Someone's got to be first

[Peter and Jan Riches]

There must be some other people in Burgundy, but maybe you have been put off by not wanting to be the first.

We are hoping to move permanently to our house in the next few months and will be asking all sorts of questions. The questions and answers already posted are very helpful, and we will be joining in with our own experiences over twelve years.

But first, lets just see if there is anyone else out there.

[Sally]

We have French friends in Nevers, which has taken us to the region two or three times and led us to take a holiday in Burgundy with a view to buying our house there. We settled on Normandy, only for ease of access from the UK but would love to move there one day.

Just thought I'd be the first to answer you to try and get some others going.

Good luck - you're in a wonderful part of France.

Sally

[rix]

other people
>in Burgundy,
Ther are many Britsih and Commonwealth people throughout Burgundy and Rhone-Alpes but unlike Dordogne we tend not to show a high profile although there arre plenty of organisations ranging from the church, the British Legion through to aBurns society. The Consulate in Lyon has a list or come back with a location to me and I will give you a contact. There are also many second home owners around ranging up or down from a former cabinet minister. A British/American pole exists around Cluny and the local estate agent(ex staff member of Paris Embassy knows most of us)

[pbennett]

Yes, as you can see there are others of us out there. We have a holiday home in Nievre - but would love it to be more than just that! can't quite make the final decision. We have discovered others near us too. Hope things go well with your move.

[pbennett]

Yes, as you can see there are others of us out there. We have a holiday home in Nievre - but would love it to be more than just that! can't quite make the final decision. We have discovered others near us too. Hope things go well with your move.

[Jackie]

hello we are looking for a hols & retirement home in the dept 71 . we have stayed near la clayette for years and feel happy there surrounded by the hills and trees. there seems to be very little for sale but we live in hope of being there at the same time as the right house comes on the market! some hope the agents say. we rather like the idea of there being very few english in the area, but nevertheless would like to know those that were near. burgundy is a big place though! where are you living? we shall go to the prop. exhib. on the 21st to get our fix of france we are early 50's with teenagers soon to flee the nest, and hope to spend half the year in france half in gb. we want a small farm with land for us and dogs. i paint and joll plays vintage tractors.
jackie

[dormer]

For many years my husband and I used to zip down the A6 enroute to the Alps or further South and whenever we stopped at Beaune either overnight or at the services I would say "there's a whole world in there waitng to be explored". By default one year we had to take a holiday and I decided that was the year to explore. I couldn't find anything on the area to the South and West of Beaune except for a small ad in the Sunday Times. We had the most perfect family holiday cycling/swimming/wine tasting in Burgundy courtesy of a delightful English family and their very pretty gite near Nolay. A couple of years later we went back and on a whim one evening visited a nearby (preferred) village and found a lovely house to buy. It is situated in a village just to the South of Santenay amidst the vineyards. Although there are lots of French holiday homes in the area to my knowledge we are the only "Anglais" there. We spend most of the summer in the region with our young children and to the South of Beaune we can usually count the number of Brit cars on two hands. Having said all that we have come across other home owners (such as the people whose house we rented in the first place) but the thing about Dept 71/21 is the fact that it is so unattractive commercially to the English Pocket. You won't find ruined farmhouses at dirt cheap rates. Our particular notaire in Beaune was extremely surprised when as Brits we were buying a very modest 2 bed village house. The upside of this is that we have fantastic French neighbours who positively glow when we arrive with our three very noisy children. One even asked if we lived in an appartment because our children were so 'wild'. Our French has improved beyond belief since none of our neighbours claim to speak any English ( although at critical moments they all recall that they did learn some at school). And this coming summer we will take our new family pet there for the first time. We love Burgundy, yes we would live there but it is not a replacement for England (and home). Fundamentally our culture and longstanding ties/traditions are here. When we go to Burgundy we encompass all things French whilst we are in a foreign country as guests.

[dormer]

For many years my husband and I used to zip down the A6 enroute to the Alps or further South and whenever we stopped at Beaune either overnight or at the services I would say "there's a whole world in there waitng to be explored". By default one year we had to take a holiday and I decided that was the year to explore. I couldn't find anything on the area to the South and West of Beaune except for a small ad in the Sunday Times. We had the most perfect family holiday cycling/swimming/wine tasting in Burgundy courtesy of a delightful English family and their very pretty gite near Nolay. A couple of years later we went back and on a whim one evening visited a nearby (preferred) village and found a lovely house to buy. It is situated in a village just to the South of Santenay amidst the vineyards. Although there are lots of French holiday homes in the area to my knowledge we are the only "Anglais" there. We spend most of the summer in the region with our young children and to the South of Beaune we can usually count the number of Brit cars on two hands. Having said all that we have come across other home owners (such as the people whose house we rented in the first place) but the thing about Dept 71/21 is the fact that it is so unattractive commercially to the English Pocket. You won't find ruined farmhouses at dirt cheap rates. Our particular notaire in Beaune was extremely surprised when as Brits we were buying a very modest 2 bed village house. The upside of this is that we have fantastic French neighbours who positively glow when we arrive with our three very noisy children. One even asked if we lived in an appartment because our children were so 'wild'. Our French has improved beyond belief since none of our neighbours claim to speak any English ( although at critical moments they all recall that they did learn some at school). And this coming summer we will take our new family pet there for the first time. We love Burgundy, yes we would live there but it is not a replacement for England (and home). Fundamentally our culture and longstanding ties/traditions are here. When we go to Burgundy we encompass all things French whilst we are in a foreign country as guests.