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Lots go to SW France because the scenery, especially in parts of the Lot et Garonne which is so very English looking ... and rather nice.  It's also rather too damp for my idea of a good place to live, but then down here is too extreme sometimes ...

But then I could say the same about parts of New Zealand, looking like England, I mean ... whilst other bits would be too damp (and some lovely climates there are rather too full of volcanoes and earth moving stuff!), so it is surely swings and roundabouts ... and each to his own.

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I read in an old Rough Guide to France once that the South West appeals to the Brits, or at least the English, because it reminds them of how home was 50 years ago. Or how they fondly imagine home was like anyway. Certainly the landscapes and climates have similarities, albeit the somewhat steamier SW French summers.

As for snobbery, I don't think I've ever met anyone in the UK save those who holiday down there who has heard of Lot et Garonne, Gard, or Gers etc. Maybe there's a very vague awareness of the Dordogne, but that's about it.

As for snobbery, I suspect that albf is guilty of snobbery him/herself, appearing to enjoy despising all those English speakers and their kids bursting onto the Bergerac-bound flights.

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We bought a house in an area we'd visited often and liked a lot. It would never have occurred to us to look anywhere else, because to me, buying a house in a foreign country in an area I didn't know at all would have been a bit silly, and Epinal would have been out of the question for reasons I've explained already! We wanted to be near the coast ( after all, to me, "holiday" means "seaside") and close to a decent town.

I know lots of parts of France quite well, but when buying a house I (in common with the majority, I suspect) I tend to prefer to buy somewhere where I'd be happy to live.

It's exactly the same in the UK, or wherever you call home..you buy where you WANT to live, not to fulfil someone else's expectations.

Didn't give a monkeys about living near other English speakers, as I can manage fine in French. As it happens, it seems we live between the two great swathes of British settlers in Deux Sevres and Dordogne. Had no idea at the time. Doesn't affect my life at all.

I wouldn't buy anywhere in Normandy (hardly worth the fare to cross the channel if you stop so soon) or Brittany (OH grew up in Cornwall...can't see the difference other than language) and the (summer) weather is nicer further south.

When people ask (because I don't volunteer the info UNLESS someone asks), I tell 'em we live about halfway between La Rochelle and Bordeaux. Mainly because they don't really give a monkeys and most people have a somewhat tenuous grasp on French geography unless they've been there.
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Hi JandM.

I am no snob. No expat/immigrant will choose to buy a house where I live in France.

I do admittedly find the whole subject very interesting.

I like your suggestion that maybe it is because SW France reminds them of home. But, I have been to most corners of France and that one does not work for me either. Stoke on Trent...Dordogne. Not really the same thing.

So.....it is not the climate; most suggest it is not snobbery and well lets be clear Milton Keynes is not Sarlat.

What else could it be ?

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Yes, Norman, I take your point, but would hate to have to depend on Ryanair for my travel and residence plans.

By the way, I understood that you are not an immigrant, but a refugee, having had to leave YewKay with the police dogs on your tail. And you changed your namee from Kevin Kevin!
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[quote user="You can call me Betty"]We bought a house in an area we'd visited often and liked a lot. It would never have occurred to us to look anywhere else, because to me, buying a house in a foreign country in an area I didn't know at all would have been a bit silly, and Epinal would have been out of the question for reasons I've explained already! We wanted to be near the coast ( after all, to me, "holiday" means "seaside") and close to a decent town.

I know lots of parts of France quite well, but when buying a house I (in common with the majority, I suspect) I tend to prefer to buy somewhere where I'd be happy to live.

It's exactly the same in the UK, or wherever you call home..you buy where you WANT to live, not to fulfil someone else's expectations.

Didn't give a monkeys about living near other English speakers, as I can manage fine in French. As it happens, it seems we live between the two great swathes of British settlers in Deux Sevres and Dordogne. Had no idea at the time. Doesn't affect my life at all.

I wouldn't buy anywhere in Normandy (hardly worth the fare to cross the channel if you stop so soon) or Brittany (OH grew up in Cornwall...can't see the difference other than language) and the (summer) weather is nicer further south.

When people ask (because I don't volunteer the info UNLESS someone asks), I tell 'em we live about halfway between La Rochelle and Bordeaux. Mainly because they don't really give a monkeys and most people have a somewhat tenuous grasp on French geography unless they've been there.[/quote]

I get the coast bit although La Baule would be my choice.

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[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Hi JandM.

I am no snob. No expat/immigrant will choose to buy a house where I live in France.

I do admittedly find the whole subject very interesting.

I like your suggestion that maybe it is because SW France reminds them of home. But, I have been to most corners of France and that one does not work for me either. Stoke on Trent...Dordogne. Not really the same thing.

So.....it is not the climate; most suggest it is not snobbery and well lets be clear Milton Keynes is not Sarlat.

What else could it be ?[/quote]

The Dordogne is stunningly beautiful at least the Perigord Noir region which is SE Dordogne. With it's beautiful golden stone it is very much like the Cotswolds but more dramatic perhaps.

I have heard many British describe it as the Cotswold in the sun. :)
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LOL, it's bad enough when you then have to go on and explain where La Rochelle and Bordeaux actually are!

Although, to be fair, it's not much different when trying to explain to the French where you live in the UK. At best, they have a second cousin twice removed who went on a language course in "Bournemoose" or "Soosamptone" or " Braitone "

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ALBF, we moved to the Alpes because we loved skiing and there was a job.

Would never have moved without employment, that is for sure. We didn't know France or speak french, just young people looking for an adventure.

As

far as we were aware for years, was that people, especially the young,

were leaving the SW France amongst other regions because there was no

work there..... property was cheap, but what good was that for families

who needed to earn a crust.

And then the property market in the

UK became the obscene thing it now is, and suddenly France looked cheap,

and was especially in the 'job' poor regions. And that is when early

retirees sold up making huge property profits in the UK and bought in

France.

That is my very general take on it.

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