The property was a 3 bedroom house with adjacent 2 bed gite with a huge barn ripe for studio space. This place encompassed all we dreamed of for our new home and business in France.
The space, location, atmosphere, climate and feel seemed, from the website, to fit. A good friend of ours, Sue, has lived in the south of France for many years buying, renovating and selling properties and she kindly offered to put us up for the first night of our 4 day whistle-stop tour and impart as much useful information as she could with us regarding our plans.
This lead us to flying to Bezier and planning one night in a quaint wee hamlet near Villespy, not to far along the A61 from Carcassonne. Needless to say, a wine fuelled catch up ensued over hearty homemade meal and some very pidgeon French spoken with her boyfriend made our first night in France rather appropriate in theme. We discussed vehicle registration, home renovation, integrating into local communities and many other aspects of becoming a proper Francophile and truly expatriating with style and respect.
