Picture this. You are in your 40s and life looks great. You love your spouse, you have a successful career, you own a house, enjoy nice holidays and have all the money you need. Then trow a sailing boat and a high-end company car into the mix for good measure.Unfortunately, you and that company car are stuck in traffic on the M40, south of Birmingham, when your brain starts throwing up doubts.
Business consultant Richard Williams was driving that vehicle on a grey, wet day in November 2008 when he had that moment.
It felt like “staring down the barrel of a gun,” he recalled.
“We had all of this, but no time for ourselves. I thought: ‘Have I got to do this for another 25 years?’”
Business plan
The Williamses’ exit plan was a small second home they bought in Puits, a village of 140 inhabitants in Côte-d'Or, Burgundy. From there, they would run a property management franchise business and start something new.
Any anxiety about whether it would work was overridden by the greater fear of having regrets if they left it too late.
Nevertheless, it took 18 months of back-and-forth between the UK and Puits until one night, over a glass of Chablis, the Williamses ran over ‘reasons to stay in the UK versus reasons to move’ on a piece of paper.
“The difference was staggering. The UK was about materialism. France was about quality of life.” Mr Williams said.
Their 1826-built gîte opened for guests in 2017 after four years of renovation.
It is called Les Papillons to honour the previous owner, who was a big fan of butterflies and planted buddleia around the property to attract them in summer, their website explains.
“We wanted it to be really comfortable, with everything people need, but not high luxury,” said Mr Williams.
The sitting room has a sofa, a TV with a French cable subscription, selections of films for young and old, books and board games and Wi-Fi. The kitchen is fully-equipped.
In the enclosed garden is an above-ground circular pool, five metres wide and approximately one metre deep, that is open during summer. “Our philosophy is that the holiday starts the moment you contact us, through phone calls or emails,” said Mr Williams.
Les PapillonsRichard Williams
The couple live nearby, so are on hand to solve any problems or help guests navigate local life, such as booking a restaurant table.“But we give guests total privacy,” Mr Williams said. “We do not greet them when they arrive. They have a key and are completely independent.”
The decision to turn Les Papillons into a gîte stems from years of experience in the hospitality industry.
When they moved in 2009, the Williamses opened a property management franchise business, handling 3,000 reservations and offered mentoring and training for new property managers.
“We were really good at doing it for other people,” said Mr Williams, “so why not for ourselves?”
Running a gîte is not for everyone, he warned. You have to like people and enjoy making them happy.
You also need solid DIY skills, which the couple had after years maintaining their boat and house in the UK. Mastering French is also important to build trustworthy relations with locals and tradespeople and to tackle the paperwork.
Mr Williams has an advantage in that he has been exposed to French culture from a young age. He first visited Brittany aged eight and later worked for the Marine Nationale and Capgemini (French multinational IT services and consulting company).
The couple’s knowledge of France helped them integrate and they took French citizenship in 2019.
“This part of France is not only our home, but our future,” they explained.
Anyone interested in opening a gîte or a chambre d’hôte should first understand their market, advised Richard.
“You cannot be everything to everyone.”
Other things to consider are how dependent you will be on the income from it.
Les Papillons is an important chunk, though not the entire part, of the couple’s revenue.
Finally, be realistic about the lifestyle.
“It’s not about drinking wine everyday. We have to do our taxes, we schedule appointments with the doctors, get our car brakes done, that sort of stuff,” said Richard.
Nevertheless, he has no regrets.“I sometimes stop and think back to that moment on the M40. I took a screenshot of my car’s navigation aid showing the M25 around London. It was packed with triangles indicating traffic. It’s a good reminder [of why we’re here].”
Accommodation at a glance
Name: Les Papillons
Location: Puits, Côte-d'Or
Type: Gîte with two bedrooms
Price range: From €110 per night
Minimum stay: Four nights (seven in high season). Open from April to early October.
What’s included: Fully-equipped kitchen, washing machine, linen and towels, above-ground swimming pool, Wi-Fi, barbecue, pétanque, badminton
Main booking platforms: Own website, local tourist office, Airbnb, Gites.eu, Micazu
Perfect for: “People like us who want a little bit of quiet”
Don’t miss: Chateaux in Maulnes, Ancy-le-Franc and Bussy-Rabutin, golf in Tanlay, buy wines at Chateau Meursault, wander around the source of the river Seine near Blessey.
If you would like your gîte, chambre d’hôte or Airbnb to be featured, email news@connexionfrance.com with contact details and a brief explanation of why your accommodation stands out from the crowd
