Family buy an entire village in France after selling their UK home

A couple swapped their £400k house in the UK for an entire village in France. Liz Murphy, 47, and her husband, David, 55, acquired the rural hamlet of Lac De Maison in the south-western region of Poitou-Charentes, France, back in January 2021.

The duo sold their three-bedroom Manchester semi-detached house for £400k, ploughing the proceeds into six centuries-old houses, a pair of barns and three acres of land. They've transformed their peaceful locale into a lucrative business, with their trio of holiday homes almost totally booked for the summer.

Previously involved with radio, the couple have left behind reliance on employers and say they are loving becoming self-sufficient. Amid the ongoing cost of living crisis within the UK, the family are positive that their idyllic lifestyle would not be feasible in the UK, and they now regard France as their permanent "home".

Mum-of-two Liz, originally from Altrincham, Manchester, said: "We've been really busy, we're almost fully booked this summer and even in the quiet season we still had guests most weekends. The renovations are always ongoing, but we're mostly done.

"We've got four years under our belt now, so we're acclimatised to the upkeep and have naturally become quicker at the day-to-day running of things. But mowing the lawn still devours two-and-a-half hours because it's so expansive.

"This is our full-time job now, it's so different to our old office jobs. Every day is different, and everything we're doing is for us and our family. We loved the UK, but we don't regret moving here and don't have plans to move back. It's nice because we're in control of our own destiny a bit more."

David added: "We have more stability now in France. There's not a CEO somewhere that could wake up one morning and decide to slash half the staff in an attempt to save money."

The couple found themselves on the hamster wheel of nine-to-five jobs in the UK, putting in the hours in radio and feeling caught in the rat race. Yet things changed when they were put on furlough in 2020. Soon after, the pair decided to ditch their Manchester living for a home in France.

Stumbling upon a large plot of land, they resolved to sell up and relocate with their two children - Tom, 13, and Charlotte, nine - plus Liz's mum, Helen Diaper, 73, and stepdad, Terry, 73, in December 2020. Liz said: "We were both working with busy lives and the kids were in after school clubs and it was like we were on an endless treadmill.

"It wasn't until Covid came and we were on furlough and we realised we were in a rat race and life was passing us by. We hadn't spent much time with the kids and we decided we had to do something to change all our lives.

"We had talked about moving to France for years. We had this sudden feeling to do it and we suddenly did it. My mum and stepdad decided to sell their house and come with us."

The couple expressed their affection for the UK, but stated they wouldn't return as their "quality of life" has significantly improved since relocating across the Channel. Liz shared: "It's not so much the cost-of-living but more the quality of life for our family.

"We have more time for us, the simpler way of life suits us. Prices fluctuate everywhere, we've noticed costs increasing in France too, but we feel like we have more stability here. And it does make a big difference having nice weather.

David chimed in: "We have big plans for the village, we want to continue the renovations and start to improve our house as well. We'd also like to start putting in solar panels and to be self-reliant on energy. None of that would be possible if we still lived in the UK."