Move in Date: Thanksgiving Day!!

Week 12 in France 10/19-10/25/2025

Welcome to the 40th weekly post of our Baby Boomers Move to France blog. We are in our third month of full time living in France.

The weather for this this week has been cool and rainy most of the time and some strong winds a couple of days. High temps in the 50s and low 60s. We got all bundled up and put Rosie in her new winter jacket on Friday evening and started to head for Cafe de la Paix. When we opened the front door, we realized it was raining. No Cafe de la Paix this week.

This week we will update our house purchase activities and what we learned at the signing of the Compromis de Vente.

Things on the agenda this week:

• Drive to Chabanais.
• Drive to Ruffec
• Continue researching pellet burners for heat.
• Follow up car license plate. Where is the permanent tag?

Why this Blog?

If this is your first visit to our blog, WELCOME!

To all of our regulars, thanks for being here.

If you are planning a move to France or just thinking about it or maybe you are wondering what got into our head and inspired us to make the move, you might have questions about our adventure, please feel free to ask in the comment section below. Long story short, we are a couple of “Baby Boomers” that have moved from Venice, Florida to the beautiful French countryside as retirees.

As we shared our move plans with friends and family, we were asked questions about who, what, why, when and where, so we figured that there is enough interest to share the experience. So, we started this blog. We publish a brief update on our life in France every Sunday. Hopefully we answer some of those questions and keep answering more as we work our way to our new life.

We will also include thoughts on the lifestyle and culture of our new home.

After a little over a year of planning and fretting we moved to France on 1 August 2025. We are happy to share our experiences and also share YouTube channels that we like and that have helped and inspired us. (See the resources tab for a list of channels)

This Week in General

Drive to see the house in Chabanais

We planned to drive a little over 2 1/2 hours to Chabanais so that we could visit the house one more time before we sign the Compromis de Vente. We drove through some rain, but it wasn’t bad. I fat fingered the route on the GPS and we ended up taking a longer route, so the drive was closer to 3 hours. We left plenty early and made it with time to spare for our meeting at the house.

The sales agent met us and we met with the owners who were happy to show us around. They speak very little English, so the agent translated for us. EB took some pictures, and I took a closer look at the house systems. Located the main valve for the water and the water meter. The owner suggested that if the weather approaches freezing temperatures that I should insulate the valve and pipes at the valve. We traipsed through the house and reacquainted ourselves with the layout. It is a quirky layout but totally functional and the outside area (garden) is great.

I was glad that the owner had typed up instructions for the solar electrical system in French and English. It is set up to power about 60% of the house. You will remember that the power in Europe is 220 volts at 50hz. The whole set up is very cool, but I have a lot to learn.

Elizabeth was interested in double checking the room sizes, flooring details and wall colors. The bathrooms are nicely upgraded, and the kitchen will work nicely. The 2 bedrooms are good sized, each with its own bathroom. Really, there is nothing to do to move in except buy furniture and everything else!

The owner will leave a workbench and some lumber that I might use for projects. This is in a small shed. EB has suggested that one of the first projects should be a wine rack. Sounds like a good idea to me. She already came up with another project, stairs for Rosie so she can climb up in bed rather than jump.

We checked out the glass enclosed summer kitchen, and it is as I remember it. My favorite place in the house.

Meeting New Friends

We were early to the walk through the house so we had lunch at Cafe Lilian. We have found that one of the best ways to meet folks in these little villages is to have lunch or a glass of wine at a little cafe. It turns out that the proprietors (Ian and Penny) of this little cafe are from the UK and are happy to talk to new residents. We explained that we are in the process of purchasing a house located a couple of blocks away. They guessed we are from the US (not too hard to do) and mentioned that there have been a few Americans moving into the area recently. They gave us a bunch of information and mentioned that the Marie (mayor) is great guy and a good resource. We said that we plan on meeting him once we move in.

We asked Ian how they came up with the name Cafe Lilian since his wife’s name isn’t Lilian. Lilian is Ian’s mom’s name. Sadly, she passed away a couple of years ago.

I also asked about snow. Ian says it snows in Chabanais, but it doesn’t last long.

When we drove into town, I just happened to park in front of a shop that sells wood and pellet stoves. I went in to see what they have. Unfortunately, the only person in the shop at the time did not speak any English so we each took out our phones and worked the translate apps. I asked about cost, and he said that I will have to make an appointment with his colleague who will come to the house and figure out what unit is the best fit for the house. Makes sense so I told him that I will be back to make the appointment. I did walk away with a nice brochure.

