Just over four years ago, I swapped my commute to London from the quaint English countryside near Saffron Walden to the beautiful and scenic region of Southwest France near Bergerac that I am now fortunate to call home and where I represent Maxwell-Baynes the affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The original notion was fairly simple, but as we know, life has been far from that in recent times! Two flights a week instead of at least ten trains and the weekends enjoying French culture, food and wine! That premise has dramatically evolved, and it is now hugely different to what I had at first expected.
In January 2019, my beautiful little cottage in Newport Essex was rented out and occupied by tenants. My wife and I, our two young boys and our daft dog Tarka, undertook the drive down to Duras in France for what was going to be an exciting year long experiment.
We had already spent many fun holidays in the region, as my wife’s parents have owned a holiday home there since the early 1970s. The previous Easter in 2018, we were en-route home back to the UK when we first started talking about it.
We love it here, why don’t we try to see if we feel the same all year round? Even when the sun is hibernating, the rain dominates and the Pizzeria in Eymet is closed?!
Bizarrely, two flights a week worked out cheaper than my train commute to London! We partly rationalised the move as I was nearly always out of the house before the kids were awake and home after they were in bed. Also, as a Management Consultant at the time, my work often took me away for the work week anyway. Although, as a slightly nervous flier, after a rather bumpy flight back in the first week – I did wonder how wise the decision was!
It turns out that a move to France wasn’t the only exciting new adventure my family embraced in 2019 and in November, we welcomed our third son – born in Bergerac. We had decided that a sabbatical was a good idea, and I had paused work the previous month, to ensure I was there for the birth. My wife is a chef (shameless plug @Lucy Simper) for large events and consequently, her work is very seasonal. Therefore, the idea was that I would be ‘Daddy Day Care’ during her busy season and then look to return to work later in 2020 or early 2021.
The world threw a slight curve ball to that idea! Like the rest of the global population, Covid-19 made us re-assess our lives. Could, or should I even go back to commuting? For a long time, whether or not this would even be possible was extremely questionable.
Team Simper had got used to being a family unit seven days a week and just because one of our initial justifications for the move – that I was rarely at home anyway – was a fact at the time, did that make it the right thing for us and our children’s upbringing?
I am a firm believer in that every situation gives rise to new opportunities. A chance introduction to Michael Baynes, helping my wife on a job she would not normally have taken if it had not been for the upended season that was the result of the first summer post lockdown, I would not be doing what I do, where I am today. My skillset as a Management Consultant was very transferable and a good fit for becoming a Luxury Real Estate Agent; both being people orientated industries. Personal relationships based on honesty and open collaboration, in my mind, breed success and ultimately happiness.
The last four years have been eventful, but we have enjoyed them (for the most part!) immensely. I look forward to what is in store for us in this gorgeous part of the world in the next four years!
In my next article, I will be highlighting my region more specifically (the eastern part of the Lot-et-Garonne) what it has to offer, some of the superb properties available and why my family and I enjoy it so much here.
