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Thoughts are welcomed please!


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Hi there,

All thoughts are welcomed. We own a small house on the Somme. Far too cold there so we are wanting to move to the Loire Valley. Anybody any views on nice villages on eastern side to retire too ie must have a few shops, within reach ish of a town etc. Anybody wanting us as neighbours?! - no chance!
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It would be hard to be colder, greyer or gloomier than it is today ALBF, its much much colder here than it is in Sussex and once the gloom sets in its there for the whole winter, its very very rare that we get sunny dry days which are a joy no matter how cold it is, in fact I would prefer it to be a lot colder over a long period if there were bright days that came with it, the prolonged cold would make a much better footing for trail running or randonées.

 

gGod luck to the OP, I dont think they can go far wrong except perhaps too far South if they can no longer support the summer heat which might come as quite a shock

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Well Chancer, your in for a shock tonight and tomorrow, as you are on RED (vigilance rouge) meteo alert. That should be exciting for you.

Back to the Loire Valley, I don't think there is a nicer place to live in France. It is such a gentle place with nice happy people. Nice food, no problems with customer service, dentists, driving standards or whatever else people complain about in the SW. It is like it is not France. It might not have 'as nice' countryside as other regions but that is not the point. If I was in the UK thinking of retiring in France, the Loire valley would be on the top of list. In fact it would be the only place on my list.
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And my place to live in France would be Brittany.

Strange ALBF, all those years we lived in the Alpes, british friends would when France was mentioned say that they 'had to' visit the Loire Valley, just 'the' place to holiday. And frankly later I heard mixed reports from loving it, to great disappointment. 

Strangely, never heard french friends talking about visiting the place like the brits I know did. In fact I am trying to think if it was ever mentioned. Although alpine folk seem to have a tendancy to want to holiday near water, Les Landes or La Cote, prime destinations.

Chancer, in that respect, the Alpes were wonderful in winter. Autumn was often very british really, lots of rain in the valleys, and usually snow starting the first base coat in the mountains. We would have plenty of very damp grey days and I actually made up a little song about it, to sing to my kids to cheer them as we trudged to school.  And yet, in spite of the rain, we could have magnificent autumn days, sun and the trees on the mountain sides, so colourful, simply splendid.

And then winter would start. As we lived in the valley, we would get more rain than snow and it would get very very cold, however, even in January, there would be many sunny days and by mid February  for all it was cold, once that sun was out, we could actually be in a sheltered area of the garden in t shirts at home. I loved my winters in the Alpes, the cold, my warm house and plenty of winter sun days. Summers, beurk!!!

Still I did not live in one of those highly polluted valleys, or near Lac Leman, which is all too often incredibly cold and damp feeling which is not how it was where I lived.

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Wooly, I spent all of my times in France before moving here in the Pas de Calais and aside from them being far more welcoming and open my memories are of bright sunny days like you mention, when the mist settles here it really is for weeks but if I drive 15 minutes to my running club over the next range of hills it invariably clears.

 

The boot camp that I went to several times was in the Loire and it was a stunning area however miles from anywhere apart from one bar/tabac/café where it was typical France profonde. The main town of Châtellerault seemed as modern as anywhere but then the Paris TGV's stop there, a far cry from our gare des betteraves where there is nothing not even a taxi, just loads of commuters cars parked up, the ZAC that was built beside it 20+ years ago is still only 25% occupied and they virtually had to pay the businesses to go there rent free.

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Idun, reference your point "Strange ALBF, all those years we lived in the Alpes, british friends would when France was mentioned say that they 'had to' visit the Loire Valley, just 'the' place to holiday. And frankly later I heard mixed reports from loving it, to great disappointment"......

The thing is, you don't move (if moving to France) to a holiday destination. It really is rule number one. That is where the 'Dordognes' or the 'Limosins' (not all of them) but the ones trying to sell their houses on Greenacres get it/got it so wrong.

Whilst the Loire Valley is a holiday destination I guess, the thing is, that it is not its strength. Its strength is that it is a 'normal' place to live. It is as normal as Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire. It is just normal. Boringly normal maybe. Anywhere from Orleans to Nantes offers normal boring living. But it is high quality living.

The quality of life in France comes from the local hospitals, doctors, shopping facilities, schooling, prosperity, universities, the people etc. Throw in some nice counryside a few chateaux and it becomes perfect. Quality of life does not come from living in some dead cobbled stone town in the middle of 'spectacular' countryside. That is a holiday.

