Calling all Corréziens!

[mint]

Ah, huh, have I used the right accent?  It's the Corrèze but Corréziens, right?

Anyway, can anyone living there give a brief description of whether it's a nice place to live?

Especially near the Dordogne dams and lakes?

Is it wall to wall hoar frost in the winter and swarming with mosquitoes in the summer?

No, no, I'm not being rude about your area, just seeking reassurance!

Please be honest (brutally so, if you like!)

[Gemonimo]

Well Jacques Chirac and François Hollande like it so it can't be all bad[Www]

[mint]

Look, Gem, no one's offered any info.  Therefore, either no one lives there or the people who live there don't want me to join them[:(]

 

[Pommier]

Just read elsewhere that out of summer it rains a lot.

This house selling site also describes the climate - and I'd think accurately as they aren't very enthusiastic!

http://www.sextantproperties.com/limousin/correze

[bubble]

Ok I live here and have for the last nearly 7 years . Love it and although we know France fairly well and did also before we came it is the best place for us. But we are Scots !!! Countryside is beautiful just like Scotland ! People very friendly. The climate is cold in winter but we are at 400 metres so less cold the lower you go !! Normally sunny but so you can sit out in the direct sun even in winter. Probably just as you would do in a ski resort !  Summers hot but not too hot. Hot enough to enjoy our pool and too hot to work in the afternoon. Nothing wrong with that ! Who wants to work all day when you are retired !

Not sure what else I can tell you except we love it and have felt very at home from day 1.

[mint]

Thank you, girls.

Don't know the department at all and so have been researching like mad.  Found out about Tulle, Argentat, Turenne, Pompadour, etc.

Have a chance to buy a house by a lake where you could moor a boat, so thought ooohhhh....

Really intrigued by the stories of the resistance that I have read about.

I gather that the southern bit is where to be for the best climate?

Next question, can you recommend a gite or similar near Argentat where we can stay with a very well-behaved dog? 

[Gardian]

SW17 ...............

This is going to be no help whatsoever.  But I'll tell you anyway.

When I was about 13 or 14, I was on 'exchange', staying with a family in 78. Grandparents lived in Correze, so it was a periodical pilgrimage down there for the day. (Not done as a treat for me - just something that had to be done every month or two).

The journey took hours. Very rural.  Don't remember much else, except when I 'needed the facilities'. Grandfather took me to the wooden back door which was creakingly opened - "Voila la France", he said triumphantly, pointing vaguely to a dodgy mini-shack halfway down the garden.

I've never forgotten that.[:)]       

[mint]

Posh family that then, Gardian.  A shack?  What's wrong with the trees and bushes?

I myself much prefer behind a bush to some of the public toilets on the motorways, for example.[+o(]

[Iceni]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

Look, Gem, no one's offered any info.  Therefore, either no one lives there or the people who live there don't want me to join them[:(]

[/quote]

I'm a Lotois not a Correzian but live close to the border, no more than 25 mins away and attend the Beaulieu strawbfest every year. How high up you live will (obviously) affect your weather. When we visit Beaulieu there never seems to be much difference from here though it always seems to rain when we cross the hills to Brive. Our summers can be hot and the winters can be cold (-10 regularly) but more usually triste lasting nearly 6 months.

The area around the river Dordogne, imho, seems to attract the ok, yah DM reading element but members of this tribe are easily spotted and can be avoided equally easily if you wish.

I would have no probs whatsoever if you were to go and live in the Correze.

John

[mint]

Thank you for that encouraging message, Iceni!  And I promise not to come near the Lot!

I tell you what's really surprised me.  It's the relatively high cost of properties!  I thought Limousin =  cold = cheap = remote.  No, no, don't get me wrong I don't mind cheap or remote though I might have problems with cold.

Seems the Creuse dept is more reasonable for property prices but I think that's where the weather isn't so good.

To be honest, never thought of Corrèse before, that is not until I got talking to someone with a house practically on one of the lakes for sale.  Hardly anyone for miles around, no garden to look after but all of the lake (!) and woods on the doorstep.  Heaven for Dog and  for me as I might not even have to wave, never mind talk, to anybody for days on end.

Just wondering if it might be perishing in the winter when the wind blows across that lake and whether the place, because of its beauty, in the summer might attract the neoprene-wearing hordes of boating, cycling, whatever persuation.

PS Pray give me tips as to a) how to pick out the "DM reading element" as you so casually call them and b) once spotted, how you avoid them as I understand that they tend to be a gregarious group and like to cosy up to fellow Brits?[;-)]

 

[5-element]

I don't know what Correze is like these days - but I remember many moons ago, hitch-hiking from near Territoire de Belfort to the Dordogne via Lyon, etc...across Massif Central - and stopping over at a great, empty and quiet youth hostel in Brive. I was quite taken with Correze then, as before that I'd always thought it was the back of beyond. Probably not very useful Sweet, as it is mainly the feeling I remember rather than the facts. I really was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. 

