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Advice on Castres in the Tarn or other places not too far from Sete


victor
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We have decided that it is time as older empty nesters to down size. After checking out several areas, we are now focusing on Castres in the Tarn. It has been several years since we have been there; however, we will be going next week to visit. It is about two hours north from us.

We would appreciate any opinions on living in Castres. We would prefer not to have to drive as much as we do here. It is important to us to be able to walk to the marche or a nice cafe or restaurant. Also, because we have two standard Poodles, we need a house with a garden. And also off street parking. Beziers would certainly be closer to our current home, but we have not heard great things about that city. No question that it would make life easier to stay in the same department.

A general idea of the weather in Castres would be appreciated, although we are unfortunately aware of the dramatic changes that have occurred here in the south during the last few years. Thus the weather anywhere in France could be dramatically different next year. Here near Sete, the summer this year lasted two months with huge winds and weird clouds.

Is Castres a fairly quiet town?

Thanks. Appreciate any insights. Or maybe you are aware of a better city/town not too distant from our current location 13k north of Sete.
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I don't live in Castres, but it is my nearest big town so am there quite a lot.

Is it a quiet town? Well that depends on your point of view. I came from Aberdeen originally and Castres is a sleepy wee village by comparison. Thats not to say it is quiet! Friday and Saturday nights turn up large numbers of people in the square by the bus station and the city centre pedestrianised bit can be noisy, but no more than any comparable sized city.

I dont know of any properly bad areas....some parts near the army barracks and near the rail station look a bit grim, but again no worse than anywhere else, and a lot better than some places I have been (including Aberdeen!)

Winters tend to be long and wet. I am 40 minutes drive into the mountains so Castres is consistently 3 or 4 degrees warmer than here. Drizzle and fog are common. Infact the weather is very Scottish!

It has all the usual shops. Route de Toulouse is the main "zone" with the normal clothes, household, gadgets, deco shops etc. There is one of every big name supermarket around the town, although the Carrefour is a very small place in the city centre and the LeClerc is quite far out of town. There are a few DIY shops, with a large BricoDepot about 10 minutes drive away.

It has a working airport with daily flights to Paris, which can be reasonable if booked well in advance. There was talk for a long time of a UK low-cost carrier setting up there but it never seems to come to fruition.

Also worth a look would be Albi - however prices always seemed to be higher there and now it is a Unesco site, I would imagine prices have gone up even more. It has a larger central pedestrianised area and is easier to walk around....pretty much the same as Castres shopping-wise but the centre is more touristy with many more upmarket boutiques selling lacy pants for €70.

There is no commercial service from Albi airport.

Massive roadworks are ongoing on the Albi rocade, expanding it to dual carriageway. This causes a bit of disruption when driving round and occasionally when they close a junction utter chaos. For some reason, it has taken them ten years to lay about 5 miles of road and with another few miles to go, it is not going to be finished any time soon.

Both are about 1.5 hours drive to Toulouse airport and a drive to Calais will take the best part of 11 hours.

Its a much smaller town, but half-way between the two is Realmont. Quiet place but with the biggest, best market in the region by far every Wednesday morning.

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Agree with everything Dave said.  Probably worth checking out places such as Revel (brilliant market but can get touristy, also slightly nearer Toulouse), Labruguiere (small but has a lot going on) and Mazamet/Aussillon (better value on house prices and brilliant for access to beautiful walking areas. Also good selection of supermarkets.  Mazamet market is poor but Aussillon is vg - every Thurs morning)

I find Castres can get a little colder in winter and a little hotter in summer than the places down on the plain.

Happy hunting.

Chrissie (81)

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I can't comment on Castres, but don't underestimate the administrative hurdles of changing Region.

Castres is just in the Tarn which is in Midi Pyrennes not Languedoc.

You might also consider Limoux which IS in the Languedoc or Narbonne which seems cleaner and more lively than Béziers (Hélas)

Living where you do you presumably know Pézenas already.

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We changed departments when we moved, and the admin was not actually all that difficult - other than Beziers prefecture, which was much more difficult to deal with than Narbonne, which is far more laid back.  Quite a bit of development going on in Narbonne, but it seems to keep its small town character even if a larger city.  I also prefer it to Carcassonne.  Didn't like what little I saw of Limoux - when we were house hunting, but again, it is moving towards the hills, so same climatic problems as with Castres, one reason why we discounted it.

