Dropping out and living the dream

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by tommygoldy, Jun 20, 2015.

  1. I have been quite lucky with work ,at the start I bought a bay to do up and sell and that could be my job ,then little by little I got job offers like gardening ,cutting hedges etc ,the English community started to spread the word...

    I now manage 14 gardens which is enough to live on ,it takes me a week and a half every month to keep on top ,because I would like july/august off I also do building work...

    I get a lot of job offers, but I will only commute 12 k ..

    I eventually sold the bay to swap for the T25..

    Our house was a 30 grand cattle shed ,so I have never been short of work to do on it...

    Incidentally I was talking to a mate from Just kamper (forum) today and he wants to move closer to home (brittainy) he got the original estate agent (8 years ago)to value his house ,he has done double glazing ,new shutters,new garage ,the agent gave him a value less than he paid 8 years ago ,:eek: do not think you will be a property tycoon over here...:hattip:
     
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  2. Tuesday wildchild

    Tuesday wildchild I'm a circle!

    What we(Mrs TW) did was talk about buying a holiday home for years and years but money was needed elsewhere so never happened then a couple of years back we stepped into an estate agents. We had 10 days to look and start the paperwork. On completion we spent a month clearing the 4ft grass and emptying the house while camping in the van+awning.
    Went back home and after a week or so looked at each other and both said what are we doing in England, so I came back with brother-in-law and started knocking the building into a safe useable building as it had stood empty for 35plus years.

    Now 2 years later house is nearly done and stared looking at other ruins.
     
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  3. @tuesday_wildchild saw your van today ,if you drove into the massive car park you could have walked less...:p
     
  4. Tuesday wildchild

    Tuesday wildchild I'm a circle!

    Not me.
     
  5. Where are you guys?

    Being a "property tycoon" is not really part of the dream - just a thought. To be honest it would be nice to escape that trap. The longer we stay in London the more money we could make from our property, but at the same time the harder it is to get out and reap the rewards - especially with parents getting older, children getting involved in school etc. Most of our siblings got out of town years ago...

    Right now the pound is strong against the euro and property prices in France seem to have dropped in recent years, too. Our house has almost doubled in the 5 years that we've owned it. It's stupid, but it seems even stupider not to exploit it.

    We could probably sell our house, pay off the mortgage and buy a house in france and a studio flat in a cheap part of london to keep as a rental property. The only question there is whether becoming landlords/investors gets in the way of the hippy dream - we escape the rat race but in turn become "part of the problem" in london :eek:. Renting a place out is also a potential source of stress. But in the absence of a job in France it could provide income, an investment, and should we (or our grown-up kids) need to come back to london, a potential base.
     
  6. North East is the best place on the planet, weather not always the best but the people and locations cant be beaten, saying that I still emigrate to the sun for 2 weeks of the year!
     
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  7. Merlin Cat

    Merlin Cat Moderator

    Hi @tommygoldy
    I would suggest if you do move to France you rent first and check the area out. My partner and I moved to Spain 10 yrs ago, tho we returned to the UK 2 yrs ago. (My partner dragged her heels and took an extra 6 months to return! :) ).
    We travelled in our camper (t4) for 6 months looking for somewhere we could live and find work. We wanted a less hectic lifestyle but need to work. Also, as I have a tendency towards chest infections the sun of southern Spain was v helpful :).

    Our wish list was old Spanish house in the hills, muy rustica etc. however, we ended up with the opposite of virtually all our tick list!! We bought a new house on an estate :). This
    Meant that we found lots of work. We had friends in the hills who scoffed at our ex pat estate but our answer was that we would love to live in the hills but if we couldn't find work we would have to leave.
    I'm a plumber and my partner a gardener. On our estate we had a ready market. We also struck lucky at going when the exchange was good and the markets buoyant. By the time of the crisis we had a regular list of customers. For folk going now it would be much more difficult. We still have our house in Spain as prices pretty much halved and we felt it would be foolish to sell it for a penny! :)
    Sorry, I got a bit carried away there :)
     
  8. PIE

    PIE

    I have too much social life, after beating or picking up we always end up in the pub, there is always a pint pot full of money behind the bar and food on!!
    Bacon sarnie in the morning plus free beer and sloe gin throughout the day, you only get £30-£40 a day but it pays for the dog food and keeps you ticking over!!
    We have a pub that is the centre of the village and a village green loads of social!!
     
