My French adventure started about a year ago when a series of events led me to rethink my future.

I realised that, sadly, I was getting very disillusioned with England.

I would never be able to own the type of house that I wanted in England.

I was quickly tiring with the hustle and bustle of life in the computer industry.

It was then that I sat back to consider my options. It did not take me long to arrive at the conclusion that had really been staring me in the face… why don’t I consider moving to France.

Having decided upon an area in France, and believe me there are lots (I chose La Creuse.), the next step was to get a feel for what was available in my price range. What a good idea, but where on earth do you start? For me it was the Internet. A few well-chosen questions using Google returned a plethora of sites that promised so much, all I had to do was to attempt to sort them out! My final choice simply came down to the site that seemed to have a realistically wide spectrum of properties and prices on their books, were courteous and helpful when contacted by email. For these reasons I chose Century 21 Marcon Immobilier, a good choice as both the offices I dealt with, one in Gueret and the other in La Souterraine, both had staff that spoke English, which was great as I have only just started learning French. If this wasn’t enough, my visit was co-ordinated very efficiently by a very helpful and charming Scottish lady - Sheena Pacetti

I spent two days looking around and it was the last house I viewed that I ended up buying. A beautiful little farmhouse with attached barn and enough land for me to justify buying a sit-on lawn mower – something I have always wanted!!!!!

I found it hard to believe at the time, but one of the houses we looked at Sheena actually advised me against, rather out of character for the Immobilier I thought but nevertheless very grateful for the advice.

From my experience, you have to go to France with the intention of actually buying, if you see something that you like, but procrastinate too long, you will probably end up losing it!
Then followed a very intense three-month period. On Sheena’s advice, I had a survey done on my “New Home”, definitely to be recommended for peace of mind, then had to impatiently await the results, which fortunately gave no nasty surprises.

Additional items that had to be considered were: - setting up a French Bank Account, a must really, House insurance, transferring the Water, Electricity and Telephone into my name etc, all of which Myriam from the La Souterraine office gave me considerable help and advice with. I have also started to learn French; something that I am enjoying and am sure will prove very useful.

Having now almost finished the “paperwork” I am looking forward to spending a lot of my time in France working on my new home.

I am meeting the Notaire in January 2006 to complete the sale and am also hoping to meet the Maire, again with the help of Sheena and Myriam.

Not much more to add at this point really just to say that I am looking forward to the return of some nice weather so I can get started.

Phil Taylor bought his property in October 2005 through CENTURY 21 Marcon Immobilier in La Souterraine and we will be following his progress as he renovates his new home.

If you would like to contact him directly his e-mail address is philip.taylor@nhs.net

Is it really eighteen months since we first viewed our little house in Creuse? We’d spent what seemed like years pouring over those Internet sites, but finally we’d actually booked an appointment with Century 21 in Guéret and for two weeks we were in Creuse.

The viewing process was fairly painless. Sit with Didier, the estate agent, whilst he goes through his portfolio, (the ability to read and view pictures upside down is useful here!). We picked five properties to view over two days, and house number four was the one for us. Viewing was accompanied, but not pressured. We were looking for a bargain at the bottom end of the market, but I don’t think we were treated any differently for that. With the services of a bilingual estate agent our only task was ensuring that money was in the right place at the right time. They sorted the notaire, helped with insurance, getting water and electric put on etc.

We settled on a little town house with garden, basically two up and two down. Ideal for holidays for two, in a lovely bourg (that’s French for market town, not an alien from Star Trek!). Of course little did we know that within in a year we would be here for good? The pull was soon too much!

So we’ve been living in Creuse for about five months now. How time flies. We’ve spent most of it working on the house, and in between we’ve acquired the house next door which gives us a lot more space!

The DIY state of play is as follows: - One fully finished bathroom; lounge finished barring an unpainted ceiling; bedroom finished apart from wallpaper; kitchen rudimentary (but better thanks to Jeannie’s Dad putting some cupboards in); all electrics now safe. Next door was in a right old state, it’s now clean at least, and all the old wallpaper is off. The French mega-floral style paper is an acquired taste! I’m working on getting the electrics safe, putting in a connecting door, and finishing a dining room, all before Christmas! Jeannie doesn’t fancy having to walk down the street with the turkey from the kitchen to the new dining room (picky).

One thing we always knew was that we like gardening more than DIY. We’ve been easily diverted from DIY anyway because we’ve found so much more interesting things to do in Creuse. But there’s been more progress on the garden. A lawn and a border, fruit trees, paths, and a veg plot, as well as a patio (you’ve got to have somewhere to sample the wine).

