[RichardG]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..haha, yeah you might need to ask for an increase in that pocket money..land is a silly price here and then the cost of the build is a lot as well unless you can do most of it yourself..I have some friends who converted an old barn, which they mostly did themselves or with the help of family/friends so the cost was quite low and it was amazing when it was finished..they were just a young couple starting off and sold it for around 4 times what it cost them and they won't ever have to have a mortgage again because of that, but not everyone can do that..France is a good option though because the land is much cheaper or there are so many old houses and chateaus to renovate and I watched a Grand Design last week where a couple built an eco house and apparently you don't have the same planning regulations as here..if it falls down then that's your problem...LOL, I love the French.....

Me too, I always feel like I was born in the wrong country! That being said, trying to learn the language for my gcse was a nightmare so maybe it's a good job that I was...
My two favourite countries are France and Japan, i'd happily pack up and move to either if there wasn't the obvious language barrier (especially in japan, they don't even use the alphabet! they use symbols! ). I was in Paris last week and was so sad when we left that I spent the entirety of the next day in bed watching 'Midnight in Paris' on repeat.