There are three main issues which fundamentally affect the experience and outcome of a house-hunting expedition in France: sticking to the brief, the distances involved, and the language barrier. Our brief included “must be less than 10 minutes’ walking distance from a village centre”. On numerous occasions (with other agents) we drove for over an hour to view a property which turned out to be 10 minutes’ drive from the nearest village, and the agent would be amazed and upset when we refused to even look at it. This encapsulates our experience with all other agents; the only estate agent we found with the professionalism and intelligence to deliver the brief was Karin Maxwell from Maxwell-Baynes Real Estate. All the properties she found complied with our criteria and we bought the fifth one on her list!