Striking skiing - the school day in France

A tough day at school!

We have discovered since living in France that, most of the time here, it is best just to go with the flow. Hence, when we learned on Monday that Tuesday school was cancelled (teachers on strike for the day), rather than stressing about childcare and cancelled meetings, we decided to ‘saisir le jour’ and hit the slopes for the day, despite the forecast looking decidedly ropey. The teachers, however, clearly had insider knowledge that neither we, nor Meteo France were privy to because by the time we had our skis on, the clouds had cleared, the sky was blue, the views were breathtaking and we spent the day skiing on 30 centimetres of fresh powder and almost empty pistes (only a few teachers to be seen here and there!) in the sunshine, punctuated by lunch in our favourite restaurant.

Nice spot for lunch - Chalet Beauregarde

It is days like these which remind us why we decided to settle in this very special part of the world. There can’t be many places where you can be skiing within an hour of leaving home and the fact that our nearest skiing happens to be one of the best kept secret in the Pyrénées, means that we often feel as if we have our own private ski resort. And yet, while much of Europe has been struggling with bad weather and snow, we have not had any at home; we just have the pleasure of looking at it on the mountains from the window and enjoying it on sunny days when we feel like it.

Empty pistes and fresh powder snow

The teachers certainly picked their day for a strike – and we are already looking forward to the next one!

Paradise in the Pyrenees

P.S. We weren’t the only one bunking off – the gendarmes were at it too!

Police on piste

The rise and rise of ski and mountain properties

Luchon in the snow

Having been lucky enough to spend Christmas and New Year on the slopes, I thought I should take a quick look at the ski property market here in the Pyrénées. While a financial avalanche threatens to engulf many property markets in the Euro zone, ski properties are bucking the trend and growing in popularity. Ski properties now account for 9% of the British-owned holiday home market overseas, according to Savills, and ski tourism is on the up too, expanding by 5% a year for a decade. And although cheapness is rarely a word associated with ski property, there are still plenty of well-located and excellent value ski properties available in this region to buyers of all budgets, particularly for those people seeking bolt-holes that they can use themselves, rent out easily and hopefully reap some eventual capital gain.

France is still Europe’s most popular ski destination for property buyers, attracting a third of the market. The millionaires head to their super-chalets in Megève and Courchevel, with average costs of around 9,300 Euros per square metre but France has a huge range of lesser-known and far better value resorts with equally good skiing and very reasonable property prices.

This is particularly true of the ski resorts here in the Pyrénées, many of which are almost unknown to the foreign investor and yet which offer fantastic investments – with some great skiing thrown in. Particularly popular with my clients in the last few years has been the area around and close to Superbagnères (the ski resort attached to Bagnères de Luchon) where prices per metre are closer to 2,600 Euros, although higher for property right in the town. With its antique shops, restaurants, cafés, hotels, nightclub, casino, cinema, golf course, tennis courts, chocolate shops, market and spa, Luchon is one of those towns that exudes ‘old money’ and is very stylish but still very affordable. Being a popular holiday destination winter and summer (thanks to its ski resorts, thermal baths and spa, plethora of year-round activities, fantastic walking and cycling, stunning scenery and easy access from Toulouse and Pau), properties here have excellent rental potential all year round.

A one-bedroom apartment in the middle of Luchon would currently cost around 100-120,000 Euros and would rent out for around 250-400 Euros per week. For a typical example of the type of property available and possible rental potential, take a look at www.luchonlocation.com (I must declare a personal interest in this one!) For a French holiday retreat and excellent year-round rental investment, I would have to say that Luchon and the French Pyrénées are hard to beat.

Wishing you a very happy 2013 and hoping that, whatever your dreams for a home in France, they all come true.

Snow - yes please, bring it on

Bagneres de Luchon

One of the many things I love about living in view of the Pyrenees is that, while the rest of France is currently moaning about the miserable winter weather, here in the foothills we are celebrating. A cold, rainy day here means that it is snowing buckets up in the mountains and thus everyone has one eye on the weather forecast, just waiting for the next sunny day - when, there will be lots of crosses in diaries, marked with the word SKI.

What could be better than taking a day off to go up into the mountains and mess around in fresh snow under clear blue skies, stopping for hot chocolate or mulled wine pour se rechauffer? Bliss. And even for those people who don’t ski, there are lots of places to hire snow shoes for a snowy walk in a winter wonderland or simply just enjoy the views and fresh mountain air from a sunny terrace.

Yesterday I was in the mountain town of Bagnères de Luchon after two days of snow; the whole place was white and sparkling in the sunshine - it was magical. And the views, as I drove around on my latest property search, were breathtaking. I have said this before, but on a day like this, I really do think this must be the best place in the world to live – but don’t tell anyone.