It was career-ending work injuries that prompted Roger Mew, 78, to move to France.
The electrical engineer, from north-west London, suffered a serious back injury and shortly after, was caught in an explosion while fixing a car.
He was forced to give up work and was advised to move somewhere with warmer weather than the UK.
He had travelled in Brittany with friends as a young man, so started his search in that area. It was close enough to the UK that he could easily travel back to see family.
“I spent two years researching the best part of France to come to and it was this area. In fact, the second best area in France for money, warmth and way of life is an area between La Baule, Soudan and Cholet.”
Mr Mew started his property search travelling in his Land Rover with his teenage daughter. They were then joined by his wife, Shirley.
The family settled on a two bedroom house with land in “the middle of the countryside” near Derval (Loire-Atlantique) for £28,000.
“It freed up a lot of money for us. It wiped out our mortgage, so we didn’t have to pay that any more.”
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At the time they bought the house, in 2001, property prices were much cheaper in France than in the UK.
“We were very lucky because the day we bought it, the pound had shot up and the French franc had gone down with a bang. So the money (we paid for the house) was different from the day before to two days after. With the difference we paid for our new kitchen.”
The house is in a rural area half-way between Rennes and Nantes.
“We live in the middle of the country. We have a lot of traffic sometimes, as many as two or three tractors!”
The house was “habitable” but still needed a lot of work. Mr Mew renovated the kitchen, transformed the two bedrooms and bathroom upstairs and worked on the three rooms downstairs.
Mr Mew’s daughter, who was 14 when the family moved to France, is now settled with her partner and two children just down the road.
One major advantage of moving to France has been the healthcare system, which is better than the NHS, Mr Mew said.
“If I was taken ill in England, I would crawl back to France.”
There is a large local hospital in Châteaubriant and the couple can get a taxi for free, if needed.
His wife was subsequently diagnosed with a type of blood cancer and Mr Mew said the French healthcare system has been noticeably better than in the UK.
“If I ring up the doctor she says: ‘Well, come along’. In England they say: ‘Is next year suitable?’”
Warm community
The family had “no problem at all” settling into a new country. Mr Mew went to the local mairie shortly after arrival to introduce himself.
“I told them we had bought this place and they bent over backwards to help us out,” he said. “The area we’re in, we get on well with the people.”
Mr Mew is a member of a local vintage car club that holds regular meetings. Until recently, he would go along on his BSA 1950s motorcycle. He has even appeared in the local paper because of the club.
He admits he knew only a few words of French when he moved to France, something he has built on in the subsequent years. But the accent can still make things tricky.
“My biggest problem is understanding because here they have an accent – it depends on who it is, some I don’t have a problem with, others I find very, very difficult.”
