Where should I live? Suggestions please!

Without getting political as it's frowned on here, as a result of the Brexit vote I'm looking to move out of the UK and preferably to somewhere in the Schengen area.

I'm looking to many of you as experienced collectors and travelers to perhaps suggest a few suitable places within the eu/schengen.

My requirements are as follows:

- Around 120-150k euros max
- A small town or village, nothing fancy required
- 2-3 Bedroom villa with enough land for a small workshop and the dog/cat to run around.
- Waterfront. (Can be a fjord/loch or sea) So I can kayak/take the boat out
- Within 90 minutes drive of an airport

That's about it.

So far I've identified the following places, but was looking for options in the southern region too (spain/portugal):

- Drøbak is a small harbour town 20 minutes drive from Oslo. Expensive cost of living and taxes though.
- Møn is an island in Denmark; low property costs and quiet, but a stigma of social problems.
- Åmål is a region in Sweden. Of the 3 areas, this looks the most promising so far.

Brittany is your place.
Temperate climate all year round.
Fresh fish.
Bike rides, relaxed lifestyle.
Moëlan-sur-Mer will be your future cozy nest




Frenchlover real estate

I thought about France, but a lot of the areas seem very touristy. Was looking at the côte d'azur too, but it seemed very expensive!

The one thing that put me off France, is every time I've visited (except for my cycling trip to Porquerolles!) it's been to Paris on a stopover, and I absolutely hate Paris for some reason. I know it's supposed to be this big amazing romantic city, but I just can't bring myself to like it.

I've heard the cycling is great there compared to England though, and the kayaking there should be excellent too!

Any specific harbour towns to look up?

Surely Holland is your destination then ? Plenty of water and bikes there !

Quote: "Mark240590"​Surely Holland is your destination then ? Plenty of water and bikes there !

​
And decriminalised pot. Alas it's bloody expensive, and not really many mountains to bike up.

Sweden is top of the list because it's not quite in the eurozone, and has a similar standard of living and costs/taxes to the UK. Also, it's easy to get 2000-3000sqm plots of land there, tear down the crappy house, and build your own.

I don't know prices there but I expected maybe the Lake of Madine, in Eastern France. There are 2 eligible airports at 90' from the Lake itself (Lorraine Airport, but no direct flight from UK, and LuxAirport with direct flights from London, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh but close to the 90' limit time)

Cumberland Plateau, Eastern Tennessee.

Anywhere from Seiver County right up to the Cumberland Gap. I've been to scores of countries and five continents and I've never found anywhere quite so perfect. There is no crime (except for the moonshine runners) apart from "those" parts of Knoxville, it has some of the cheap[est land prices in the US and the lowest population density East of the Rockies. There is only one major city in the region which is Knoxville, one of the best cities in the US in terms of quality of life. Every direction you look you will see the magnificence of the Smokey Mountains or the Blue Ridge further North. Gatlinburg provides a tourist hotspot if that's your kind of thing. The urban nightmares such as Memphis are far away off to the West in the Mississippi Delta. Close enough to go visit Graceland or the Nathan Forrest memorial but far enough away to otherwise ignore.

You can sit out at night time on your front porch and hear the world breathing. No constant traffic hum, no orange glow from distant street lights. You can see millions of stars on a clear night which are normally obscured by human made artificial light. In the morning you wake gently to the sound of songbirds welcoming a new day in paradise instead of a raucous alarm clock, sirens and the roar of commuter traffic.

The people are often ridiculed as bitterly clinging to their guns and religion and it's firmly in the bible belt. I guess that's hip and fashionable. However you can sleep with your doors and windows wide open, nobody will drive past you if you are broke down or stuck in a ditch and if you fall on hard times don't be shocked to find a bag or two of groceries dropped off on your front porch. Your neighbors will wave and shout out if they cross your land with a shotgun over one shoulder and a dawg at their heels. Some years ago I left my wallet on the table of a local diner and on returning to find it several hours later it was right there waiting for me complete with credit cards and cash.

We don't pry into the business of our friends and neighbors, if they are making a little "shine or growing a little pot in the back 40. Nobody cares if your tags have expired, you are fishing without a license or collecting rainwater. We leave such things to the Yankees and their government. We are Southerners and don't recognize the authority of the DC beltway.

