hi all, thanks for all your suggestions. indeed kathy, i have managed to find a couple of properties for around 80k that look great. i am now looking at the earliest dates i can come out to see them, hopefully later this month or in early july. with regards to work, most of what i do is on the internet and i will be doing this in france, as well as freelance web design so i do not need to find a job in the area as my uk company will continue to pay me. whilst in italy, i managed to pick up the language by just interating with the local community and also found it a great way to meet people. i think with the latin roots and the fact i have learnt one language from scratch should help me, and the fact i dont need to be perfect from day one for work will help too. just going to look through all the property sites listed and will get back to you with where i get to. cheers again, james