When I first went to France I toured all over, and every time I visited somewhere new I would say 'I could live here'. The reality now of course is that I couldn't. It would have been impossible to survive. Give me normal living where things work any day. If I want to go and see another cobbled town with nice countryside I will jump in a car and go and see it. When I get back I just switch on the gas central heating and enjoy the photos.

You know what I mean ?
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Wherever you think you might want to move to, visit at various times of the year; the weather will put some off places, whereas others find that all the activity and shops close down in winter.

We thought of buying a beautifully restored old building in a hamlet in the Drome, an area we know well and have French friends not so far away.

If we had done, I suspect we wouldn't use it anything like we do in the Gard, where we spend up to 6 months each year most years.

There were few social or cultural events etc in that part of the Drôme and not many facilities, people drive to Montélimar for many such events. I guess it's a bit like when we go through small places on our walks, somebody will remark about residents having to get into the car when they need bread/milk.

There's a really good social and cultural life and plenty of shops/restaurants where we are in the Gard, suits us down to the ground, as well as being a beautiful area with places like the Pont du Gard, Nîmes, Avignon not far away. Plus all that sunshine.
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Cheers to all for the debate - great stuff and really appreciated. We are talking in our head an area east of Tours, South of Orleans. Don't know - a village with a few shops ie baker, small bistro, grocer type, chemist and say within 10 miles to a town where there are more facilities. Based on Somme town sizes ie Albert, Peronne you are talking 10,000 inhabitants. Definitely short medium term to rent and take it from there. It has to be warmer than the Somme - the arctic is warmer than there! Cheers Bob
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Well having looked at the France Meteo site, Tours is just 0.3C warmer on average minimum temperature than Amiens for the months of January and February. While not a big difference, it will probably be noticeable.

Further East (and further from the coast) Orleans is 0.5C colder than Amiens for the same 2 winter months - and you would definitely notice that.

Wooly's suggestion of the Vendee or elsewhere nearer the coast seems to make sense.
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But the températures in built up urban areas are always higher and you dont get the Wind chill factor that you get elsewhere, I know that all to well from my running.

 

I'm sure that the average températures would be significantly lower outside of Amiens, even where I am 1km up the hill by the aéroport gets the record freezing températures as much as 10° less than I get and I'm only just down the hill and on the very edge of the village which itself is warmer than where I live, the local town warmer still, Amiens even warmer.

 

Mind you yours is a fair comparison between two cities.

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I really do think that people forget how cold many parts of France can get in winter.

What with the Tratmontane and the Mistral to add to other weather, it is not always, comfortably warm.

We used to have a poster who lived NE of Perigueux and I was actually shocked at how cold it was there in winter. In fact they used to move into their sejour in mid winter to sleep near the fire. Now I expected cold in the Alpes, but never paid much attention to other regions in winter as it was unlikely I would be visiting them at that time of year.

However, we did once holiday in St Malo the week before xmas and on our run up, stayed in Orleans, absolutely bitterly cold, as it was in Brittany that particular December. Nightmare journey home as all of France was gele.

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Currently I am in an area in the UK near a football league teams ground that had its game postponed due to snow. However the local premiership team has just slammed a team away in the NE of England.

Our French house, 25 minutes from Perigueux.can be as " snug as a bug in a rug" if necessary.

Please don't paint everything in France as being awful.

Taking the advice of other people on this forum then everybody can be " snug as a bug in a rug" in France.

.

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Arabsic native speakers cannot pronounce the difference between 'big' and 'pig' , thus they might say that they are a big big (unlikely though).

Don't worry, Richard, the rug making tribes of Baluchistan can however tell the difference but they have a problem with ' the 'g' sound, so can sound as if they are saying 'I am a bi wi' which causes serious problems for Americans who often refer to themselves as 'weaners'. The permutations depend on your ability to use a Toni perm appropriately.

Richard, you are sane, compared to some people. Thus 'Bittten Gotten' can mean 'How much is your sister?' in Baluchi.

Such is life.
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But Pucette, who I had a lot of time for, lived a few miles NE of Perigueux and I genuinely believed it would be warmer there in winter. Her house apparently, was not. But it must have been cold outside for her home to get so cold each winter.

Not painting anything other than, sometimes one gets surprises when having a specific idee en tete! And France has winters, cold ones.

I do know how the gulf stream works, but the effect it had on the UK is, when I think about it, quite remarkable.
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