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Paul and I both had busy lives, too much stress, unhealthy lifestyles and not enough 'together' time. We would longingly watch all those TV programs about changing your life, moving to the country, renovating a dilapidated barn into a designers dream, all whilst the presenter peered into the camera wringing his hands in despair - if only that could be us! In 2007, just as my son left home to go to University I found myself made redundant and always one to look on the bright side decided to have some 'me' time. That quickly turned into a 'seize the day' mentality so Paul quit his job, we put our furniture in storage, rented out our property, packed our Clio with all our essential worldly belongings and set off for France with a map and a gite booked for 7 weeks. Fourteen years later we are still here and loving the french life! We (meaning Paul) have gained many skills along the way - plumbing, electrics, stonemasonry, joinery, roofing and landscaping to name but a few! We can also now speak very reasonable French (starting from a baseline of no french at all), Paul has been a member of our village council and we taught English for 4 years to the children in the local school - although to be honest I think we learnt more French from them than they learnt English from us! We have two french ginger stray cats who adopted us and two lazy non egg laying chickens!

We started our search for a property further south towards Saumur and Tours but on a day trip north we chanced upon the department and river of Mayenne and absolutely fell in love with the area! Family, friends, eating and socialising are the main focus for everyone here so there's never any hurry and nothing is ever too busy or too much trouble. It's great to just relax, unwind and enjoy the everyday beauty of the surrounding landscape, the abundance of fantastic wildlife and to listen to the quietness. Although we live on a hilltop, with great views, all our local amenities are just down the road. The river Mayenne is just 7kms away with many walks and cycle tracks, its never busy and parking is almost always free and easy! In addition the coast is only an hour and a half away for those days when we fancy some sea air, to dip our toes in the sea and eat a really fresh plate of shellfish.