dibble

thanks to everyone for some really useful advice - and for the offer of a meet up - will keep in touch with you!

thanks both - Ian and Dave - for some very helpful advice (am still chuckling about some of the points made about local culture) - as I too prefer a warmer drier climate and a more eclectic social life I am already narrowing down my search area! Will let you know how I get on...

thanks to you both for your helpful info and advice - am looking fwd to our visit in the spring and will keep you posted!

Thanks to you too Plod for your reply. I have taught both English and French so should be able to rustle something up but I do take your point about gites as I have also read other members tales of woe!

  Thanks for this Pads - just looking at my map I can see a village called Villeneuve Minervois - I guess this is where you are referring to? It certainly sounds appealing and I will add it to my list of places to visit when we go out next spring. Do you know how the weather behaves in this area - summer/ winter - mozzies etc?

Oops - I seem to have started a geographical debate!!! I just assumed that the south east was sort of east of the Camargue, meaning Provence, Cote d'Azure, French Alps and those sorts of places, leaving the south west to cover Languedoc, Midi Pyrenees and Aquitaine? but hey ho - I could be wrong! Nevertheless... back to business, east or west, can anyone help with advice on the areas I mentioned? PS thanks all the same for your responses to date - much appreciated.

Only just noticed this topic area existed! Have posted a couple of messages recently about moving to the SW in next couple of yrs. We are looking at a number of areas and will be doing a recce next Spring. Our shortlist at present includes Castres, Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Foix (and the surrounding areas as we are still undecided about town, village or country living!). In the meantime if anyone living in this region could share their knowledge and experiences we would be pleased to hear from you.

Hi! Does anyone know how soon you can book return flights for next April or May? And which airlines offer the best deals? Would prefer Birmingham or East Midlands to either Toulouse or Carcassonne. Hope to have a long weekend - 3 or 4 days. We are really looking fwd to doing our first recce of the SW region to get an idea where we might eventually lay our hats so any other suggestions or comments would be very welcome!

JK - I feel reeeeally guilty - please forgive me - I did appreciate your reply and advice!!! Thanks!!!

thanks for this sprogster - forgot to add that I will be semi-retired when we move to France - am older than I look(!?) - will just want to earn a few bob, maybe teaching English, maybe run a small gite - the plan is to trade down/buy a smaller property in france and live mortgage free - so really the move is for the kids as we really like the French way of life/values etc and would like the kids to grow up in a healthy environment and to have the advantage in later life of being bilingual

We are a family of 4 (Jack 2 yrs plus one unborn baby) looking to move to SW France in 2 yrs time. As we like the sea, the mountains, the countryside and good weather, plus need easy access to Spain, not to mention close proximity to a decent airport, we keep getting drawn to the area around Castres - but have never been there!! Does anyone have any knowledge of this part of France and would like to share it? Nor can we make up our minds whether to live in a village, a town or in the countryside as we don't know how easy it will be for our children to get into local schools. Decisions, decisions!! Are there any families out there like ours who have been there, done this and got the T shirt?