I only know Castres as a visitor - in the winter - but would believe it cooler and wetter than those towns in the plain, as a rule.

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Dave,

Thank you for all the information you provided. We will be driving to Castres on Tuesday if the weather looks good. Your comment on the long and wet winters is a cause for concern. But then last year where we live it was not too great either nor is it as I write. It has been wet and humid all week.

Albi is a little further north than we want; however, Realmont sounds worth checking out. Because of the dogs and our current budget, which depends on the dollar/euro exchange, we have no plans to fly anywhere. We simply need to find a smaller property within walking distance of everyday needs using the car for out of town visits or errands.

We stayed for a week once in the montagne noir, and it was cold! Guess you are near there.

Thanks again.
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Well, just to prove me wrong, it has been lovely all week with temperatures in the mid or high twenties.

January and February are grim though - thats when the weather is at its worst. We get bad snow where I am due to the altitude, often very deep and lasting for a long period, however Castres is not affected as badly and as far as I can remember has never had more than a couple of inches which tends not to stay around long either.
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Chrisse,

Labruguiere is a town I do not know at all so need to check it out. What I remember of Mazamet the many times we drove in that area, it seemed dreary or maybe a bit sad.

Can you expand on what you refer to as "places down on the plain?"

Also may I ask where in the south of the Tarn you live and what your area is like.

Thanks Chrissie.
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Norman,

You hit the nail on the head: the issues involved with changing regions. That is why we first checked out the departments in our region west of us. One of my big problems is the wind so we have crossed off the Aude and Pyrennes Oriental.

We are familiar with Pezenas and maybe it is some place we should reconsider. That said, it has never impressed us. I cannot state a specific reason, just my sense of the town.

From what I recall about some of your posts you are very familiar with Beziers. At our age lively is not in the menu. Is it a place you would recommend? We have not spent much time there in several years; however, I have heard that dealing with the administration is quite difficult.

Since it is actually only about 30 minutes from us, we need to do some research on it. If you do live there what are the good and bad points?

Thanks Norman
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Judith,

So where have you decided to settle? And again what is this reference to the plains?

Furthermore, if Castres is colder and wetter that Poussan, that may well not be the place for us.

We are just really tired of having to drive almost everywhere, tired of taking care of a too large pool, and trying to keep a large yard from becoming a jungle. We are really ready for a simpler life where we can just sit in a cafe, relax with friends, enjoy our dogs, and not worry about the exchange rate.
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We live just north of Mazamet, Victor.  For us it was a good choice as there was a terrific golf club very close by, but that is clearly not an important factor for you!

By "down on the plain" I meant places at the foot of the Montagne Noire, heading from Mazamet towards Toulouse.  Hence the references toplaces like Revel. I always think of Castres as being that bit more elevated - well, we have to climb when driving there! Sorry to have caused confusion.  We like it here as we tend to avoid the really wet spells they have east of us towards St Pons.  We can also walk our dogs all over and are not worried by great agricultural areas or vineyards as round here it is woods and lakes and lots of free walking esp if you go into the National Park.  Winters can indeed be wet and as Dave said, Jan and Feb can be bitterly cold, but I think you will find that is true in most places around the area you are looking at.  I agree with you entirely about the wind - living on the Carcassonne side of the Montagne Noire would drive me crazy in a week.  On this side, it is important to be sure you are placed to get adequate sunshine in the winter months.

You said Mazamet looked a bit sad - well, it has gone through some hard times since its heyday in the 1970s, but I do think things are improving, and a lot of upgrading has taken place in the central areas.  We do have our share of cafés to sit at and natter(!), but I agree that there is little to do in town of an evening except the cinema or theatre (main complex undergoing renovations at present), outside of the summer holiday months when we have evening markets and street entertainments.   Anyway, give our town a looksee on your way through!

Of course we have just had a lovely warm sunny week and next week it is to get colder!

Good luck

Chrissie (81)

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[quote user="victor"]Judith,

So where have you decided to settle? And again what is this reference to the plains?

Furthermore, if Castres is colder and wetter that Poussan, that may well not be the place for us.

