Help - Where in France for retired parents

[OuEnFranceSVP]

Hi everyone, my parents are retiring in France but they don't know where, can anyone help? Language skills and visas are no problem, it's just the location. Budget up to 800k but ideally less. Not a ridiculously high COL area like Nice. Apologies for posting in AIBU for traffic, I know France fairly well but am at a loss here.

-Easy enough transport links to the UK and Paris (for healthcare reasons).

-Weather not too hot: this might be a tough one. 25 degrees is just about their limit. However they don't like grey weather which is why they're not moving to the UK.

-Not in a big city, they like quiet, clean air and green space.

-A community of English speaking expats would be good, or at least a place that welcomes outsiders (I know actual French people who having moved to communities in the South and found them very insular so want to avoid this).

Maybe Evian, Normandie, the Dordogne, bordeaux, or Limoges? They would want a smaller town around these I imagine. Any ideas gratefully received!

As they want to move surely they need to decide where is good for them. I would not want to be responsible for such a big decision for family members. If they move and do not like it/ find it unsuitable for whatever reason then whose fault will it be? Certainly in the case of my mother it would moser certainly be mine 🙄🤬

Definitely stick this post in Chat or Property or somewhere other than AIBU...you're getting a bit of unnecessary grief.

@Allthehorsesintheworld oooh yes Angoulëme….gorgeous and temperate climate

I wouldn't say Angouleme is temperate in the summer and as inland you don't get the breeze that you do out on the Charente coast.

If they looking at the west coast then the vendee is the most south they could go….even royan gets above 25 degrees…..and Bordeaux in the 30s …..flights to many coastal airports eg Nantes may be plentiful in summer but not in winter

Angouleme is 35 today and predicted 40 tomorrow…way too hot for OPs parents…..I was an au pair in angouleme in the 80s ….so a proper blast from the past for me!

In terms of Little England - our village in Haute Vienne is 60% British owned homes, but we have a thriving local community cafe which is populated by French/British/Other cultures and it has French and English music on twice a week. So you could call us Little England on paper apart from it is far from Little England types, most of us/them are doing veg growing/gardening/art/crafts type stuff and have had an array of different backgrounds and jobs across the board. Many are introverted and want their space. The main Little England trait is many of the Expats play in bands and we can often hear 'I would walk 500 miles' ringing across the village at 10:30 pm on a Friday night. Maybe Little Scotland would be a better stereotype?

Absolutely confounding and bizarre that anyone would think gardening, crafts and anglophone Scottish music are markers of a group "far from Little England types".

@OuEnFranceSVP glad you had this moved to Chat. I was going to suggest Annecy along with Nantes. Another poster asked what they liked to do and I think that’s a great question. Annecy has a lot of winter sports, hiking, etc but other options. It’s also close to Geneva if they want to hop over.

Nantes is only about 1.75 hours from Paris on the train and everyone is SO NICE there. I visited for the first time this April and was shocked at how kind people were. Even my friend’s French cousin who lives there told us she was surprised at how sweet people in Nantes are. She had moved there from Bordeaux! So even within France, Nantes people are known for being nice! 😂 Property is also very inexpensive too relatively.

One area that came to mind is Eastern France (Strasbourg/Colmar)

It's quite a continental weather but you won’t get the high temperature you have in the South of France. You’ll get quite a lot of Sun in summer (and snow in winter).

The Alps around Annecy could also fit the bill re climate but the area is quite expensive.

Limoges is awful to integrate in. Ilivrd there 30 years ago and I doubt it has changed much.

Normandie will get you a similar weather than the south of the U.K. so not too hot but also grey!!
Bordeaux and la Dordogne are very nice areas but their are getting hot in summer too, hotter than Strasbourg.

Another one to consider is La Rochelle as they've got such a healthy budget. Great climate and open all year round.

Slightly off topic, but French inheritance laws and taxes are punitive so worth reading up on them.

I guess I think the OP means fat drunk Essex blokes. Uncivilised and uncouth.
Or something.

I’m in Switzerland on the opposite side of the lake from Evian. Not far from Annecy either.

Neither fit the bill. It’s a really expensive area and summers are hot. It’s 33° right now.

Then they'll get the grey weather

Was there last week as a friend owns a house 5 mins from Riberac - it was over 30 deg when we were then and nearer 40 last year

30 in Nantes today, forecast for 37 tomorrow.

I’ve just spent a week in Alsace, and was in both Colmar and Strasbourg over the last few days. Both well into the 30s. Strasbourg has an excessive heat warning today.

Realistically you're not going to find anywhere in France where temperature remains below that all year. However I didn't suggest being in Nantes itself and finding somewhere further into Brittany, maybe by the coast, would probably be a bit cooler.

Do you actually live in france though?

Bergerac.
Eymet is mostly English speaking including bank, insurance and bars. Lots of retirees too. They will be well looked after by the expat community.

Well yes.
Thats what continental weather is. Warm in the summer and sunny. But not like the south of France/Med which is usually around 35~40oC

fwiw the whole of July was cold there, just like Annecy or the U.K….

Not currently. But l grew up in France and have lived in Paris and Aix en Provence.

I’m slap bang in the middle of the EU region and July wasn’t cold. Unless you think cold is 27°+

Yes, I understand that. My best friend is from Riquewihr so I often spend time there at all times of year. The summer temperatures go above the upper limit of what the OP’s parents will tolerate, though it’s a lovely part of the world.

The problem is that I don’t think there an area where it’s sunny but not above 25oC in summer…..

All of the other places mentioned will be well above that too.

Tbh most of the grief is coming from the fact the OP is very unforthcoming with information. I can understand she wants to protect her parents' privacy but this is not enough information for anyone who really knows to be helpful. You would have just as much luck googling "average summer temperatures in France." More so, since it would give you an idea of the trends over time.

OP how old are your parents? What is their health like? And crucially, what do you call "easy travelling distance" for Paris and the UK? You can get to Paris from anywhere in France and to UK from Paris or channel ports but then you name places that are really far away from Paris. How are your parents going to travel? Air? Car? Train? I would be concerned that living rurally would mean a bit of a trek to airports or TGV stations and elderly people can lose their ability to drive, or drive far, or drive in the dark, so it seems complete madness to add in a load of distance too.