'We sold up and moved to France as a family of three generations'

Three generations of an English family moved to the French countryside after purchasing a multi-property estate.

Liz Murphy and her husband David are the joint owners of Lac de Maison, a series of holiday accommodations and private homes in Boivre-la-Vallée (Vienne).

“Dave had been trying to persuade me to move to France for years and I had always thought we should wait until after the kids had left home,” Liz tells The Connexion.

“Covid put everything into perspective for us. We were spending lots of time together as a family during lockdown and we just thought: life is too short.

“I am really close to my family and one of my biggest worries was being out of the country. Dave suggested asking my mum, Helen, and stepdad, Terry, to move over with us. We asked them if they would be interested and they said, ‘Yeah, one last adventure, let’s all go.’”

Helen and Terry lived in Nottingham, while Liz and Dave were in Manchester with their son, Tom, and their daughter, Charlotte. It was an opportunity for the whole family – grandparents and grandchildren – to come together.

Administrative hurdles

The Murphys travelled to France during a break in pandemic-related travel restrictions and officially moved in December 2020 – just before the end of the Brexit transition period.

“We used a ‘fixer’ to help us get things like our cartes de séjour and register as micro-entrepreneurs. My mum and Terry are retired, so they had a different process and status from my husband and me, and it was all a bit complex,” Liz explains.

“We were quite lucky as our house sold within a week of going on the market. Both my husband and I, and my mum and Terry, sold our houses and pooled our money 50/50 to purchase the French property as joint purchasers,” she adds.

Upon arriving in France, the family made friends with a French woman who offered to help with some of the other administrative tasks, such as setting up cartes Vitale and different types of insurance.

“It is such a minefield, especially when you are not proficient in the language, but don’t let the admin put you off because there are people who can help and, once you get through it, you have done the hard part,” says Liz.

Finding and renovating Lac de Maison

Lac de Maison was one of the first properties the family viewed and they knew almost instantly that it was right for them. Attracted by the area’s microclimate and its good transport links, the estate also met their criteria and offered the best value for money.

The site included six 400-year-old houses, two barns and three acres of land. Some gîtes had already been renovated, although work was required to update them slightly.

The Murphys completely redid two old, empty buildings on the estate, and Helen and Terry’s house was stripped back to the brickwork.

Today, Lac de Maison offers three holiday homes – Clovis House, Rose Cottage and Hollyhock Cottage – a heated swimming pool, a football pitch, a badminton net, free-to-use bikes, three goats – Megan, Rosie and Peggy – and chickens that lay eggs for breakfast. The combined gîtes can host up to 20 people and are open all year round.

“It was a lot of work and we did not really have any experience of renovating before. Dave was always quite handy but I don’t think we ever realised the magnitude of what we had taken on,” explains Liz.

But building work was not the only challenge involved in moving to France.

“It was a big change for all of us, really. I grew up in the countryside but, as an adult, I have lived in cities, and my parents have as well, so getting used to being in the middle of the countryside again was a bit of a shock – especially the French opening hours at shops and other services.

“The first six months were a particular struggle. As a parent I felt quite guilty because the kids were having to go somewhere they couldn’t communicate with their peers, but now they are very settled and probably more French than English,” says Liz.

For more about Lac de Maison, email liz.murphy2601@outlook.com