Brit retirees exodus from France

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The Sunday Times
December 21, 2008
Au revoir as hard-up Brits begin exodus from France

A retreat from the French idyll is under way as a plunging pound sends Britons dashing back across the Channel
John Follain and Robert Watts

When Mandy O’Sullivan and her husband Richard bought a stone farmhouse near the town of Eymet in the Dordogne five years ago, they thought it was for good.

They sold their house in Kent and spent heavily on restoring their new home.

However, like thousands of Brits abroad, the O’Sullivans’ expatriate dream has been ruined by sterling’s collapse against the euro in recent weeks and they have joined a burgeoning exodus to the UK.

“When we started out here, the euro was 1.50 to the pound, now it’s down to 1.07. When you’re on a pension, it’s frightening,” said Mandy O’Sullivan. “It’s a wrench to leave. The countryside is beautiful here, you get so much space for your money.”

Even before the precipitous fall of sterling against the euro this month, the 130,000 Britons who have settled in France in recent years were finding it difficult to maintain their standard of living.

Gone are the days when the O’Sullivans could savour a four-course meal, with wine, for €12.50 per head.

“The cost of living has shot up in France, for things like food and utilities,” she said. “Our electricity bill is up 45% over the past year.” She also said she was eager to see more of her grandchildren in Britain.

Sidney Wynn-Simmonds, 73, another British resident of Eymet, said: “Our pensions have dropped in value by a third. Before, we’d go out to the restaurant once or twice a week, now it’s once in a blue moon for a birthday or something special.”

His wife Irmen added: “I’ll go to the market rather than the shops because it’s cheaper. We don’t have aperitifs, only from time to time.”

In Britain, removal firms are receiving multiple orders from expat families wanting to move back.

“Very few people are moving out and there’s definitely been a sharp increase in people coming back from France and the rest of Europe in recent months,” said Dean Phillips, the managing director of FJ Phillips & Son Removals in Gillingham, Kent.

“We’ve already got 10 families booked in to move home in January. It’s unbelievable – normally there is nothing like that at this time of year.”

The O’Sullivans and other expats trying to return to the UK are finding it nearly impossible to sell their European properties, however.

Property prices in southern France are estimated to have fallen by an average of 10% in the past year as British buyers become increasingly rare.

Meanwhile, estate agents talk of discounts of up to 25% on the deals that are sealed. Several estate agencies in Eymet have recently laid off staff.

Stephanie Ward, of Valadié estate agency in Eymet, said the downturn in business had been especially marked since September when the pound’s slide accelerated.

“The British owners who do manage to sell are quids in as far as the sale goes because they get more pounds for their euros. But in the last three months there haven’t been many British buyers because they’re terrified,” she said.

Eymet is considered the epi-centre of what is often referred to as Dordogneshire. The town has its own cricket team, along with shops selling such delicacies as HP Sauce and John Smith’s bitter.

Large family homes are often bought for a fifth of the price of a similar property in Somerset or Devon.

Some locals who earn their living serving British expats are concerned by the decrease in spending.

“Businesses which cater for the British are feeling the pinch,” said Rupert Bache, a Briton who runs Le Pub Gambetta on Eymet’s main square with his French wife Mathilde. “We see fewer British people and several of those who used to come for lunch now come for just a coffee.”

The same woes are talked of in Provence, popularised as a British outpost in Peter Mayle’s book, A Year in Provence.

Trevor Yorke and his wife live on the border of Provence and Languedoc. “Most of my income is derived from letting my house back in England and that’s in sterling,” said Yorke, 62. “I would live very cheaply if I had to in order to stay here.

“There’s no doubt about it. After Christmas we will really have to pull in our belts and be careful what we spend to see ourselves through this period.”

Some expatriates have resorted to short-term scrimping to survive. “I know people who’d like to sell but can’t because the market is bad,” said Charles Clarke, 66, a former financial adviser who has lived near Eymet for eight years.

“A lot of people have gone to the UK for an extended stay this Christmas because their pension goes further there. Another trick which has taken on is to order things from Marks & Spencer, they’ll send stuff out for just £10,” he said.

It may take more than a few thrifty habits to stop the sun setting on their way of life, however. At the beginning of the month French News slid into administration after serving British readers in the Dordogne for 20 years. “French dream turns into a nightmare”, read a headline in one of the final editions.

Additional reporting: Roger Waite