Reflections on 2005

As the year 2005 draws closer to its end, now is a good time to reflect back on a year that has been different to those that we have experienced previously in France.

It has of course been a year of exceptional dry weather, with hose-pipe bans, fines for filling swimming pools and washing cars! There has not been too much evidence of any changes ahead either. As we drove back through Portugal and Spain earlier in November the reservoirs that have been full on previous annual visits were virtually empty. Certainly a lot of rainfall is going to be required to restore the water table to its ‘normal’ level once again.

Back in the UK, London was rocked by the terror attacks of 7/7. As with the US post 9/11, things will not be the same again back ‘home’. Here in France there has been unrest on a regular basis this autumn, starting in Paris, but spreading to many major cities across l'Hexagone. It does make you appreciate how lucky we are here in rural France away from such problems.

Given the very warm welcome that we receive here in the Poitou-Charentes, I think it is very important that we put something back into French life. With this in mind, in our village on Bastille day, ‘les anglais’ produced the pudding / sweet course for the 100+ villagers attending the annual feast. This offer was extremely well received by our neighbours, who were intrigued by the variety of puddings on offer. They enthusiastically compared notes with each other, came back for seconds and the Maire said some kind words, thanking all of us for the efforts made to integrate into our village life. It was very rewarding!

During the year, I have joined the local Rotary Club. I have to confess that my French isn’t up to speed to follow everything going on at the meetings, but they are a most welcoming group of people, with the shortcomings on the language front being overcome by the goodwill.

During the course of the year we sold a property, to be used as a holiday home by a young Midlands couple, neither of whom speak any French. We have kept in touch with them and they are currently on their 3rd visit to the house, reporting to us of their meals with the neighbours and the fantastic welcome that they have received. I can assure you that they don’t look forward to returning to their home and the drudge of work at the end of each visit.

Not everyone of course settles down here. We are getting quite a number of clients who for one reason or another are selling up and making changes to their lives again. For them, things haven’t worked out as planned, although we do try to offer advice on what things they need to think about or research before they buy. Some people have a plan that doesn’t work, but some people don’t seem to have a plan. As in the UK, there are winners and losers.

Travel to the region has become easier with more flights opening up, and even more promised to come in 2006. Angouleme is set to be the next regional airport to see UK flights on a regular basis. Given what has happened here with house prices following the flights into Poitiers and La Rochelle, I would expect prices in that area of the Charente to rise. This year has seen the brakes go on the escalating prices though. If you were expecting to see big gains this year you would generally be disappointed. When we started looking in France for houses a number of years ago, we were warned not to expect house prices to rise as they do in England. A breather in price inflation is probably no bad thing.

As I have suggested before in this column, the exchange rate between the £ and Euro does have a significant impact upon prices paid by UK buyers. Lows of around 1.40 and highs of in excess of 1.50 highlight the fluctations and the importance of getting the best deal – which we are able to achieve via our specialist brokers, whether you are moving here or moving back!