Holiday home in France - francophiles, where would be good?

[holidayhome]

Thinking of buying a 2nd home / holiday home in France...

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Yes I know we are very priviledged, lucky etc, can we just get over that and move on (she says in a slightly prickly, defensive way)
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Would like it to be France as it will be quick and easy to travel over for a weekend and we could use it regularly, and would like to encourage my children to speak other languages.

I imagine best way is to decide on a broad area, and then to visit that area a few times to look at it in more detail etc...

But I've only really visited Paris and Brittany.

Could you help us narrow down our search? where would be a lovely area that you would recommend (not too far from the beach, not too much hostility to English invaders coming in and putting up house prices, lovely countryside etc, etc)

Sorry about the abrasive bit I put into my first post - but I did feel real trepidation in starting this thread - bracing myself for some unwelcome comments, so I was being a bit prematurely defensive

We can travel to Northern France by car (as we live on the South Coast), but equally we don't mind flying as we are close to a regional airport.

I don't mind 'English type weather' at all - we are mostly interested in the 2nd home for the 'cultural experience' thingy (listen to me - don't I sound a plonker!)

Tell me more about Charente and Vendee (if you don't mind that is..)

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Well that's two votes for Charent - perhaps we'll plan an autumn break there and take a look....

any other suggestions?

Do you speak French, hh?

Message withdrawn

No I don't really Moondog - have very rusty GCE french. But I would do an evening class in French conversation if I bought a home there, and would be really motivated to become adept at the language.

Pruni, well it's still worth considering. Seaside location isn't an absolute must.

Brittany!

some friends of ours are selling their house in Mine Kersclipon (tiny hamlet near St Jacques/Bannalec) - very nice, 2 bedrooms, seagrass flooring, good kitchen, big lovely garden, child friendly

Enid!

How much?

we bought a house in northern france (somme) for ease of access. We are near gatwick but the logistics and expense of flights for 5 and then car hire plus time spent at airports made me feel that if we wanted to use it for shortbreaks/weekends, we would need to be able to drive really.
In fact we can do door to door in 4 hrs ish. We choose a little seaside town about 1hr 30mins from calais and 30 mins from Dieppe. There are lots of things to do in the area, esp in summer. It is near but still very french, have only ever met one english person there. We can walk to the beach (could never have afforded similar house in similar location in UK)
Good luck-its fun searching!

I dont know - but I can find out for you and see if it is on a website?

Yes please Enid

Miggy - was housebuying complicated? Did you appoint a good french solicitor for conveyancing (any recommendations?). What about getting things done on the house by local tradesmen? I'm thinking; I worry about rogue traders here (watched too much low brow expose tv!) so would feel a bit compromised when I'm not fluent in french with these every day matters...

How did you start really with buying an overseas home?

Have you had any bad reactions from french neighbours because you've bought a holiday home but are not actually living there 'proper'?

Sorry! so many questions

Normandy is fantastic, everyone just seems to drive through as they go south....have a look at least.

Holidayhome-Buying was actually quite easy. We actually bought the house via an english guy who picks properties from estate agents that he thinks uk clients will like. He then deals with the agent on your behalf and he came to the signing at the notaires with us (you dont really have a solicitor, just use the local "notaire"-equivalent, and vendors use same one, turn up, go through all the papers and sign on completion day) you do pay a deposit though once your offer is confirmed, 10%, non refundable.
The same guy found us some lovely french builders, they dont speak english but we have a very useful dictionary of building terms! Although we bought a "lived in" house, rather than a wreck, building work is expensive in France and by the end of the summer when we will have had the roof replaced, new shutters and the front of the house repainted (to go with the complete rewiring/replastering inside-french wallpaper hides a multitude of sins!) we will have spent half as much again as what we originally paid.
We have found that water/oil/electricity/rates etc have been more than we expected.
There are very good books available on buying property in France, also "living france" magazine is very useful and has a good online forum
Our neighbours are lovely, our social contact is limited due to our linguistic skills but their grandaughter speaks very good english and has emailed us to say how pleased her grandparents are to see the house being looked after and could we please let her know if there is anything they can do to help-so lovely really. The town we bought in is popular with parisians for holiday homes and the estate agent said that if we didnt buy it some parisians would and the locals hate parisians more than the english

Friends of ours have a house in a small village in Vienne, which is Poitou-Charente (I think) - nearest decent-sized town is Chatellerault - map here. They have 3 or 4 friends who all also have houses in little villages in the area, but I think theirs is the nicest partly because it has bakery, cafe and butcher. The area was picked almost collectively, partly because it was about as far south as you could go and still get R4 longwave!

It's lovely countryside, lots of sunflowers, gentle rolling hills; very rural, they ride bikes a lot, and although it's quite a long way from the Atlantic coast it's do-able as a long day trip.

They live in Lancaster and an early start + overnight ferry from Portsmouth gets them there for lunchtime next day; but as their kids have all left school now they often fly/drive or use the train (TGV stops quite near).

Thanks for these further suggestions and links - all very useful

Had to laugh at Miggy's comments about the locals despising the Parisiens more than the English - lol

If I could buy a holiday home in France I would consider either Chinon region (2.5 hours south west of Paris on Motorway A10) or Irancy in Burgundy (2 hours south east of Paris on A6) because they are both wine areas so it means very sunny and yet not too far from Paris so that you don't have to drive so much. the other positive aspect is that some villages as Miggy said are very happy to see some English people buying their homes because they know that they will be well looked after.
these regions would be cheaper than any resort on the coast and the quality of life much better but the drawback is that there is not a lot to do for kids maybe.
hope this helps

You could also have a look at www.destination-france.co.uk/ which may answer many of your questions.

Beware of the helpful English guy who works with all of the agents and can help find tradespeople etc, he will be paid on top by both parties.

Good luck! You could also consider the Gironde area.