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Downsizer Forum Index -> Downsizing abroad

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pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 07 8:58 pm Post subject:
That sounds great, I'm in france at the end of Sept maybe we can all meet up. Going to be at Simon's.

catalyst

Joined: 03 May 2005
Posts: 6

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 07 1:19 pm Post subject:

hi everyone
i am andy, husband of sophe (pureportugal).
we live in central portugal on a smallholding that is about to double in size, when we buy the land next door.
our website about us is now: www.portugalsmallholding.org

and we also run a site advertising property here, specialising in smallholdings and farms for the downsizer:
www.pureportugal.co.uk

i also still help people setting up co-ops and communities in the uk:
www.catalystcollective.org

we have horses, chickens, geese, ducks, bees, cats, dogs... and grow most of our own veg, as well as offering info and advice to anyone seeking to downsize and do the good life thing. i have read a lot about peak oil lately, as well as info about what our oil-based economy is doing to our landbases, and so spend a fair bit of time telling people how bad things are, and how we can make a difference by changing our lifestyles...

Last edited by catalyst on Sun Jul 22, 07 5:01 pm; edited 1 time in total

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Sun Jul 22, 07 4:51 pm Post subject:
Hi Andy, hope you and Sophe are well, Site is looking good. Steve

keithatbeaugut

Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 16
Location: Puy-De-Dôme, Auvergne, France

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 07 11:40 am Post subject: Keith & Clare in central France

We are Keith and Clare, and had been planning to retire to France when I hit 60 (in 2009). Towards the end of 2005 I was made redundant, so took early retirement and set about finding a new home.

We eventually moved at the beginning of June, 2006 to our home here in Puy-de-Dôme. We are right on the edge of the Département, 5Km from Allier and 15Km from Creuse.

We have neither of us been keen gardeners in the past but now find ourselves with 3800sq metres of pastureland that we are trying to turn into an orchard and vegetable plots.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45676
Location: Essex

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 07 11:41 am Post subject:
Excellent, good luck and I hope we can be of some use

Bobkitten

Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Pas de Calais, France

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 07 11:41 am Post subject:

Hi,

I've just found my way here from the River Cottage Forum.

My name's Alex. I moved to France with my husband and daughter in July 2006.

We have about 6.5 hectares of pasture land for our 4 horses with our sights set on our neighbours 2.5hectares of woodland (fingers crossed). We didn't move far from the UK, we are just outside Boulogne sur mer.

My husband has kept his UK based job so we don't have income worries, not sure how we would manage otherwise.

We want to be as self sufficient and eco-friendly as possible in our new lives. We are just beginning work on our vegetable garden/orchard. Can't bear another year of supermarket veg!

So that's us in a nutshell.

Looking forward to browsing the forum.

Alex

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 07 12:06 pm Post subject:
Welcome Alex. Glad you could join us.

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 07 1:07 pm Post subject:
Hi Alex, hope you enjoy the site, go and have a good read

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 07 8:07 pm Post subject:
Bonsoir Alex - I did it the other way round and found the River Cottage Forum from here. We moved to France this summer and hope to have our veggie patch fully operational by next summer - we don't buy supermarket stuff unless we are really stuck - there are some great markets round here and some even sell organic fruit and veg. Enjoy the forum

jan66

Joined: 03 Jan 2007
Posts: 4

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 07 9:44 am Post subject:

Hello everyone, my name is Janet. As a little girl I lived in Colchester, Kilmarnock and then spent the rest of my childhood in the Hague Holland where I met an Australian. We moved to Australia, back to Holland and finally settled in Ostfriesland in Germany.

We bought an old farm with 10.000 m2 of land and have just finished our first year of downsizing. It has been a very exciting but also difficult year and there is still so far to go. We do love living here, the neighbours are brilliant, the country side beautiful and living off the land is better than I anticipated. So no complaints there. BUT on the other hand, the house is cold, old, damp. It needs lots of work and there is never the money or the time.