Our French is coming on (we can’t avoid that). Strangely it improves immensely the more apéritifs we have with the neighbours. Getting on fine with the locals, on first name terms with some of them (quite an achievement in France, where neighbours can stay on ‘madame’, monsieur’ terms for years). Can’t list all the favours that have been done for us, and the food given to us, veg (in industrial quantities), fruit, tarts (the pastry kind), eggs, and the odd rabbit (more of that later).

Ellie, our border collie really loves life in the Creuse. She’s taken to guarding next-door’s rabbits which amuses the neighbours greatly. We got offered a rabbit, in ‘an offer you can’t refuse way’, which turned up skinned and cleaned one Sunday morning. We weren’t keen on eating something that we’d seen alive and well ourselves, but we had it in a stew anyway! It was delicious, which helped the conscience a bit. But to be fair to Jeannie she did refuse a second one without hurting any feelings. She did suggest to our neighbour that instead maybe we could have one as a pet, but this went too far and was treated as some kind of foreign madness.

Our patience levels have improved immensely. What a shock to spend just ten minutes in Brico Depot (The French equivalent of a B and Q Warehouse) to be turfed out whilst the staff have a two hour lunch! If it happened in England there would be a riot! But that seems ages ago. All trips are now planned around lunch, Monday closing, and Wednesday when for some strange reason the local supermarket isn’t allowed to bake bread! And you get used to losing a day sorting something that used to take half an hour. At supermarket queues, at the Mairie, the patisserie, or the local market, the French seem to have infinite patience. Of course the exception is on the roads, it must be a kind of safety valve! Still the roads are pretty quiet here so the French obsession in overtaking everything on the road usually just means overtaking us.

Well we’re looking forward to Christmas. At over a thousand feet above sea level a white Christmas isn’t too unusual we’re told, so we’re hopeful. There’s a turkey fair on the 20th but whether they’re dead or alive, we’re not sure...maybe we’ll have to stick to the supermarket. To be continued...

Rob, Jeannie (and Ellie)

P.S. All mince pies gratefully received. Call themselves a gourmet nation and no mince pies to be found!

For more of the same visit the family website at:

http://monsite.wanadoo.fr/lesanglais/

Hello, may I introduce myself. My name is Zoe and I am married to Sid and we have three children, Michael, Natalie and Steven and a beautiful granddaughter Caitlin who is eight. More about them later!

We live in a very pretty village in East Yorkshire called Burton Agnes, near to the coast. We love our English home but want a more leisurely life in France, along with a better climate (for my cold husband!) Our children are all living their lives and think it’s a great idea for us to move. Plenty of quality time for us all when they come to visit!!

Many years ago we bought a house in the south of France (my father has lived in that area for several years) Yummy we thought. However ill health hit me like a bomb and we had to sell our French house, as the future didn’t look at all rosy. Now, many operations, therapy and drugs later plus wonderful consultants and GP, I am quite stable, so, ever the optimist, we decided to try again.

Sid “ hit the net”. Many many hours and houses later, and a house file big enough to fill my cabinet, Sid found “the one” on the Century 21 Marcon Immobilier site at La Souterraine. Quick as a flash, via the wonderful Internet, he spoke to Sheena Pacetti. The name was familiar and we realised that we had previously met Sheena at a French Property News exhibition at Olympia in London. Being a hoarder, I fished out her card so we could put a face to the name. Great!

Sid contacted Sheena, arrangements were made, and he was soon on a plane to Limoges.

Needless to say my intrepid explorer of a husband managed to arrive at the hotel that Sheena had recommended but unfortunately he took the English fog with him telephoning me to say “ I am in front of a fountain, where is the hotel? “ Men!!!!!

The hotel was lovely with English speaking staff, all the better for Sid as his French has a little way to go. The next morning Sheena was meeting Sid at the hotel. This indicated that the service from Century 21 was indeed going to be excellent, and it was. As Sid was feeling a little under the weather that morning he didn’t follow Sheena, they went together in her car, another indication of the top class service provided. Before going to the property they called in at the Century 21 agency in La Souterraine to meet Didier Cadert, who was going to take them to the house. (La Souterraine is a beautiful medieval town with a lovely old twisted church) Didier speaks perfect English so all the better for Sid. From here they continued to the property, along many more twisty country roads. By now Sid really wasn’t feeling very well!!

