Lodeve

[janeandtedJane and Ted]

We are hoping to move to the Lodeve area next year. In preparation we are going to spend a month there from the middle of January to have a good look round a make really sure we like the area and the French lifestyle - not that we have any doubts really!!

Has anyone any views on the area - we would appreciate negative as well as positive - or know of any nice short term property (2 bedrooms) that we could let in the area? It would have to be somewhere that accepts a Golden Retriver that thinks its a polar bear.

[Mpprh]

Hi

Lodeve is an historical town, with a Roman history. It is seen locally as an intelligent place to buy in now.

Once the motorway link is finished, it will be very quick to get to the A9, Montpellier and Beziers. Also it will offer a fast autoroute North to Paris.

The bypass is progressing, and the Millau bridge opens today.

There is a nice website here : http://www.lodeve.com

Bonne chance

Peter

[graham34]

To be more precise Lodeve has had a bypass for ages, but it's been a mess for the last couple of years as they have been building a second tunnel and making the bypass up to autoroute standard.

We first "discovered" the area in 1993 when we rented a friend of a friends place that just happened to be in Soubes (just up the road from Lodeve) and have holidayed in the area for several weeks of the year ever since. We eventually ended up with a holiday home in a village towards Pezenas - see www.aspiran.com for some nice pictures. As Peter says the area continues to be up and coming due to the expansion of Montpellier and the linking up of the A9 autoroute. There has been a shortage of property in the area because of this, especially the new builds with a bit of land that the working French families desire.

I think you are wise to visit in January given your long term interest, have to admit we haven't been between of November to mid-March yet! Depending on how hardy you are you'll need somewhere with heating. We've rented fairly basic places in St Guiraud, St Felix-de-Lodez and Montpeyroux if that's of interest.

Let us know how you get on.

Graham

[0BRIAN WOODHEADI,m here in franceddMMyyyy0Falseen-USI,m here in franceTrue]

Graham,love the pic,as for lodeve we have pased through many times and even stopped off a couple of time both before and after the new by-pass,not my cup of tea the valleys are too steep for the amount of sun I need,nice area, love it for a short while we really loved the lovely beaches not to far a way.We have spent many family hols between sete and adge,but decided not to live there.