There is little to no heavy industry or open face mining and the air is free of petrol fumes, like drinking pure oxygen. If you choose to you could quite easily go an entire year without seeing another human face. Deer are as common as squirrels, wild turkey and boar will feed you and black bears will be occasional visitors worthy of respect. Don't start pointing cameras at them and screaming and they will return the respect. It's not a place for the weak, the stoopid or the timid.

If such splendid isolation doesn't suit you, there is a path through the mountains and the tribal lands which will bring you out at the South Carolina / Georgia state line and further North another pass will take you to Pilot Mountain and Stokes County, NC, close to the Raleigh triangle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RKtIgkMBQ4

Quote: "oggy"every time I've visited [France] it's been to Paris on a stopover,
​

There are many direct flight from Nantes:

Quote: "oggy"​Any specific harbour towns to look up?

​West of Lorient is less expensive and wilder:




​

Just to be sure... Which kind of boat?

Quote: "pnightingale"​Cumberland Plateau, Eastern Tennessee.

​This is perhaps why the Cumberland Gap gets its own quarter this year!
And it is just steps from the capital of the country (music)

Phil, you should be an author. I reread that twice it was beautiful. Approve of the music too! It's still playing. It sounds very idyllic, but for the moment I'm not really able to move much further than Europe. I still have some family commitments, etc!

Similarly, Frenchlover, your mapping skills are top notch! Especially the 'wet and cold stuff'! What's the main property searching site for France so I can take a look?

chomp-master I currently have 2 kayaks and a 23 foot, 150hp general leisure/fishing boat. Nothing massive, but I'd quite like to upgrade size in the near future though if I can affordably. And possibly add a jetski!

Quote: "0ggy""​​
​And decriminalised pot.

​What's wrong with pot?

Agree with Phil, East Tennessee is a great place......120k per year might be hard to make there.

OK, forget my idea so, I discovered that thermic motors are forbidden there.

Quote: "oggy"​​
​Similarly, Frenchlover, your mapping skills are top notch! Especially the 'wet and cold stuff'! What's the main property searching site for France so I can take a look?

​The main website for everywhere in France : le bon coin with seller by owners and professional

And so for real estate of the department Morbihan:


or for Moelan:


and to find a "postal code"

For sure buying a house abroad requests to be well informed ...

Liechtenstein, or Ireland.

Move to the colonies! Canada is the way to go! Especially Vancouver or the Niagara region!
Loruca

Hi oggy,

The Netherlands is a very decent place to live, though the western part of our country is indeed a little expensive, but provinces such as Friesland, Groningen, Overijssel and especially Drenthe have lots of nature to offer (way more then you can find in the western part), we got quite a lot of water surrounding us and distances are way easier to cope with then in other large European countries like the UK and France for example. It's also quite cheap to live in the Eastern part of the NL, you can get a pretty large house for a relatively low price. Cheap houses and lots of nature, what else do you want? ;-)

Our infrastructure is also of very high quality by the way, our roads are one of the best in Europe and you can get almost anywhere in the country with the public transport. I suggest you look up some pictures of Drenthe and Overijssel, it'll help you get an idea of what I'm talking about. Good luck on finding a nice place to live, hope my little story helps you! :)

Regards, Lotus07

Brexit wont be felt until at least December 2017 when it actually happens.....if it happens....

I lived in Spain near Benidorm for 10 years, tropical weather gets too much sometimes but enjoyed living on the Costa Blanca. Great fishing, great wine, great night life and mostly great people of all nationalities.

I would love to live in a well equipped house by a beautiful lake with a mountain backdrop...
anywhere where it has a stable year long climate, the goldilocks weather.

Quote: "oggy"​​- Åmål is a region in Sweden. Of the 3 areas, this looks the most promising so far.

​Hehe, it's just too funny that you are mentioning Åmål. You should probably watch the film (and Sorry for the language here) Fucking Åmål. Yes, there is a film called that! It's a Swedish teenage movie from '98, and it's about a couple of teenagers who lives in Åmål. I can't imagine it would be difficult to find it with English subtitle, so you can watch it with your family.
Aparently it's called Show Me Love in English.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Me_Love_(film)

Quote: "oggy"​

Quote: "Mark240590"​Surely Holland is your destination then ? Plenty of water and bikes there !

​​
​And decriminalised pot. Alas it's bloody expensive, and not really many mountains to bike up.
​
​Sweden is top of the list because it's not quite in the eurozone, and has a similar standard of living and costs/taxes to the UK. Also, it's easy to get 2000-3000sqm plots of land there, tear down the crappy house, and build your own.

​Holland is expensive, budget should be 200-300K

Quote: "ngdawa"​

Quote: "oggy"​​- Åmål is a region in Sweden. Of the 3 areas, this looks the most promising so far.

​​Hehe, it's just too funny that you are mentioning Åmål. You should probably watch the film (and Sorry for the language here) Fucking Åmål. Yes, there is a film called that! It's a Swedish teenage movie from '98, and it's about a couple of teenagers who lives in Åmål. I can't imagine it would be difficult to find it with English subtitle, so you can watch it with your family.
​Aparently it's called Show Me Love in English.
​
​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Me_Love_(film)
​
​

​
This is awesome I've not seen it, but I shall. Sweden is looking the most likely destination, so I'll probably watch in swedish to help learn the language! Åmål does look pretty nice.

Quote: "ngdawa"​

Quote: "oggy"​​- Åmål is a region in Sweden. Of the 3 areas, this looks the most promising so far.

​​Hehe, it's just too funny that you are mentioning Åmål. You should probably watch the film (and Sorry for the language here) Fucking Åmål. Yes, there is a film called that! It's a Swedish teenage movie from '98, and it's about a couple of teenagers who lives in Åmål. I can't imagine it would be difficult to find it with English subtitle, so you can watch it with your family.
​Aparently it's called Show Me Love in English.
​
​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_Me_Love_(film)
​
​

​LOL! Your description matches that with our New Kids! New Kids is also about a bunch of bored teenagers that do all kind of stupid but hilarious stuff in their sleepy little town.

Finland

pros:
- the goverment is for the people and not the other way around
- only kid's shows are dubbed, they only put translations on the bottom of the screen
- tap water is better than bottled water (even foreigners can drink it)
- most houses have a sauna (a private one so you don't have to share it with your neighbours)
- high salaries
- finns drive carefully (alcohol causes a lot of accidents though)
- you don't need to learn the language because basically everyone speaks english
- high quality of life
- free education (universities included)
- very affordable healthcare
- very good social security
- police brutality and corruption is extremely rare
- no american-style capitalism
- coin collecting is very popular and there are a lot of flea markets
- long and very interesting numismatic history
- you probably wont ever see a fake coin for sale here
- banknote collecting is just as popular as coin collecting (many people prefer banknotes over coins)
- public transportation is very good
- there is no poverty
- credit card is accepted almost everywhere and cash is rarely used
- low crime
- you get 10-40 cents for each bottle or can you recycle (you wont make profit though because it's just a pawn but it encourages people to recycle and you can just throw it on the ground because you know that someone will pick it up and recycle it)
- cigarettes and alcohol have very high tax rate
- 4 seasons
- beautiful and very well-preserved nature
- lakes, lakes everywhere (187,888!)
- travelling to estonia, sweden and russia is very cheap and fast

cons:
- there's nothing to do exept drinking at late night because everything is closed
- very few international companies
- very expensive
- unsocial people (it's very easy to find new friends but people don't usually talk to strangers and people don't like to sit next to another person)
- ridicilous taxes
- there's even a dog tax
- the justice system favours women (thanks feminists)
- food is much more expensive than in switzerland and uk for example, even if you go to lidl you wont save much money because it's expensive no matter where you buy it from
- in Helsinki beggars are everywhere, they're all criminals and they mug mostly defenseless old people
- racism
- starting a company is mostly a bad idea because of the taxes and bureaucracy
- leftist and right-wing propaganda everywhere
- mämmi (someone will make you eat it some day!)
- it's very hard to find a free wi-fi
- bad customer service
- technologically very advanced but feels very backward and non-innovative
- tv isn't worth watching and the ads are simply awful
- no fake democracy

other notes:
- most cities look like pripyat exept in swedish-speaking regions and the capital region
- police officers are very rude
- in the future, finland is supposed to become the first smoking-free country
- hot in the summer, very cold in the winter
- Progressive tax
- car tax is out of this world
- expensive but very high quality fuel
- you will never go poor here but becoming rich is a lot harder than in most countries

Vantaa and Espoo are affordable cities with very good connections to Helsinki (especially the areas near Helsinki-Vantaa international airport are affordable)

Brisbane .... in South East Queensland. It is winter here right now and yesterday it was 29c and sunny with blue skies. Overnight minimum was 19c.

Gets a bit warmer in Summer though.

Cheers Mike

and next to the Great Barrier Reef

Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream ...