Moving
To Charente - Living In Rural France
By Diana
Kingham
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| Moving To Charente
Before choosing early retirement,
we used our annual vacation times to research possible places to live in
Mexico, Portugal, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Malta, Gozo and Panama. While there
were some attractive elements in each country that could satisfy a retiree,
such as the weather and affordable real estate and medical costs, there
were things that just didn’t quite add up in our dream list.
In order to dedicate more time to
our search, Dave and I sold our Connecticut home and resigned our jobs
in advertising and real estate sales. We put all our furniture into storage,
packed two suitcases in our van, and set off to explore further down the
Northeast coast.
The Big Search, Again
We stopped in at retirement communities
in New Bern, Wilmington, Beaufort and other towns, and visited old friends
in a sprawling luxury facility near Hilton Head, where they provided residents
with their own golf carts and all kinds of activities on site. Our search
for a place in the sun ended in South Carolina, when we bought a new 3-bedroom,
all brick house in a gated community of 300 retiree homes set in a picturesque
environment of rolling golf courses, streams, cultivated gardens and a
club house that looked like the mansion from Gone With the Wind, updated.
Friends and family were informed that we were now settled, and they were
invited to come over and enjoy our new place. |
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The Good Life In Rural France
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You will realize right away
that you are living in the most staggeringly beautiful region in the world,
surrounded by peaceful country roads, farmlands dotted with sheep farms
and chateaus, historical castles to explore, and of course a gourmet lovers
paradise.
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To Contact The Author Diana
Kingham
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dkingham43@yahoo.com
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So, how did we land up in rural
France a year later? There was a growing conviction that after spending
most of our adult lives in the States, we needed to find a place that would
appeal to us more deeply and reassuringly as a true home. Some yearnings
just defy logic.
At first we decided to search for
a second home that could be an investment, while we continued to live in
S.Carolina. We had found many unusual and affordable old houses of character
in France listed on the internet. The English agency we contacted
set up dates when we could look in the Dordogne and Charente regions. Provence,
the Languedoc, and south coast areas had become too pricey, as that’s where
most foreigners had been buying in recent years.
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The English agency we contacted
set up dates
when we could look in the Dordogne
and Charente regions.
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The places we were shown within
a range of $80-120,000 just didn’t appeal or have a “wow” factor. We saw
a modern house with a pool, situated on the same land as a social club,
and a 3-storey apartment with a front door right on the street pavement.
Another house had a separate gigantic decrepit barn, ominously dark and
cluttered with the remnants of animal stalls. It would take years of extensive
work to make it habitable.
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The back garden, with its
rose bushes trained against the walls - -
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On our second last day
in the Charente, we walked through the splendid dark wooden doors of a
17th century converted barn, in the quartier ancienne of the town of Ruffec.
We were impressed with the interior space and layout. The stone walls were
almost three feet thick. There were some wonderful large arched windows
with a view over the tiled roofs of our neighbors. Also a view of the Chateau
de Ruffec, where Catherine de Medici spent Christmas in the year 1575.
In the small back garden, with spectacular rose bushes trained against
the walls, was a tall fir tree. Exactly like the ones in Connecticut that
could be draped with festive lights. There was a second garden behind the
garage, with two peach trees heavily laden with fruit, and rows of healthy
tomatoes and a huge palm tree in the corner.
We had to decide quickly to go way
over our budget to make an offer - we were assured that houses like this
didn’t last. We made an offer with the usual conditions of it passing home
inspection, and it was accepted, to our delight.
What Have We Done?
Before leaving to fly back to the
States, we took a second look at the barn. The ground floor had an entrance
parlor,three small bedrooms, full bath, and a little corner studio. There
were magnificent overhead beams, some ancient, some newer, in every ceiling.
Steps down lead to a huge great room with fireplace, and a modest typical
French kitchen at one end. We were told the owner would sell us the tiny
refrigerator, oven, dishwasher and washing machine separately. Surprise!
Unlike the fitted kitchens that U.S. buyers expect to find mostly intact,
French sellers strip the house of everything, including light fixtures.
Naked light bulbs dangled in every room. We remembered,
with faint regret, the stainless steel kitchen appliances, the elaborate
dining chandelier and lights, the almost new washer and dryer we had back
in the States, that would be left for the lucky buyer of our house. |
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Back to the barn. Above the ground
floor there were steps leading to the grenier, where thick ancient beams
held up the old tiled roof. The attic walls would need fixing. We ducked
below hanging curtains of cobwebs to check out the small finished bedroom
at the end, that lay hidden behind a rough cinderblock wall. It was usable,
with nice large arched windows. However, no signs of a WC up there. Maybe
the guest was expected to have loins of steel, rush down the steep steps,
and race down the corridor to the nearest toilet!