We are just really tired of having to drive almost everywhere, tired of taking care of a too large pool, and trying to keep a large yard from becoming a jungle. We are really ready for a simpler life where we can just sit in a cafe, relax with friends, enjoy our dogs, and not worry about the exchange rate.[/quote]

Victor

WE are south of the Montagne noir, as I say, midway between Carca, Narbonne and Beziers.  If you don't want wind, you won't want this side....

Personally I don't like Beziers ... just too big and impersonal for me.

Can only suggest that you spend a few weekends (as it were) exploring ... you are really not all that far to do a few weekend trips and see what you feel.  Like you the only time I went through Mazamet (on our way to Castres) it seemed depressing, but it was wet and winter .... in the end, only you can decide what you feel happy with.  Check out the shops, the housing in walking distance etc ... talk to locals (if they do talk - some don't - gives you more information on the type of people there).

Nothing can compare with your own personal research and feel for the area ...

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Pommier,

Since it looks like we may indeed change regions,

how did CA mess you up? How did you handle it?

Needless to say, I do plan to talk to them but it would be helpful to know before hand what problems one might incur with CA.

Thanks.
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Tuesday we made the trip to Castres via Revel. We and our son liked both places. Castres we found more interesting and were able to speak with a few people. Also visited the Marie and several realtors. Revel is a bit too small, and it is not far from Castres if we wanted to visit by car on market day.

Based on our knowledge of Beziers,we have pretty much excluded it.

After our visit we came home and checked out Revel and Castres on Google World. We will not be moving until we sell here thus, given how slow the market is, we could be waiting a while.

Since this will be the last place we will live in, we need to make sure that we make a good choice.

Castres has some very nice houses in centre ville near all the places one might need on a daily basis. We really want to get away from depending on using our car very much.

Judith, I agree with your statement that in finding a place personal research and getting a feel for the area is crucial.

Everyone on this forum is so helpful, and we really appreciate your comments.
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Hi Victor, the problem we found with CA is that they are regional banks, so effectively you are dealing with a different company at the new address. We found that the bank at the old address (every time, so not a fluke) didn't want to transfer the accounts and messed around for many weeks. We're now with Banque Postale, but if we'd had the same situation again we'd close all but the current account, then at the new bank write a cheque to ourselves to transfer all but a small amount (enough for bank charges etc), then ask for the remaining virtually valueless account to be transferred.

For everything else, this site is great https://mdel.mon.service-public.fr/je-change-de-coordonnees.html
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Pommier,

I just reviewed the site you sent. FANTASTIC! Thank you. Maybe this site should be used by the monitors in the headings to the moving site.

We have several prelevments, how did you handle those or will the bank do it for you?

Actually never thought about the Banque Postale. Do they do checking accounts, etc?

We receive all our funds into our account automatically so that will require even more paperwork.
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We've been very happy with Banque Postale. They do the full range of accounts and cards (and their insurance is significantly cheaper than the company we used previously)

The bank should deal with standing orders, but you'll be cancelling those for utilities when you move. I only allow prelevements for broadband and mobile phone as they won't bill any other way.
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Sadly you are probably right to decide against Béziers.

The Town's big plus is its climate which is significantly better than that of Castres which is colder and wetter being further away from the sea's influence and at a higher altitude.

The chief problem here has been the haphazard development of commercial centres  in a belt around the exterior of the town which has lead to the slow death of the heart of the city centre.

There are still a number of good cafés and restaurants one can walk to, but more and more services and administration is being moved out to the periphery, so that most of the things I bought to be near to (Bank Post Office Doctor Dentist Library) have moved away so I now need to take a bus  whereas I used to be able to hobble there.

You might think about the fact that a bigger town can sometimes be too big.

If I were doing this again I would try to find somewhere small and self-sufficient for the day to day, yet near enough to a big centre for specialist things such as a Hospital or Train station when I need them.

Near Béziers there is the small town of Sérignan for example.

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Dave,

As a child I lived in Michigan and remember walking to school in knee deep snow. UGH!

Later in life Washington, DC had some huge snow storms. Never again. I can take an inch or two for a couple days but longer...no thank you. Guess the dogs might find it fun though.

Hope you have quilted clothing ready!
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