Foreign Property News | Posted by Aye Myat Thu
A family sick of the ‘the rat race’ have sold their three-bedroom semi-detached home for £400,000 and used the money to buy an entire French village.
Liz and David Murphy purchased the historic rural hamlet of Lac De Maison, in Poitou-Charentes, southwest France, in January 2021. The couple, who both worked in radio, sold their three-bed home in Manchester and used the cash to buy six (yes, six) 400-year-old houses, two barns and three acres of land.
Their hamlet also has two 10m x 15m swimming pools which they have renovated with the help of local builders and tradesmen. The pair spent a total of £300,000 to transform the ruined buildings into homes for their family and potentially a thriving holiday business in the future.
Liz and David settled into the main house with their two children Tom, 12, and Charlotte, eight, late last year.
(The exterior of the home -Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
The remaining four houses and two barns in the hamlet have been turned into holiday homes which they plan to rent out for hundreds of pounds a week.
The family say they now live ‘like millionaires’ and have no plans to return to the UK.
Liz, 45, said: ‘We were both working 9-5 jobs in England, with busy lives and the kids were in after-school clubs, and it was like we were on an endless treadmill.
(The property from above -Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
‘We realised 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.
(A bedroom in the house -Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
(Liz and David Murphy -Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
(Inside the home -Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
(A pool at the home -Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
Ref: Couple ditch rat race and buy entire French village after selling their Manchester home (metro)
