House views I

Forges-Les-Eaux casino is a major attraction

This blog is one of a series of three and is about the main towns we have explored in the hope of buying a house in the French countryside, in Normandy the county opposite us as the crow flies; in fact as resident of Bognor Regis, as the crow flies, we would be exactly in Arromanche. The first town on our list we visited is Forges-Les-Eaux.

Arromanche is in Normandy and as the crow flies is opposite from the town where I live, Bognor Regis

Anyone trying to buy a house in France has to compile a list of criteria to include such requirements as to where they would like to locate, if they wish to live permanently in the future, as a holiday getaway, or to hire out,more importantly their budget, communications. A list should have modes of transport to consider: trains and motorways but also electronic communications - the internet, speed of broadband, mobile coverage and whether the terrestrial television stations are able to give a good reception of sufficient quality. Some places in France still lack basic services such Gaz de Ville and drainage. It is best to stay a week at the very least to check out properties, hire a cottage for as little as £500 to sleep four inclusive of Brittany ferry price

In Forges-les-Eaux the buildings are mainly brick

There are plenty of ruins that can make for a good project for those who can turn their hand to DIY, a shell for around 25,000 Euros, and poorly run down residential house for 50,000 Euros or a reasonable pad can be found for around 125,000 Euros upwards.. Some will want to live frugally off the land, grow their own and lead a simple life; others take it easy, make art, or others offering their services as a gardener or handyman to fellow Anglais or even the French. France runs a fantastic micro-entrepreneur scheme for those with these dreams, and electricians and plumbers are sought after but all we want is to enjoy the long summer holidays and weekends away.

Chateauneuf Val St. Donat in Provence, where I once lived, fond memories of the two years in the village

I have already lived in France for two years, although in the very south, up in the Alps where the Mediterranean climate meets that of the alpine, blue skies for nearly the whole year but temperatures and house prices are too high, distance to travel too far. I knew about estate agents, and notaires and how they work having bought houses before.

Town hall an village primary school where my daughter attended.

My priority now is not to travel more than an hour and a half from a ferry port so it seems Normandy or Brittany are the target, the journey to Provence took 16 hours. While the counties further south offer warmer weather in the summer (sometimes too hot to go out), to get to the far south can be extremely tiring, to get to the mountainous regions of France, which means my favourite area the Cantal in the Auvergne is out of the question.

Other criteria I list as important is a train station within half an hour drive, at least one supermarket, with plenty of places within walking and cycling distance. I like to be in an area where terrain includes hills, valleys, rivers, lakes, fields and woodlands but on the perimeter of the town.

'Notre commune a, en plus des activités traditionnelles d'un chef-lieu de canton rural, une vocation touristique incontestable'. (The mayor of Forges-les-Eaux says that the commmunity is a traditional one, an important town and one which is values tourism.

Our search has taken the best part of two or three years, visiting different areas, viewing several houses towns and terrains. We haven’t strayed, confining our efforts in this vast country, where the houses are relatively cheap. The price seems to be based on remoteness and lack of facilities. The nearer the town, the more expensive the property. The search has gradually moved south west, using the Portsmouth to Le Havre ferry, or Caen (Ouistreham).

We realised that department of Seine-Maritime, was a more expensive part of Normandy simply because it is closer to Paris, with rail connections to the city Rouen and connections to the rest of France.

The Town Hall - Forges-Les-Eaux is a ville Fleurie (for its beautiful displays of flowers).

After a lot of research, the town which seemed the most promising, a spa town that ticked all our boxes wouldn't give us the house we expected, prices began to go up soon after we had decided to visit the town. I read an article only to discover that rich Parisians had begun to buy, house prices increased by 20% which meant twenty percent less house, then the £ took a similar tumble against the Euro because of Brexit. The Parisians were buying second homes, their escape hatches and bolt holes to escape the city, attracted by the casino, the theatre, its lakes and English style landscaped gardens. The town has a railway station and is about an hour and a half from the ferry at Dieppe with the cheapest of crossings at £49 per person with DFDS .This would have been an ideal location as there is a chemin vert all the way from the Ferry to Forges-les-Eaux enabling the visitor to cycle all the way in less than three hours, although by car in three quarters of an hour.

We were attracted to Forges-Les-Eaux because it is a community that is most welcoming, each year new residents are invited to meet the Mayor over a glass of wine and a buffet. The town's elegant casino with the attached four-star hotel is surrounded by woodlands and close by is the public park which includes a villa rebuilt after being dismantled over a hundred and thirty years ago from the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1887. Parc Mondory is a treed park, with horse riding, lakes and a museum exhibiting the works by the master potter George Wood producing his faience in the 1790s. The local stream runs red which indicates iron and here the Romans mined and worked the iron forges nearby. Forge-Les-Eaux is still on our list, however our hopes are now dashed because of the sudden rise in house prices, we have moved our attention to the book festival town of Aumale, the subject of the next blog: House Views II.