The house was just what we wanted. How wonderful. Sheena and Didier answered all Sid’s questions and patiently waited for him to take photographs and film so that I had plenty to look at when he returned to the UK.

Back to the office in La Souterraine, via the local village and the pretty country lanes with Sid trying to keep the cine camera running for my benefit but feeling very ill in the process! The” deal was done”, the price agreed. Paperwork and telephone calls followed, in between Sid feeling very miserable. Didier and Sheena were very sympathetic and professional throughout. Just brilliant.

Their service extends beyond just the purchase of the house. Century 21 organise opening bank accounts, direct debits, insurance, everything involved in moving into a new house in a new country, and at no extra charge. What could be better to ease the move? Even doctors are recommended (a necessity for me) Sheena also pointed us in the right direction to have our pool installed, much to the children’s delight. More importantly, a money exchange company was recommended which proved very fruitful when paying the deposit.

On returning to the UK Sheena and Didier have kept in contact with updates on all developments.

What a great team they all are.

It’s a busy time now, so an update will follow from a weary but happy Zoe. Merry Christmas all XXX

If you would like to speak to Zoe and Sid directly you can contact them at sidiandzoe@hotmail.com

FOOTNOTE : After an uncomfortable journey back to the hotel for Sid that evening, he had a good nights sleep and was able to make the journey home the next day.

In the spring of 2004 I made the decision to buy a property in France. I didn’t ever imagine that it could be so easy.

I had spent many happy hours surfing the Web and must have visited every site that was advertised in the French Homes magazines. Some of the sites wouldn’t give me any information unless I registered with them. Of all the cheek! To me that’s like a shopkeeper asking for your name and address before he lets you look in his shop window. This doesn’t happen with the Century 21 Marcon Immobilier web site; their shop window is open all hours.

I had decided upon the Limousin and La Creuse areas and every time I went into the Web I kept being drawn to the Century 21 Marcon Immobilier site. It told me all I needed to know about the area, listed all the properties together with their prices and was so easily navigated.

I felt as if I had already met everyone in the Company by the time I visited the French Property News Exhibition in London. What a welcome I received, even though they didn’t know how many times I had gone into their site. Unless, of course, they had been eavesdropping on my computer! I had coloured in a map of the area I was interested in and as if by magic it coincided exactly with the Century 21 map. We were in business. I decided almost immediately there was no reason at all why I should start shopping around other agents and I didn’t even bother to go to any of the other stands. That proved to be the best decision I could ever make in this adventure.

As soon as I had cleared up the last remaining family matters in England I contacted Century 21. The E-mails flashed backwards and forwards as the day of my visit to France approached. Five days of visits to properties with the five branches of the Company had been arranged. Five days – I thought that was going to be hard work; but it wasn’t. The visits were very relaxed and friendly and there was never any pressure on me to buy. I was simply left to make my own analysis of each property after the relevant details had been given to me.

Although the five agencies cover different areas I didn’t sense any competition between them. The only feeling I got was that they wanted to make sure that I bought the property that was exactly right for me.

By the third day I had seen three properties that I could quite easily buy but I would keep going for the full five days. I told Sheena about one of them and she told me immediately that it was “not for you-I won’t let you buy that one.” What? An estate agent advising against buying a property!

On that third day I found the property that was eventually to become mine.

Everything fitted my requirements with an added bonus as well. I casually asked about a piece of land close to the house that was being sold separately by the same owner. When we got back to the Century 21 office, Didier Cadert, the agent, made a quick call to the owner. If I wanted to buy the house the land would be thrown in as well at no extra cost! Eh! Do my ears deceive me?

A quick scan on the office computer of the properties that had been lined up for the remaining two days of my visit confirmed that nothing would come close to this one, well not for me, anyway.

So what did I finish up with? A house, 2 bedrooms, large living area, study/third bedroom, utilities room, shower, double glazing, central heating, 2 barns, a large garden, a working well, ready to occupy AND a half an acre of land.

How much? I hear you say. Well that’s between me, the previous owner and Century 21. But if you take the cost of the smallest, noisiest, smelliest, coldest, badly decorated, run-down, decrepit, third floor, one bed-roomed flat in England and divide by three you’ve about got it!

You might think that I’m satisfied with the services of Century 21 Marcon Immobilier; you’re absolutely right.

FOOTNOTE : Roger Marston bought his property through Century 21 Marcon Immobilier in La Souterraine. He is currently in the process of moving permanently to France but if you wish to contact him directly his new telephone number and e-mail address will be shown here in the New Year.