Up sticks and settlle anywhere nice..but where..

[lemonice]

do you go if you can go anywhere?

It'll be next year but time goes by so quickly we're already thinking, but don't know where to go...

Message withdrawn

DHs parents live between poitiers and limoges and it is BEAUTIFUL. Houses are so cheap, the people are lovely, I would love to up sticks and move out there.

France? Ugh! When italy exists...

Mogwai...re being 'one of those Wesl people who switches from English to Welsh when an English person comes in the room'...
They don't exist outside the confines of a monoglot's paranoid thoughts. Have always marvelled at the inflated sense of self that leads a person to believe that a whole roomful of people would switch languages,just to exclude someone...
And you a SALT! Tut tut,should know better!

ggg,my dh works in international development,presently on a very large EU project designed to drag Eastern Anatolia at least somewhere near to what is going on in the western part.
I know you are a writer,mother of four and bonne vivante... How about your dh?

Sorry,think it's five!? (And a stepson as well? Gosh,I'm exhausted just thinking about it!)

Where in Italy? I'm struggling to picture us there, probably because I've only been once and that was snowboarding so not especially relevant..it would probably be too hot for dp...what is it like as a place to live pros and cons please.

The Wales area I'm considering is West of Carmarthen maybe Cardiganshire not sure how incomers are looked on..my family connections are in Laugharne, but I wouldn't want to go there to live..

Dcs would like Devon/Dorset but I doubt any of them will be living with us just visiting..it might be a bit too nice for us..

Where in the Lakes if i haven't asked already?

Scarborough area was another that I suggested but the dcs frowned on that for some reason?

Specific suggestions for France would be good..

How Much do we need?

If anybody has an idea of house prices for some land, a view, outbuilding/extra letting unit/office/barn type things and 2-4 bedroom house and dp seems to require a room 36 foot long by 24 foot wide for some reason (not a priority for me) And a bit of a copse...a tumbling stream..no traffic noise..if in the UK a post office within reasonable distance

Alternatively a building plot

but Moondog......it's happened to me!!

We sat down in a pub in Beaumaris (I'm sure you know the area well) and the locals, who had been speaking English, switched to Welsh as soon as they realised we were English.

So we switched to French

As you can see, there ain't no monoglot in this house!

Oh...and they actually got up and left, so we had the added bonus of getting the table to ourselves!

Or perhaps they actually thought we were French? My French really is fantastic

Mogwai,that's bollocks! Don't flatter yourself!

I speak five languages reasonably (French-degree level,Russian and Turkish) and it aint ever happened to me...

don't know what your polyglottic status has to do with it...it won't protect you! And I certainly didn't dream it, neither did my dh - we still laugh about it to this day!

Bloody hell though, well done on all the languages. I'm also French to degree level but cannot learn any others to save my life. Perhaps I should try Welsh?

...off to get Tom Jones CD to put me in the mood

Mogwai - shhhhhhhhhh I think Moondog has left to go swimming with dd - I think some Welsh people do that too.

I've heard they only go swimming off Llandudno pier....and they shout in Welsh if you wave to them

Just leaving. Hopefully,I'll be able to annoy lots of English people by suddenly switching to Welsh as soon as they come near. The only time I speak it of course!

Mogwai,I do your job, and use my three best languages to do so.

you can get what you want in dorset but it would prob set you back between 300/400 grand.

Suffolk - Davros suggested that too. If you go for the rural, not too Londony bits of the coast, it'd be fabulous.

Or east Norfolk by KM.

No mountains, but lovely coast in East Anglia. And apart from Aldeborough, it's down to earth.

Well have been trawling the internet trying to find ruralidylls in Suffolk or Norfolk and zilch, haven't found anything ...

i'd say wells for norfolk, or lakenham for suffolk - I think that's in Suffolk.

Do you mean actual proprties or rural idyll villages?

I'll post more on Suffolk later this evening if you like.

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tried looking for properties, but also don't know much about Suffolk.

We are not moving until next year but trying to get a feel for the possibilities couldn't seem to find anything much looking in the price range 300,000 to 500,000 (that's a bit of an unlikely upper limit! but just seeing what is available)

There is a good web site for properties called RuralScene but it doesn't have much in that area but some nice ones in Wales.

ggglimpopo. I ran kicking and screaming from Northern France, they were not as friendly as the South.(Or is this a cunning plan to get the Brits up North and keep the beautiful south for us) tee hee!

Suffolk: depending on location you have a number of lovely small towns, Ipswich,- Bury St Edmunds and other big towns. You are within reach of Norwich, Cambridge and London. And the coast you are seeking. No mountains, though. Plenty of rural villages that are well within reach of towns - it's hard to be as out-of-the-way here as you may be in deepest Wales. I found the following on Prime Location - decent gardens, but none with much 'land' though.

\link{http://www.primelocation.com/uk-property-for-sale/details/id/BIip312952/ \modern, with mature gardens and workshop}

now, I fancy this

this looks like it has fantastic views

more lovely views, extra land by extra negotiation, but prob a bit much money

Define Rural idyll and how much you want to spend - I'll find you one within 20 mins of my house...

PS there is a building plot arround the corner about a mile to the nearest A road, 1.5 miles to the PO, no babbling brook - but a broad within walking distance (just before the PO)