Advice needed on Aveyron pls

[Bones]

Hi there,

We are currently living in the Aude and while it is a lovely region, we are struggling to find work ( my girlfriend is French and even she is having trouble!!).

We have recently seen a few jobs advertised for her in Aveyron ( namely one in Villefranche de Rouergue) and would like to get some advice from people already living there, i.e. what is it like, what are the house prices there, quality of life, weather, people etc...Also, what type of air links are there to the UK?

Thanks a lot for your replies.

Bones.

( also posted in Central France forum, as we're not sure under which area Aveyron falls)

[Ex Forum Admin]

Can't help you with most of the question but Ryanair fly from Rodez to Stanstead, once a day I believe. www.ryanair.com

Also see: http://www.livingfrance.com/lvfra/content/article.asp?magazine_fk=28 and http://www.livingfrance.com/lvfra/content/article.asp?ArticleID=48 June issue 2004.

 

 

 

 

[Ron Avery]

Its great to live around Villefranche, its a nice town with all amenities, there are a few English people about if you want English contacts, the locals are very friendly,  if you are nice to them and try and speak their language.  They hate their town being called ... ROCK  It is ROWERCK!!

I think it one of the most beautiful parts of France. Near Villefranche are the very beautiful villages of Najac, Belcastle and Sauveterre, look up their websites.

If you like tree covered river valleys, stunning scenery and rolling hills then this is the place for you.  The weather is similar to most of SW France, very hot up to 100F in July and August, long summers and very mild  autumns.  There is a lot of fog in the late autumn in the river valleys of the Aveyron and Viaur, this can keep the temperature down. There is snow in winter particularly NE of Villefranche towards Rodez and the Auvergne and it can get very wet with torrential rain and storms at any time of the year, the riverside at Villefranche was flooded last autumn. 

Travel is good,roads A20 to Figeac then good quality D road to Villefranche or A75 to St Flour, and N88 to  Rodez and good D roads to Villefranche.  There are also trains to Toulouse, Brive and Figeac through to Paris.

Rodez airport (40 minutes away) to Stansted, 4 days a week at the moment, probably daily again after March, Air France fly daily to Paris.

Toulouse airport is also about 1.5 hours away with other airlines to Cardiff, Gatwick and Manchester among others.  Houses are not as cheap as the Limousin or the Charente, but not anything like as dear as Provence.

[Bones]

Cheers for the replies.

Thanks Ron for that pretty exhaustive summary: exactly what I was looking for!

Well, let's hope my partner gets the job advertised up there....

[Lottie in Lot]

V de R is a lovely town with a famous market on Thursday mornings. Shopping is good, the countryside beautiful and quality of life hard to beat. The previous person is right about RyanAir, and you can get to Toulouse in 90 mins where there are EasyJet and BA flights to Gatwick. Property prices have gone up over the past few years but it depends on what sort of thing you are looking for.

[Cerise]

Villefranche really is one of the nicest towns around.  Not too touristy, excellent market on a Thursday and lots to see and do in the area.  Suggest that you look for property south of the town unless you don't mind very cold wind.  We live about 30km south and it is quite a lot warmer.

Villefranche itself has very narrow streets which don't get the sun so in town is often chilly out of season.  On Thursday dropped off the dog to kennels near Rodez and temperature there was only 5 degrees whilst at home it was 14.  Often have a chilly wait when picking up visitors from Rodez airport. 

Both Rodez and Toulouse airports are within easy reach, but one of the best things about the town (and our village cos we're on the same line)  is that it is on direct train line to Toulouse, both for days out and for getting to airport without the car - there is a navette from Toulouse station to airport.  Also direct overnight train to Paris every night giving real possibility of day out in the capital.

The area has very distinct seasons and it can be very cold in winter but has spectacularly lovely spring and autumn and generally nice warm summer.  The people are very friendly and, if your French is not so hot, the town offers classes at very reasonable prices via ASTI an association for "travailleurs immigrés" which have enabled my husband to go from 'no French at all' to 'able to cope in most situations' within 2 years.

As you can tell, I love the place - so hope you find it's good for your too.

Bonne Année, Bonne Santé et Bonne Chance

Maggi

 

 

[Ron Avery]

Maggi

Bonne Année

100% agree on your post about our area, If you on the same train line as Villefranche and 30 Kms away you must be near Laguepie.  But two points you may not be aware of.  The night train to Paris is being withdrawn very soon due to the popularity of the daily flights from Rodez to Paris.

The current waiting time for a place at ASTI is over one year, there is also some doubt that ASTI has a long term future due to funding problems.

[Cerise]

Hi - yes we're in Laguepie;

Is the train thing definite?  On and off they have been threatening to withdraw it for last 10 years (I've only lived here full time for 2 and half years, but have been holidaying in area for much longer).  It has had several stays of execution and we thought it was OK for a while now, but please tell if you know otherwise.  It still seems quite popular as there are people waiting for it here most nights.

The wait for ASTI is unfortunately made worse by a number of people who take places and then only turn up once every 4 weeks or so.  Seems a shame as there are so many waiting.  However, Mike tells me that they are doing their best to try to fit in anyone who really needs the language for working more quickly (in fact some people have joined his class during the last weeks of last term).  Even if people have to wait - I think it is very worthwhile as I don't think he would have made that sort of progress on his own and individual lessons are very expensive. 

Glad you like the area so much too - feel torn between telling everyone how wonderful it is and wanting to keep it to myself

Best wishes

Maggi

 

 

[Ron Avery]

[quote]Hi - yes we're in Laguepie; Is the train thing definite? On and off they have been threatening to withdraw it for last 10 years (I've only lived here full time for 2 and half years, but have been ho...[/quote]

Hi maggi

yes it is hard not to enthuse about this area, we loved it so much on holiday that we just had to move here

I found about the train  from a leaflet I picked up in a cafe in V-F, it is still a  proposal but the comitie de enterprise in Toulouse have been told that it will stop on 31/12/05, which is still a year away.  The protest group also say that the ticket office will close at V-F station as a consequence. 

Agree 100% about ASTI, it has brought my French on no end in just one term,and marvellous value for money, the strict "En Francais" policy helps that along,  it is also a good place for social contacts .  Yes they do try to get the "workers" in but with few exceptions it also that group that do not attend regularly.

 

Lets hope ASTI can keep going.