Unwelcome visitors- The reality of rural life

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Why are we in rural France? 

I have lived in South London all of my life and ever since I was a child I have dreamed of living in the countryside. When I was younger we went on a caravan holiday to a farm (we had to have 2 caravans as there were so many of us) and I was totally blown away by it. It took me 43 years to finally have somewhere in the countryside, even though I had to cross the channel to get there.

Tim and I say to each every day  "another day in Paradise," because it is. When I walk outside of my house or drive along the road I  say to myself " I live here" because it is stunning and I fell so lucky to be here. Since living here we  have realised that there are many things that you need to consider:

Wildlife

 We currently have the following residing with us (not in the house though):-

One Snake, Bats, moles, Voles, Coypu (they really did fall out of the ugly tree and they are the size of a small dog) Deer, Pine Martens (they are cute but you do not want them in your roof), field mice, oh and a duck has just turned up in our pond this very morning.  It's our fault really, not only do we have a large pond but we also have a stream and a lake behind that which  is the size of  Milton Keynes (it has an island in the middle but it's not a roundabout). 

Power cuts

They happen now and then and they are more frequent in the winter. The power can be off for minutes or hours. Orange France very kindly send me a text to warn me that thunder is forecast so I can unplug my internet. However, I don't normally see the message till after it has occurred. 

'Fosse septiques'

 Sorry but that needs its own blog! We have just had one installed. 

Land 

 If you are considering moving to the French countryside bear in mind that as France is such a big country, it is likely that your property will come with a lot of land. Is that what you want? could  you cope with the work or expense of someone else doing it for you?. A friend recently told me that he spends nearly 4 days a week working on his property- that's nearly a full -time job and he admitted that the novelty of it has worn off. He does have a  lot of land though!

Workload

Tim and I have also adopted the attitude of ' a job a day' (thank you John for that) but as I keep telling Tim a 'job' does not really constitute changing a light bulb. 


Food for thought 

As an Estate Agent once said to me " what people think they want and what they actually want are two totally different things." So, if you are considering moving to France, spend a long time thinking about what you  really want and more importantly what you can realistically deal with.



geoportail.gouv.fr








This website enables you to look at plots for any piece of  land or property. From here  you can work out  how large the area and the property are. It  also provides aerial shots so that you can look at a property's location and see what is around it. 


Happy house hunting!









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