  9. Tuesday wildchild

    Tuesday wildchild I'm a circle!

    Can I just add to @Merlin Cat's post that a spell in winter of ones chosen area is a must or you just get that holiday feeling of greener grass. We were camped on an aire while looking which had the water turn off over winter so a trek into town to fill containers.

    Some useful info here but please don't believe all the scare stories from the members, I know on our local forum some seem to make it sound worse than we have found it.

    http://france.angloinfo.com/
    http://spain.angloinfo.com/
     
    tommygoldy likes this.
  10. I love norfolk, stuff them other foreign places full of foreigners. I just need my camper, me tractor, me sister and the big open skies in north norfolk.
    Id just be happy to not have to be a public servant and do want i want when i want, plus travel round the uk would be good enough for me. Perhaps we're lucky that this country gives us the chance to have these thoughts and freedom and perhaps thats why others want to come here, perhaps we shouldn't take it for granted. Probably because we all play the game and work and pay bills and have this life is why sometimes it just becomes all a bit too much of a daily grind. Perhaps one week in Libya, parts of africa etc might just help us appreciate the simple things in life like shelter, food, running water, sky tv, vibrators blah blah blah blah blah. Sad but true I'm sure.
     
  11. lost en france...:D

    [​IMG]

    We are in number 17 ,the other regions around us are not so wealthy ,it is essential you pick the right region ,if you need work and pick region 16 you will have huge competition...

    If you pick 87 for the same cash as mine you will be able to buy a chateau or castle ,87 does have the advantage of cheap flights to England...
    tell her we was there..:D
     
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  12. very interesting thread this with a lot of first hand experience ,I'm sure the thought of going to live where the sun shines all the time must go through most people's mind at one time or another.My eldest brother bought a house in area 63 Auvergne,he only paid£30,000 for it,it did need some work like a bathroom and kitchen putting in .
     
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  13. Tuesday wildchild

    Tuesday wildchild I'm a circle!

    Still can find them bargains, ours only came with a roof and four walls. No water, electric or waste system.
     
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  14. Looks like a sweet spot to me. :thumbsup:

    The roof is the main thing.


    Getting pretty keen.
     
    Tuesday wildchild likes this.
  15. Tuesday wildchild

    Tuesday wildchild I'm a circle!

    Yes a roof and walls was my minimum spec, the walls were there but cracks I could put my hand with ease .
     
  16. ron

    ron

    Dropped out 3 years ago its called retirement ain't look back loving it
     
  17. Terrordales

    Terrordales Nightshift

    We've seen your crack
     
  18. I packed it in 20 years ago.
    Sold my bussiness in new york . Bought a motorbike and flew it to london ,
    Went round the world with it ,
    Ive done jobs like teaching english in korea,
    Fishing boats in hawaii.
    Importing jewlwery from indonesia,
    Pottery imporing from mexico .
    Fish processing in alaska.
    Dredging engineer in colombia .
    Trekking guide in spain.
    Musician in japan and the last four years in spain. Four gigs a week ..
    Some greatgigs some Marmite.
    Horse guide in the rocky mountains .
    Traveled india with an enfield motorbike .
    Nepal a few times.
    Like most of you guys i can fix anything , build anything.
    I cut trees and play music on the road now when i can find it
    Was in miami three months ago on my motorbike .
    This mornig i woke up on the seaside camping on the swedish coast near ystadt ,
    Last night playing guitar with a local guy till the wee hours .
    Im With the same motorcyle .
    Its not easy but one day travelling is like a month in the work world.

    If any one want to go to the canary islands spain and live in a quiet chaep place .
    Away from the english breakfast tourist
    B.S. No trafic lights. No tax on gas , no tax on smokes
    I know all the islands and every little town ,
    I lived on a islands called la gomera and la palma for a few years ,
    Thats the place .! Let me know .
    Google .

    valle de gran rey .

    Dont tell your friends!!!

    Anywhere else in europe your still in the rat race ..
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2015
    chrisgooner, snotty, CollyP and 3 others like this.
  19. Excuse me...:D

    My son in law lives in the canaries and his wife ,they are both on the treadmill working all hours..

    This morning I am going to lay some astro-turf ,that is living the dream...:D

    You are so lucky the house was nearly done...
     
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  20. Tuesday wildchild

    Tuesday wildchild I'm a circle!

    Not lucky just sensible in not buying an old barn. :D
     

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