Disembarking in the Sunny South: Buying Case Study

Frustrated narrowboat owners Allen and Jo Fairhurst nearly didn’t bother with their last viewing. It was to be their dream home. They tell Sylvia Edwards Davis why it lured them ashore.

FRENCHENTRÉE: What brought you to France?

Allen Fairhurst: My wife Jo and I have always had a close affinity with the South of France and always promised ourselves that, one day, we’d move here. So that’s exactly what we did.

FE: Where did you live before?

AF: Our wonderful home for seven years back in the UK was on board Carpe Diem, a 57-foot bespoke narrowboat in north Derbyshire.

FE: Tell me about the house search…

AF: We had been scouting for property in France for the past four years, combining holiday trips to the Languedoc with regular viewings of properties that we had seen on the various French and British property websites. We viewed approximately ten houses over the years, eventually discovering (at the very last moment) our dream house.

FE How did you find it?

AF: Just before the second lockdown, I was sent on a last-ditch mission to find the perfect place in the Languedoc. I had two days to view four properties 200 miles apart. I ended up covering over 600 miles in the two days, with disappointment after disappointment. The final property on the list was the furthest away, situated in the picturesque village of Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes, 70km south of Carcassonne in Pyrénées-Orientales.

FE: How did you know this home was ‘the one’?

AF: A visit to the penultimate property on the list had taken me northeast of Carcassonne and I was feeling exhausted by all the driving. My morale, not to mention my stamina, had taken a bit of a beating and I was wondering if we would ever find the right place. I phoned Jo and asked her if she really thought it was worth going all that way south to see the final house on the list.

On paper, the last house ticked all the boxes. It had two bedrooms, a large balcony, it was less than an hour from the Mediterranean and was nestled in a beautiful, mountainous valley close to the Pyrénées, plus there were wolves and bears in the lush forests that surrounded the village. Jo cheered me on to make one last stab, and said that if this house was not it, then I would come back home and we would have a complete rethink. So I pootled down to Caudiès.

I arrived in the late afternoon, to bright sunshine and a cloudless sky. After a 30-minute stroll around the picture-postcard village, I met up with the notaire at the entrance to the Grand Rue and we both walked around the corner and there it was… looking far nicer than it did in the online brochure. I stepped into the typically French kitchen on the ground floor and before long, after viewing all the rooms in the house, including a huge living room on the top floor with fabulous views of both forest and mountain, I found myself sitting on the balcony. There was not a cloud in the sky. I closed my eyes, listening to the birds singing. “This is the one,” I thought, “I’ve finally found our forever home in the South of France!”

I gave Jo a guided tour over Whatsapp culminating on the balcony with the magnificent vista of mountains and trees. I returned home the next day and immediately made an offer well below our original budget. After some pleasant negotiation, a mutual figure was agreed on – bargain! The rest, as they say, is history. And to think I nearly didn’t bother making the effort.

FE: How did you find the buying process and paperwork?

AF: We put in an offer on the property in September of 2020 and moved into the house on December 15. The paperwork, as with all things bureaucratic, is a pain. The French seem to love paperwork, but the UK can be just as bad.

FM: How did you manage with the language?

AF: I speak a little French but I’m having lessons, and being exposed constantly to the language helps pick up regional inflections, of which there are many!

FE: Tell me a little about the area.

AF: Caudiès is in the Languedoc, which is one of the largest wine-producing regions on earth. You can literally throw a stone from our balcony and hit a vineyard. In our village alone there are five different caveaux to choose from. If you set off on the road to Perpignan, 44km away, you never lose sight of a vineyard! I love Caudiès because there’s a real community spirit. Not just from the ten or so expats who live here, but from the locals too. People are so friendly and laid back. You can definitely feel the Spanish influence. If there’s a problem, people tend to have the ‘mañana’ approach. Festivals range from art and music to cherries, wine, food, literature and all things in between.

Markets are plentiful, the nearest just four miles away in Saint-Paul. Seasonal local produce is always available and is invariably of an excellent standard, a bonus for me as my occupation for many years back in the UK was as a head chef, specialising in many different types of cuisine. I am now a food writer, contributing to several industry publications and websites both in the UK and France.

FE: Did the house need work?

AF: The property was in excellent condition and the former owners had spent a great deal of money investing in top-of-the-range and very tasteful furnishings, which were all included. We wanted to make it our own, of course. By a fluke, our next-door neighbour was a British builder and he helped us fit a gorgeous wooden floor in the kitchen. After a lick of paint here and there, new beds and the addition of a giant flat-screen TV in the lounge, it suddenly became ‘home’.

FE: What would you say to someone embarking on a similar adventure?

AF: Be pedantic and pragmatic when investing your hard-earned cash. Make sure you have done your research. It took us some time to find the right place. We did our groundwork, had all the relevant searches and surveys done, had the place looked over by a builder friend and it was all worth it – more than worth it, in fact! There’s no way we could afford a similar property in the UK, it would have cost us three times as much, and that is before you factor into the equation the fabulous location. If you want something badly enough, go for it! I pinch myself every day.

FE: With what you know now, would you have done anything differently?

AF: No, I really don’t think I would have, to be honest. I saw the whole thing as both a challenge and an adventure, and I love both. The fact that we combined holidays with viewing helped enormously. It’s always a good thing to mix a little business with pleasure and it really paid off for us. Of course, it helps if you know a little about your subject and you have a genuine love for it.

It’s been a long and, at times, very frustrating journey but we managed it, despite the unfamiliar logistics, language barrier, the daunting prospect of moving to another country with a different culture, all coupled with the added stress of the Brexit clock ticking away in the background.

The primary reason for us moving to France was our mutual love of the sun (being half Italian, sunshine is essential for me) but the second reason was Brexit. I hated the thought of leaving the European Union. I hated how it split families, friends and communities in the UK. All the French people I have met here just shake their heads and sigh at the mention of the word.

Was it all worth it? We now live in a beautiful house in a stunning part of the world, surrounded by nature, mountains, forests, rivers and lakes and less than a two hour drive to Spain, so it’s a big ‘yes!’. I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever.

FE: With what you know now, would you have done anything differently?

AF: No, I really don’t think I would have, to be honest. I saw the whole thing as both a challenge and an adventure, and I love both. The fact that we combined holidays with viewing helped enormously. It’s always a good thing to mix a little business with pleasure and it really paid off for us. Of course, it helps if you know a little about your subject and you have a genuine love for it.

It’s been a long and, at times, very frustrating journey but we managed it, despite the unfamiliar logistics, language barrier, the daunting prospect of moving to another country with a different culture, all coupled with the added stress of the Brexit clock ticking away in the background.

The primary reason for us moving to France was our mutual love of the sun (being half Italian, sunshine is essential for me) but the second reason was Brexit. I hated the thought of leaving the European Union. I hated how it split families, friends and communities in the UK. All the French people I have met here just shake their heads and sigh at the mention of the word.

Was it all worth it? We now live in a beautiful house in a stunning part of the world, surrounded by nature, mountains, forests, rivers and lakes and less than a two hour drive to Spain, so it’s a big ‘yes!’. I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever.