Helen Barnett's Selection of French property for Sale

About my area

To discover the Cantal is a fantastic experience and an opportunity to find “la vie Francaise” and this is the “real France”. To give a small taste of our area, within 50 kms of our home we have the high mountains of the Auvergne, with first class skiing in the winter, walking and hiking, paragliding and cycling, as well as white water kayaking through the wild river gorges, the famous historic medieval towns of Salers (Cantal), Conques (Averyon), Rocamadour and Figeac (Lot), sailing, fishing, swimming and jet ski-ing are available throughout Cantal on the local lakes. Add horse riding, go-karting and a par 73 golf course on our doorstep and we hope this gives you a taste of the region and some idea of why we love this area. We experience real seasons here, long hot sunny summers, but rarely too hot, and with a warm and lengthy spring and autumn. Winters are usually often short although in the mountains, longer, and at Super Lioran there is usually good snow for skiing. The sun can still have warmth in the Cantal even in mid-winter sometimes up to 20+°. The towns throughout the Cantal and in particular the city of Aurillac, which is the regional capital and has a very attractive medieval quarter, are surprisingly buoyant and lively. Businesses in Aurillac and the vicinity and throughout the Cantal are clearly very active. Aurillac holds a variety of Festivals and concerts throughout the year, in particular is known worldwide for the grand Festival held in the third week of August each year consisting of fantastic street entertainment and spectalular shows. There are regular busy markets held in the local towns each week.

About me

We both have a love of France and the lifestyle here and we decided we wanted to live in France but needed to earn a living so purchased a property to enable us to do so, a complete change for us, because in England Helen was a Family Lawyer and Mike was an Accountant and we purchased an old run-down Auberge sitting in grounds of 1 acre bordered by a river and decided to renovate it and change the business to Gîtes and Chambres d’Hôtes with the emphasis on Gîtes, which we have now achieved. The success of our business was unprecedented but now the renovations are finished we find ourselves with lots of spare time particularly during the winter months so Mike decided to qualify to Teach English as a Foreign Language and I decided to join the Leggett team which fits in extremely well with our business. We live in the south west corner of Cantal, close to the departments of the Aveyron, Correze and the Lot (all less than 30 kms). We settled here having spent a good 18 months looking for a suitable location in which we would be happy to live. If you purchase a property through us then we offer you a free night of accommodation with us for the signing of the Acte de Vente!