Tuesday: Drive to Ruffec

We double checked the GPS and plugged in the shortest route, loaded up Rosie and headed to Ruffec early Tuesday morning. Ruffec is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Duras. It was a nice drive through some heavy rain in spots, but beautiful countryside. Glad we left early because rain and some traffic slowed us up.

When driving in the France countryside, it is a good idea to give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination. Road conditions and weather can impact your drive. You have to remember that you will drive on country roads and can encounter farm vehicles and some big wide trucks that haul butt and give me a little angst when they are coming at me. Some roads are narrow when comparing them to roads in the states. Getting used to these narrow roads will take a little practice as you will test the side margins of the road when those farm tractors want to share the road.

Despite all of that we were on time for our meeting with the notaire and had a chance to collect our thoughts for a few minutes before the actual meeting.

Dropped off our bins

After our meeting we followed our agent to the Airbnb (called a Gite (pronounced Jeet) in French speak) in Saint Germain de Confolens that we will be moving to on 1 November. Elizabeth had made arrangements to allow us to move some of our things to the gite in advance. So glad she did that.

I mentioned several weeks ago that we had packed up a few boxes of our things from our house in Venice, carted them to the Airbnb and had it shipped to France from our short-term Airbnb in North Port, Florida. (We used a company called “My Baggage”). Lugging those boxes around from place to place is a pain. It is a logistical puzzle despite the fact that we only have 6 plastic bins, my banjo and a flat cardboard box with some pictures. We Purged and downsized, then downsized again then purged some more. We didn’t want to have a storage unit in Venice, Florida and then coordinate having someone go to the storage unit and manage the shipment to wherever we ended up in France. We just didn’t want that expense and logistical stress and drama.

Sunday: Fete de Bastides

Elizabeth read on one of her feeds that this weekend would be a day of Fetes at the Bastides. You will remember that bastides are cities that were fortified in the 13th and 14th century and as early as the 12th century. to protect the residents in an area. Fete basically means party. There are something like 700 bastides in France. Most were built in the Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne, Gers, and Haute-Garonne departments. Duras is in the Lot-et-Garonne department. Chabanais is in the Charente department.

One bastide town that we have talked about in the past is Eymet. On Sunday the sun was out, and the rain held off for most of the morning. We decided to drive over to Eymet and check out the fete. It was really a big flea market (brocante) and also had lots of activities for kids of all ages. There were historical displays showing a hand powered machine where people separated grain from the stocks and there was a foot powered lathe where a guy was turning a piece of wood into what I think was eventually going to be a bowl. Truly ingenious human powered machines. There were old pictures of historical Eymet and lots of small stalls with everything for sale from plates and silverware to pitch forks and pots and pans.

As we were walking about, we saw the creators of one of our favorite YouTube channels. We met Jason, Raina and Julianna of Baguette Bound. You can find them at Baquettebound.com. They are just as down to earth as they seem on the channel. It was a thrill to meet them and chat briefly. They and their YouTube channel are a huge inspiration for us in deciding to make the move to France. They live near Eymet and have shared a number of videos of their experiences in the village and lots of videos about the whole experience of moving to France, including all kinds of tips. We love their videos. I’m pretty sure that we have seen all of their videos at least once.

House Closing Date: Thanksgiving Day! (hopefully)

Here is a picture of our new (120 year old) house on the sexy sounding #7 Rue du Champs de Foire (Fairgrounds Road) in Chabanais, France 16150. You can see that the house is on the side of a hill, it’s not me tilting the camera this time. The facade has been refinished so the old stonework is covered. EB has some thoughts on changing the color of the 1″ thick wooden shutters. Notice shutters are on the doors as well as the windows. As I explained before, the shutters help with regulating the interior temperatures of the house. But the color change on the shutters will have to wait as you need to get the permission to change color (no permission needed if you paint the same color….boring!)

• Elizabeth and I, the couple selling the house to us and our respective agents met at the office of the notaire at 11:00am in Ruffec.
• After a long and detailed explanation of the Compromis de Vente by the notaire in both French and English we signed the document.
• One of the most important parts of the meeting was the finalization of the signing date of the Act de Vente and the date when we will be the owners. This new date is November 27, 2025.
• As you know we had originally been given a date in January 2026. Our new date is a happy surprise.
• Of course, we will need to have the insurance for the house prearranged before the signing. Our agent has said that she will help us with this and also getting all of the utilities arranged as well.
• I don’t know if I mentioned this, but the sellers are going to Madagascar for 6 months starting in December. They love Africa and spend half the year there every year. We will have to make a trip as our realtor also said it is beautiful.

To summarize the meeting, the house is ready to move into with all details of the Compromis de Vente certified and we will receive the keys at the signing of the Act de Vente on Thanksgiving Day along with the final transfer of funds. We will probably stay in the gite through the end of December as we will have to purchase furniture and have it delivered. Also, we need to get familiarized with the systems in the house. We want to be sure we have clear understanding of how we operate the heating and power throughout the house and new furniture is in place.

After the meeting and stowing our bins at the gite we went to lunch. We were a little late for lunch and as you know most restaurants close at 2:00 for a 2 hour break. We got in just before 2:00 and the cook graciously let us have a seat and served us a full meal. Salad bar, main course, glass of wine and dessert. We tried the tripe with sauce and bow tie pasta. The pasta and sauce were pretty good. The tripe not so much. In general French food is very good. I’m gonna say tripe is not French food. Rosie is a trooper and minded her business through the whole day.

French Lifestyle and Culture

French Legal Documents

We learned something new. When we reviewed the Compromis de Vente we noticed that Elizabeth is referred to by her maiden name. I thought it was a mistake. In fact, it isn’t a mistake, it is how the French government manages legal documentation of the woman’s ownership regardless of marriage or divorce. It makes perfect sense to me. Of course she is referred to as Madame Beiley in other matters.

Driving in the French Countryside

One of the most interesting parts of driving in the French countryside are the many little villages that you pass through. The speed limit through these little villages is typically 30km/hour (18mph). You must slow down when entering town as invariably, there is a restriction that forces you to stop to allow oncoming traffic to come through the bottle neck first. As a result, you get to see some quaint villages at a proper speed. Some of the roads are not much more than quaint cobblestone alleys and only wide enough for one car unless you drive up on the curb. It is crazy to see a semi going through some of these streets. The drivers are amazing.

Once you get through the village speeds raise incrementally to 50kph (30 mph) then 70kph (42mph) then 80kph (48mph) to a Max speed of 90kph (55mph). just as you get comfortable at 90kph you come to another village and go through the process again. It can be a little annoying, but on the other hand we are not in a rush, and I like seeing the villages at a slower pace.

On the big highway you can get up to 130kph (78mph). When it is raining the speed limit is reduced by 10kph (6mph). Our car alerts us and reminds us of this reduced limit when it rains. It is all very civilized. LOL

Next Week (la Semaine Prochaine)

• We have started a long list of items we will need to purchase for the house. We are starting from scratch. This coming week we will continue to add to the list.
• Check out potential furniture stores available around Chabanais. EB has already started this, but it is time to get serious.
• Get online to research the solar power equipment and water boiler.
• Reality check and planning the logistics of the move to St G de Confolens and then to Chabanais. We move on November 1.
• Follow up on our applications for our Carte Vital (health insurance cards)
• Still haven’t heard about our permanent car license plates. Follow up needed.

Weather for next week

Weather forecast for next week in Duras is cloudy and rainy with highs in the low 60s and lows in the upper 40s all week with some rain. We are starting to fortify our winter clothes supply. That hasn’t been a thing for me. Winter in southwest Florida and southern California lasts about a week. Having lived in western Pennsylvania, EB has a better sense of winter than I have, but she has lived in Florida for well over 40 years so even she has to get acclimated to winter in our new country.

It looks like our old stomping grounds in Venice, Florida are not in danger of a hurricane next week and will enjoy some nice golfing weather. I’m a little bit jealous.

Signing off for the week

As always, we sign off wishing you all a good week and remind you to take care of yourselves and your family.

Keep in touch and leave questions, suggestions and comments below. We really enjoy hearing from you. Your kind and encouraging words remind us that we can do this.

It has been a nice week in Duras. Actually, a nice 3 months. As we get ready to move to St. G de Confolens we know that we will miss Duras, but it is time to move on.

A bientot (see you soon)

Mark and Elizabeth Beiley

Babyboomersmovetofrance.com