It is a dream for many people to plan for retirement over in France. Especially us Brits, we seem to have a certain love affair when it comes to thoughts of spending our work free years over in France, that pull of finer weather, quieter lifestyle, better food, health system, roads and of course the wine. – A report back in January 2016 showed that nearly 150,000 Brits were living across France.
Having lived in France already myself I know very much the lifestyle to expect when opting for a rural retreat. The peace is there to be enjoyed, the simple life, the laid back attitude and all round slower pace of life – All in all, it is very much what is advertised over in the UK from the likes of French Property Agents tempting the retired over to buy that farm house or mini-chateau in exchange for that tiny one bedroom flat in London!
Many of our friends in and around where we lived in France (Burgundy) were English and many were over the age of retirement (65) so it was fascinating to see how they occupied their time and took up interests. For many gardening and occupying themselves on their land and, as with many older property in France, household maintenance chores took up a lot of their time, but some also took up interests which included food / wine, studying French language, collecting French antiques, music, French balls (bal / petanque) and much more.
One particular interest and especially for those who had opted for purchasing a property in France with a lot of land or wood areas or those who lived in deep rural settings, a pair of binoculars and some even a telescope too was for them a dream come true or at least a brand new hobby that would give them hours of pleasure.
One early retired couple had the perfect set up, the dedicated room with large bay windows overlooking their acres of owned land with 200 yards in the distance the start of a large forest area. A room dedicated to not only tripods with binoculars and telescope, but cameras too and a growing library of reference books dedicated to the likes of star gazing and bird watching – Bay windows opened up to a patio area that doubled up as a day time area to enjoy breakfast/lunch/dinner and also even star gazing.
France offers a great opportunity for anybody who is keen spending time gazing through lenses, wildlife is in abundance from birds to wild boars. The evening, especially if living rural, offers little light pollution thus a great array of stars / planets can be viewed.
The best binoculars that anyone who is looking to get that dream home in France would be 20 x 80 or 25 x 75 spec.
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