I am a Londoner born and bred, never lived outside zone 1 until I was an adult (for those non-Londoners that is the most central area – sort of like downtown).
Eight years ago, we moved to France, but unlike most Brits we didn’t buy a house to renovate, we rented. This cost us a small fortune, but also gave us the opportunity to move around and explore.
As it turned out we could not afford to stay in the first place we rented and in fact we hit a bit of a financial crisis. We were forced to move to a small village in Gascony, where everything was cheaper. It’s a beautiful region, but it didn’t suit us as a family. We’re Londoners, we felt isolated and cut off from the world. The people were really great and I made more friends than I had before, but it never felt right.
We didn’t know where to go when we left and in a kind of blind funk we found a house towards the Med and rented it. We only stayed there 18 months before finding our current house.
Looking back over it all this morning, I realise that we have pretty much traversed the length of the Pyrenees from west to east since moving to France. Strangely the place we felt most trapped was Gascony even though it looks and sounds like a perfect idyll.
I think the lesson I have learnt from this is that maybe we will never find our ‘forever’ place, but also that we are all different and that what is freedom for some is a prison for others.
Here are some photos of the amazingly beautiful place we lived, where we never felt settled.
