Have a look at www.totalfrance.com and www.frenchentree.com. The forum on totalfrance is full of advice and comments from people running/hoping to run/giving up running gites.
The problem is France is not tax, but the social security contributions - they can take 50% of income. With 2 dc, you will have 3 parts to set against income, so basically the first ~?18k are tax free. You divide the total income by the number of parts to find the tax band, so even with an income of ?78k the top rate of tax is only 14%.
The French income tax bands for 2009 (updated in the Loi de Finances 2010) are:
- to 5,875? 0%
- 5,875 to 11,720? 5.5%
- 11,720 to 26,030? 14%
- 26,030 to 69,783? 30%
- above 69,783? 40%
We moved just after dd's 9th birthday and, fortunately, we had just about enough equity to live on until dh's pension kicked in last year. The downside is that it is in £s which have lost 33% of their value in the last 4 years, which I why I'm somewhat desperately looking for work.
If you have a gite with a pool, and you have an abri, possibly incorporating solar panels, you will be able to charge a lot more, and have a longer season.
The other thing to bear in mind is that, although property prices are a lot cheaper, renovation costs aren't. Forget amounts given on relocation etc, renovation costs are at least ?1000 per sq m, and standard workmen's rates are ?35-40/hour.
Good luck