Then you think back of your warm, insulated terrace house that you left behind where all the work had virtually been done. The house I could not wait to get out of but that did look nice and that was comfortable and warm. Where your washing would dry overnight instead of the 4 days it takes and then still needs to go into the dryer to finish it off.

We have 4 boys 13, 11, 10 and 5 who are all in different schools here. One goes to the regular high school, one to a Steiner / Waldorf school, one to primary and one to kindergarten. It keeps you pretty busy all round. Getting kids to school buses (the first one leaves before 7 the last drop off is 8.30), looking after animals and the garden, processing food.

My husband works 3 days a week in Holland. I give courses 3 evenings a week and occasionally work free lance for an interior design firm.

I have been reading here for quite a while now and really enjoy the posts, we learn from them, they inspire us and at times help you through insecurities.

Bobkitten

Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Pas de Calais, France

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 07 5:28 pm Post subject:

hi all,

Thanks for the welcome, I'm having a ball so far!

Quote:

we don't buy supermarket stuff unless we are really stuck - there are some great markets round here and some even sell organic fruit and veg.

Well until recently we were a one car family, in fact two but it took me a year to pluck up the courage to go to the prefecture and register my little smart. For a week were were a two car family, with me able to pop out to Desvres for shopping. The smart coughed and spluttered (after a year of inactivity

) and now we are back to one car. What I'm trying to say is, when I get my car back I shall be certainly going to the market on a tuesday, as it is, I'm restricted to the wretched supers because my husband is at work mostly when the market is on. But good suggestion thanks, I shall be heading off with my basket in the near future!

ChrisUhu

Joined: 12 Nov 2007
Posts: 71
Location: Northern Germany

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 07 1:26 pm Post subject:

Hi everyone, my name is Christina, I am new to the forum having stumbled across it on my husband's laptop - so you are the guys he's been talking to

.
I am the OH to Kevin who told you all about moving to Niedersachsen at the beginning of 2006. I work in the automotive industry which is cut-throat and horrible, making me appreciate coming home to our house and garden, in the midst of one of the valleys of the Weserbergland, all the more

After 20 years in Norn Irn, living in Germany (again, in my case, as I grew up near Paderborn and left when I finished school) has come as quite a shock.
Germany is still in the dark ages as far as providing good, fresh food (never mind organic!) to the general public is concerned, and I can't wait for next summer when we will hopefully get our first home-grown fruit and veg in. I MISS the wonderful farm shop in Northern Ireland I used to go to!
The good thing, however, about moving to Germany is that it has given us the opportunity to start downsizing - one job instead of two, living in the lovely green countryside instead of town, the kids running wild in the woods and fields, stuffing themselves full of fruit, nuts and berries instead of having to be kept indoors for fear of being mown down by traffic...
I enjoy reading the posts on this forum and will "pop in" during my lunch break whenever I can.

tim_and_nicky

Joined: 28 Nov 2008
Posts: 261
Location: Beautiful Galicia, NW Spain

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 08 10:52 am Post subject: Moving to Galicia

Hello all, after some time spent lurking on the edges of this forum we think its about time we introduced ourselves. We are Tim and Nicky and we have almost completed on the purchase of a smallholding in Galicia. It has been a year of struggle (Spanish paperwork sigh) but we think we are on the home stretch..... (not holding breath).
Since we have started the UK property market has collapsed, the pound has collapsed and our nerves are in a similar sorry state but we are still hopeful.
IF we can sell our UK house in 2009 we hope to be in Galicia by the end of the year, if not then it will be a holiday home for a bit. We intend to run a smallholding for personal consumption, pigs, goats, bees, veggies and poultry. Also after some renovation work we will start a B & B to bring in an income so Tim can give up his current job in IT. We aim to do all of this before we get too old and infirm to wrestle the livestock. Looking forward to chatting to you all some more.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 08 11:06 am Post subject:
Hello Tim and Nicky. Welcome to Downsizer.

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 08 1:51 pm Post subject: Re: Moving to Galicia

tim_and_nicky wrote:

Welcome Tim and Nicky - Lovely part of the world - Good luck in your new venture.

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