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The Best-Kept Secret Of French Country Life

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Mar 01, 2010
in France, Retirement/Living
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France is a rent overseas must.
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“Imagine a corner of France so tucked away that even the French find it hard to place on the map,” writes France Correspondent Lucy Culpepper in her feature piece for this month’s issue of the Overseas Retirement Letter.

“From the Romans to the Renaissance and from the Belle Époque to Art Deco, there’s history to be enjoyed at every turn. Gorgeous scenery, rolling wooded countryside, friendly people, and delicious wines and food, too.

“More hints? This is the birthplace of a great French king, was the seasonal favorite of royalty of all nations, was once named as the ‘center of the sporting world,’ and is home to the first-ever Grand Prix as well as the Wright Brothers’ flying school.

“It’s where Napoleon founded the first national stud farm and the British designed beautiful gardens and parks. Rightly proud of its past, this area has also embraced the present with impressive 21st-century architecture, technology parks, sporting facilities, and a trail-blazing communications infrastructure. The majestic Pyrenees Mountains dominate the views and beautiful beaches are just a short drive away.

“I’m talking about the Béarn (pronounced ‘bay-arn’), a region of 350,000 located in the northwestern corner of the Pyrenees-Atlantic departement in the Aquitaine region of southwest France. The Pyrenees-Atlantiques departement is further divided into the Basque Coast (regional capital: Biarritz), Béarn (regional capital: Pau), the Basque Country (regional capital: St. Jean Pied de Port), and Béarn Pyrenees (regional capital: Oloron Ste. Marie).

“Bordered by the Landes, the Gers, the High-Pyrenees (Hautes-Pyrenées), the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and Spain to the south, the Béarn has been influenced by many cultures, yet strongly holds on to its own. There’s 3,000 meters between the highest point in the Pyrenees and the lowest on the Plein de Nay, but, despite all this variation in geography, the Béarn has a doux (or gentle) climate.

“The even precipitation combined with regular sunshine makes this a beautifully verdant region and is the main reason behind its success in agriculture (predominantly maize grown for seed) and wine-growing. There’s the added benefit of an amazingly wide variation of plant life. I still find it surprising to see palm trees swaying alongside pines, with the snow-capped Pyrenees rising up behind.

“The city of Pau (population 84,000 by its 2006 census), also known as the ‘Green City’ or ‘Garden City,’ has one of the highest ratios of greenery per square meter per person of any European city. And not only is there a wealth of greenery, but as well staggering variation. There are trees from Japan and the Caribbean and plants from Mexico, the Lebanon, the Mediterranean, Chile, and California. This huge variety is in part thanks to the English settlers who came here after the Napoleonic wars and brought their love of gardening with them.

“The geography of the Béarn is dominated by two rivers, the Gave d’Ossau and the Gave de Pau, running diagonally across the area and parallel to each other from northwest to southeast. The two gaves (gave is the local name for a river) feed from the High-Pyrenees and make for, in their lower reaches, some of Europe’s best salmon fishing.

“Between the two gaves, on the Nay Plain and the Pau Plain, are the main areas of population, agriculture (mainly maize and wine), light industry, and retail outlets. Yet, despite the higher level of human activity, the area is not over-populated or congested. It’s a landscape of beautiful, accessible woodlands, the steep slopes of Jurançon wine country, the history-packed Plaine de Nay and its main town of Nay, and the pretty rolling countryside and ancient towns of the Gaves de Béarn.

“The upturn in the French economy seems to be reflected in the everyday activities in the Béarn. New buildings are sprouting up around the countryside, construction of new roads continues, people are skiing in great numbers, and eating out continues apace. France never reached the depths of recession that other Eurozone countries have experienced or, as in the case of neighboring Spain, continue to experience. French people are more cautious, sticking typically to debit rather than credit cards.

“The Lourdes-Tarbes airport (25 minutes from Pau center, over in the next departement) has recently been taken over by a new company. Though not in the Béarn, the airport is important for tourism and business development in the area. In a community conference, the new company promised to open the airport to more low-cost airlines. Currently Ryanair flies in from Stansted (UK), Air France from Paris, and Jetair from Brussels.

“In addition, at a cost of 1.15 million euro, a new autoroute from Pau to Bordeaux is under construction. This new highway will reduce the drive time from two hours and 30 minutes (longer at peak times) to one hour and 30 minutes. This will open up the countryside between Aquitaine’s two principal towns, Bordeaux and Pau, and will certainly have an effect on new building plans in the area.”

Kathleen Peddicord

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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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