[mint]

You Parisiennes always think everywhere else is "the back of beyond"![:D]

I have been fascinated by some of the stories of the Resistance Movement in that area:  that is, fascinated and horrified at the same time about the brutalities that were committed.  See, you don't need to travel, only do a lot of house hunting in order to expand your horizons![:D] 

I could understand why the Resistance were so active there:  lots of mountains and woods in which to hide people.  In fact, Osama bin Laden could do worse than hang out in the Corrèze, methinks.

Anyway, if both Chirac and François whatisname (that erstwhile partner of Segolène) both come from there, the place must be full of interesting, tolerant people?  LOL

[NormanH]

"PS Pray give me tips as to a) how to pick out the "DM reading element"

as you so casually call them and b) once spotted, how you avoid them as I

understand that they tend to be a gregarious group and like to cosy up

to fellow Brits?"

I thought that DMs were something you wore on your feet, but then fashion passed me by long ago..

[mint]

DMs as  footwear?  Yep, definitely passé!

[Bob T]

Sweet, I take it you have read the 'Spirit of Resistance'. Very interesting book, it mentions a visit that Harry made to a small village about 6 miles away from me.

I am in the Dordogne, to the west of Brive, but think that the Correze is a very beautiful department and have visited the Dordogne gorges a couple of times. I think that most of the area gets cold in the winter, I does here! Just make sure that any property that you view is on the south facing side of a hill with open views to the east and west. That way you will get the most sun, even in the winter.

[mint]

Actually, Bob, I know very little about that period of European history and, no, I haven't read the book you mention but I will Google and order it from Amazon.

Good advice about the orientation of the house.  I did wonder whether some houses (like many in the Welsh valleys) hardly have any sun after about 2 o'clock in the winter.

[Swissie]

OMG - heaven for Dog and me?  You are not moving in with Dog are you?

[Kitty]

What are (is?) DMs?

[Gemonimo]

[quote user="Cathy"]What are (is?) DMs?
[/quote]

Doc Maraten wearing Daily Mail readers?  The equivalent of sandal wearing Guardian readers, I guess[:D]

[cooperlola]

http://www.dmusastore.com/c-50-vintage.aspx

[bubble]

I am very surprised and disappointed at the negative comments given to La Correze. Maybe in times gone by and perhaps still by the Parisiens ( although  lots buying houses for holidays now !! ) it was or is considered La France Profonde but now the towns of Tulle and Brive are vibrant and not at all backward thinking ! The people who live in the countryside are very simple living kind and welcoming folks. I agree choose carefully where you buy in terms of getting the best sun all the year round but if you want tranquillity and beautiful scenery then this is the place for you. Winter can be harsh but I disagree with saying it is long except for this year ! And that was bad for all. Normally I don't think real winter begins till December and finishes in March but you can enjoy winter sunshine. We spent our first winter here in our motorhome on a technically closed campsite and were very happy. ( The owner took 11 euros per night and provided us with a chalet for loo and shower with a heater as the main block was closed for winter. His mother provided us with eggs, veg and jam weekly ! That is being made welcome )

Best to come and visit :-)

[Iceni]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

PS Pray give me tips as to a) how to pick out the "DM reading element" as you so casually call them and b) once spotted, how you avoid them as I understand that they tend to be a gregarious group and like to cosy up to fellow Brits?[;-)]

[/quote]

a) they congregate in largeish groups, generally at or near a waterhole, speak little or none of the local tongue preferring slow and loud English to make themselves understood. The female of the species tends to be the one carrying a copy of the DM, often quoting passages to others and believing every word

b) dress like a rural peasant, try not to attract attention by speaking English and move away stealthily before being spotted. Do not return to the same, fouled waterhole on any future occasion. But most importantly develop a thick skin that would shame a rhino.

John

[bubble]

I agree with all of the above except 'dress like a native ' If that means wearing a wrap round overall !! Hugely overpriced at local market ! Hubby has been threatening to buy me one for last few years !

[mint]

Iceni and bubble, thank you for making me laugh on yet another cold, iffy sort of a day.

Bubble, I AM deffo coming for a visit and in fact have been looking at some gite and hotel sites around Argentat and Pompadour.

Bubble, sorry to sound simple but is ADSL readily available:  I am thinking of perhaps the hills and so on interfering with signals?

I think you are right about the Parisiens, the man selling the house I like does not live there and I am dealing with his brother who lives near Limoges.

But, as I have said, with my modest budget, there isn't that much choice![:(]

[Gemonimo]

[quote user="bubble"]I agree with all of the above except 'dress like a native ' If that means wearing a wrap round overall !! Hugely overpriced at local market ! Hubby has been threatening to buy me one for last few years !
[/quote]

They are to be found on the same stall as the ENORMOUS corsets with SUSPENDERS[:-))]