Gary and Alison from Shropshire wanted a place in south-west France to escape the ‘grim and cold’ British winters.
They knew the Haute-Vienne – towards the centre of France with Limoges at its heart – would offer value for money as their budget of £100k-£120k needed to buy a home with plenty of space for cars, motor bikes and dogs. “We wanted somewhere with a slower pace of life, somewhere rural and on the edge of a village,” says Alison, 57.
The couple – who met at 14 and have been together for over 40 years, run a family garage-door business and have two grown-up daughters - applied to A Place in the Sun TV show and found their property in Saint-Bonnet-de-Bellac, a hamlet 15 minutes away from the popular town of Bellac.
The property hunt had not started well, according to Alison, who says that they were getting so despondent that the first three properties did not suit. But they fell in love with the three-bedroom property with a beautiful garden instantly.
The property, which came with a garage, was on at £128,000 but they put in an offer of £115,000 and it was accepted. “I had tears of relief when we found it,” she says. “It had just gone on the market, but the British vendor needed to get back to the UK urgently and needed a really quick sale.
“The septic tank was out of date, so this was a good bargaining point too.”
In France, a property owner can be fined for an out-of-date (or non-compliant) septic tank (or fosse septique). If the tank is non-compliant, the buyer has 12 months after purchase to rectify the issue. The cost of upgrading or replacing a non-compliant tank costs from €7,000-€10,000 but could be more.
In an effort to persuade owners to upgrade fosse sanitation the French government requires that all tanks are brought up to the current standard when a property is sold. So, unless the tank complies, the buyer has a bargaining chip to use when negotiating the buying price.
“It you don’t ask, you don’t get – it was perhaps fate that our trip out timed with the home going on the market,” she adds, mentioning that the previous owner has since bought another home down the road – they did not fall out of love with the area.
The purchase was in October 2024, and the couple have settled into their new home, enjoying living between Shopshire and the Haute-Vienne. They started driving over via Eurotunnel with their dog (an exhausting 13 hours) but have now switched to getting a cabin on a ferry from Portsmouth to Caen so they can sleep part of the journey by taking a night crossing.
“We do miss seeing the family but that is why we come back – the 90-day rule works fine for us right now. But maybe one day we will apply for a retirement visa.”
But their granddaughter is five weeks old and aside from coming home every few weeks to see her it helps them to keep on top of the upkeep of the gardens of both homes.
They’ve started looking into visas – they have got the financial resources required but worry about any language test – they have not learnt too much yet although are trying to do so by going to local antique fairs and chatting to the locals.
But running a home does seem to be cheaper in France, such as paying €70 a month for their water rates, says Alison. “The house is so peaceful, on the top of a hill and there are no neighbours close by. We can walk into the village in 10 minutes. We feel busy and healthier when we are here,” adds Alison. “The weight just falls off naturally.”