The lowest region of the barn boasted
an enormous, badly lit room, described as a former cave. It was stacked
with empty wine racks. Two steep open shafts lead up to the back garden.
What exactly did they roll down the shafts in past centuries? All that
slipped through now were curious mosquitoes.
| From There To Here
Fast forward to the present. The
damp wine cellar has been cleaned and painted white several times over.
We lucked out with finding an electrician who suggested how to add more
light, and he connected up two convection heaters that keep the room snug
and dry. It’s now a well lighted office with loads of room for computer
furniture and filing cabinets.
Walk-in closets, a standard feature
in most American houses, are just not the norm, so it was off to the DIY
stores to order made to measure wardrobe shelves and drawers. These were
assembled and fitted wall to wall with not an inch to spare.
Half the walls in the rooms and corridors
were unfinished raw building blocks, which contrasted strangely with some
beautiful walls of thick Charentaise stone. It took many months
of vigorous scraping, sanding, plastering and painting to get those raw
walls finished and smoothened. Dave often appeared to have dipped himself
into a large bag of flour, as he worked through these projects doggedly.
The lawn was just a stony weed-covered
triangle, with just a few pathetic stubs of grass. Hand digging up the
entire surface produced tons of small rocks that had to be carried out
to the decheterie (local town dump). Weeks after re-seeding, we can look
out onto some fine emerald-green grass. It covers the mysterious
underground stairs that we discovered a few feet below the surface. |
Paris is less than four hours
away by fast train
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Some General Advice:
1. When purchasing a house in France,
it is essential to work with an established bi-lingual notary if you don’t
have a good grasp of French. The documentation involved covers everything
to safeguard your purchase, as well as setting up the precise way you can
legally choose family members to inherit the property. Because the work
involved in preparing a deed is very involved,the notary tags on a healthy
fee to the purchase price. As a buyer, you also pay the realtor’s commission.
All this needs to be factored into the price you ultimately wish to pay.
2. We did not at first think of the
barn as a full time residence, but one we could live in perhaps half the
year while spending the rest of the time in South Carolina. When adding
the numbers, consider if you want to pay taxes and maintenance for both
places. A costly scenario, unless either place could be rented out to help
cover the costs. Not easy to do. We checked.
3. Sell your cars - importing and
changing to French registration is a very convoluted process.
4. Get rid of all your credit cards
and expensive club memberships. You are giving up the lifestyles of the
rich, famous and deeply in debt. No one we know here flashes Rolexes
or minks. Just ship your favorite most durable and essential clothes, the
music you can’t do without, the books that you cherish and plan to read
at last, now that you have the time.
5. Give away all electric appliances.
Nothing works here with the French plugs. You can make some of them work,
but only with special transformers, which are quite expensive.
6. Be prepared to join the French
national health system as soon as you can. It is compulsory, and an absolute
godsend. Compared to the $1200 a month we would have had to pay for two
individuals medical BC/BS coverage, we are now benefactors of the best
health system in the world at less than one-sixth the cost. Earlier this
year I stayed for ten days following major surgery at a hospital, and my
insurance picked up the entire cost except for 13 Euros a day for the shared
room. This included impeccable nursing care and fabulous meals presented
with wine if you could stomach it!
7. Learn as much French as you can
before arriving, and be determined to practice it on your neighbors and
in the shops. They are very polite and don’t smirk, though you may mangle
the pronunciation. There are many people available to teach you the language
but it takes time to get really fluent.
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The Good Life In Rural France
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The Good Life In
Rural France
There are hiking clubs, swimming
and tennis facilities, and many cultural activities offered in nearly
every town. Some retiree friends are encouraging us to join the line-dancing
lessons here in Ruffec. You may find yourself more active than you were
when you were part of the rat race!
You will realize right away that
you are living in the most staggeringly beautiful region in the world,
surrounded by peaceful country roads, farmlands dotted with sheep farms
and chateaus, historical castles to explore, and of course a gourmet lovers
paradise.
If you still yearn for big city lights,
Paris is less than four hours away by fast train. Most of the north-south
highways are a breeze to drive as well.
With the internet and really cheap
international phone connections, I send and receive more frequent messages
from family members and friends than when we lived in the same country. |
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Establishing yourself as a resident
can present some mind-boggling bureaucratic challenges. There are a lot
of professional agencies and qualified individuals available to help you
tackle problems with insurance, taxes and other legal requirements. A lot
of the time you won’t have to pay for help --I got the best explanation
on handling a tax bill from someone at the American Club of Lyon.
Just remember that patience and persistence
and a pioneering spirit will help get most things resolved. At the end
of the day, you can even switch on your TV and be amused at Walker Texas
Ranger struggling through his adventures in flawless French!
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