A New Life in France, Buying a Campsite in France – Part One

Well everyone says someday they will do it, cross the waters and make a new start, some wait until retirement, some retire early, and some take the plunge years before retirement and try to make a go of it. Well that’s what we did, try to make a go of it and 3 years down the line we are so in love with our new life it's unbelievable. We knew in our late 40's we had to buy something that would bring us a little income, to live the life we dreamed. You hear of lots of people buying in France, doing the renovations, having spent all their savings then finding it hard to manage with no income, living on savings until retirement, and having the bubble burst, having to return to the UK.

Our dream had been to own carp fishing lakes and doing some sort of bed and breakfast for say about 10 people every couple of weeks would suit us fine. So feet first we jumped into a campsite with 2 fishing lakes with 17 acres, 8 static mobile homes on site, and 12 emplacements for tourers, caravans or tents and a swimming pool in the Charente Maritime region of France.

I gave up my job as a purchasing manager and Garry his as a site fitter, but his love of carp fishing had brought us here to France . After having more than 10 years of fishing holidays in France, it was always the same on returning home and back to work, saying we could do that, one day perhaps, we had visions of buying somewhere small with a lake, then saw Twinlakes and it was just like, shall we, can we?! Of course when we bought it we had our work cut out, we bought the campsite, in the August and changed the name to Twinlakes and were to start trading in the following April. There was a lot of hard work to be done in that period, it was very different from me sitting on my bottom all day, designer suit, makeup and high heels, it was rigger boots, track suit, no makeup, a very different life now. Garry used to say I was the best cost saver ever, I used to pay over £400 for a year at the local gym, swimming, sauna and other such stuff, visiting twice a week and now there was no gym and the weight was dropping off me, manual work 8am till dark each day.

Neither of us could speak French, and 3 years down the line, I can understand, have basic conversations, but Garry is still on the very basics. It's a good job our French neighbours and friends are very patient with us, we have spent hours like some sort of game of charades, trying to explain things, with more hand gestures than a traffic cop. But a meal and a few wines help to break the ice!

We still had the house in the UK, the youngest son is still at home, he told us the national average for a male to be with parents is now 25 years old, so leaving him at 20 not long to go. The eldest son we had already sold to a wonderful girl, and they set up home 2 years earlier, so it was one down one to go. So leaving the house in capable hands of the youngest son, means we could go with what we could carry and our much loved German Shepherd, Remur, who at 9 years old maybe wouldn't be around much longer, so she had to come, just in case, and still around today a fine old lady with an attitude, hence security dog.

Although I have always said pets tie you down, well our abode is now no different from any other local French country side dwelling, round the back of the campsite we have 3 huge fields, and with the 17 acres of Twinlakes grass to cut and tend, we thought a couple of sheep would at least keep one field down, saves on petrol and time mowing, this increased to two pygmy goats. They are like children when I call they run to me we named them Milly and Billy, the sheep however come and go in the freezer but the goats stay. We also have 2 geese, a few ducks and at least 10 hens and one cockerel the most handsome I have seen. There is also a new friend for Remur, the most adorable little Zak, yes a German Shepherd, bought here in France , well not so little now he’s 18 months! The other week was at stud with a friends German Shepherd, so fingers crossed on the 28th of December, we could hear the sound of little paws.

We have had ducks and chickens hatch, and on the middle island of the bottom lake we have a family of rabbits, as I go over the bridge in a morning, they run to greet me and jump like little puppies, if I were to say we only keep female and one male, you can guess where the others go, for the faint hearted around look away now…its in the freezer. Well I did say we were French living in the middle of the French country side in a most wonderful place in the Charente Maritime region!

Read the rest or our story in:
A New Life in France , Buying a Campsite in France – Part Two

San and Gerry
Find us for a camping holiday in the Charente Maritime, France at www.twinlakesfrance.com