Perpignan is often described as one of the most significant crossroads in France, and it certainly has an extraordinary mixture of cultures. It is Catalan, but in France, and half an hour from Spain. It is close to the sea, but also to the Pyrenees, making it an ideal spot for ski enthusiasts. It is also only an hour from Toulouse, which gives it international access. The Ryanair flight to Rivesaltes airport, just north of the city, has opened it up even further to Brits since it began in 2000 — and they are arriving in considerable numbers.
It took 33-year-old Alistair Norman one weekend to decide to give up life in England. “I saw the view from the terrace of the house and just knew this was the place for me,” he says.
He is talking about a four-bedroom village house in a place called Lapradelle Puilaurens, half an hour from Perpignan. He came across it by accident, literally. “I was on a biking tour in the nearby mountains and one of the guys came off, so we had to find somewhere to stop and have the bike mended. After I had got over the initial fear of how to explain things to his wife, I looked around and realised I had landed in a small piece of paradise.”
Norman looked at four properties and paid £47,000 for the house he chose. He now plans to leave his job as an IT consultant for the David Lloyd Leisure group and move out to France full time. He has started a company called Upright Tours, aimed at biking enthusiasts. He will organise biking holidays (motor and pushbike) in the region and sell them to clients in the UK. “I’ll give it two years,” he says. “If it doesn’t work out, I’ll come back. At least I will have learnt French and had a great two years away from a stressful job.”
Norman, originally from Exeter, has no worries about maintaining contact with the outside world. “I’ll do it all on the internet. We’re just about to get ADSL in the village — I can’t get that at home in Bradford.”
For Sheila Barragan, it was the desire for a life that was a little more down to earth that brought her to the Perpignan region. Barragan has been in France for 17 years. She started off as a chalet girl in the Alps, where she met her husband, François. Once they had their daughter, Chloë, they decided it was time to move. They bought a house in the village of Laroque des Albères for £27,000 six years ago.
“I had spent 10 years in ski resorts,” she says. “The life there is made of such extremes, mad during the season and deadly quiet during the summer. I wanted something a bit more stable for Chloë. François’ parents were originally from Seville (his grandfather came to France when he fled Franco) so we ended up here.”
François is edging back towards his Spanish roots — the restaurant he and Sheila run is full of posters advertising bullfights and flamenco evenings in Seville. “We opened in 2001,” says Barragan, who worked in a hotel in Perpignan before setting up on her own. “I can say 80% of my customers are English- speaking. Not necessarily English, but Swedish, German or Dutch.”
Although there are a lot of Brits in the region, she doesn’t often mix with them. “I have my family here, my daughter is more French than English and my business is based here,” she says. “I love everything about the place and try to avoid going back to England.”
According to figures from a local estate agent, about 40% of Brits who come to the region decide to buy. Laurent Fillon, sales manager at JMB Immobilier in Perpignan, describes it as one of the most popular regions in France. “They love it here,” he says. “They love the fact that it is close to Spain, the mountains, the sea, and that it is not too built up.” Fillon says prices have been rising dramatically but are now stabilising, and that for £70,000 you can still find a small house in the villages outside the city or a three-bedroom apartment in Perpignan.
Margaret and James Hogan moved to Port Vendres on the coast outside Perpignan just over a year ago. Although Margaret is Scottish and James is Irish, they had spent most of their adult life in London. “The one thing we worried about is that we would miss the theatre, concerts and cultural events,” says Margaret, “so we chose this region as it’s close to Barcelona, Montpellier and other big cities. What’s been extraordinary is that since we moved here, we haven ’t wanted to go anywhere.”
They bought their home, a two-bedroom apartment on three floors, for £140,000. “It is hard to find properties here, but this doesn’t have a sea view, which makes it less attractive to a lot of people,” says James, a writer. Margaret, who was an editor in London and is now taking some time out, says it’s ideal.
“We have a floor each and one shared floor. There is a granny flat, which is still home to the previous owner’s mother, but once she goes we have the option to buy that as well. If we do, it will be more of a house, but as things stand we are happy.”
They chose Port Vendres as opposed to the better-known towns on the coast such as Collioure and Banyuls-sur-Mer because they wanted to live in a “real place”. “I hated the idea of somewhere that just came to life in the summer,” says James. Margaret agrees: “I enjoy the day-to-day life here and even if it can sometimes get a bit much stopping and talking to everyone you meet, you can, if you need to, get the pleasantries over with quickly. In fact, I’m rarely in a hurry. I am focusing on cultivating my pottering, and I don’t mean making pots.”
Ian Scott made the move much earlier than the Hogans; he has been in the region for more than 35 years. “I had just finished art school and was working in an office. I had a house, a car and all that stuff. One day I thought, ‘Hang on a minute; they want the rest of my life for all this’. I decided to retire when I was 22. I thought the only people I see selling paintings successfully are old fools, so I decided to leave it for a few years, although I kept painting.”
He gave up his job as an assistant art editor at the Medici Society and hitchhiked around the world for two years. “It was all going well until we hit the Sahara. Luckily the locals kept us alive and we managed to get across it.”
After that adventure there was no going back. “I decided I wanted somewhere with a good climate and political stability. The south of France seemed a good option.”
Scott bought a house in Llauro, a mountainous village outside Perpignan, for £30,000 in 1974. “With all its land and outbuildings, it’s probably worth closer to £250,000 now,” he says. Scott also has two galleries where he exhibits his work: “Now I’m an old fool and selling paintings. And unknown in four continents.”
He says there is really nothing about his native Scotland that he misses: “I went back to bury my mother a couple of years ago and found the place totally dreary.”
What's on the market
Near the town of Céret, 21 miles from Perpignan, this six-bed villa has a lake, a pool and panoramic views of the mountains. VEF (UK), 020 7515 8660, www.vefuk.com, is selling it for £789,000
On sale for £332,000, this villa near Prades has views of Mount Canigou. There are three bedrooms, a pool and a self-contained studio. Francophiles, 01622 688 165, www.francophiles.co.uk
This new three-bedroom villa is set in mature gardens in the village of Palau del Vidre, 11 miles from Perpignan. It is on sale for £190,000 with Latitudes, 020 8951 5155, www.latitudes.co.uk
Upright Tours, 07775 602 017, www.uprighttours.co.uk; JMB Immobilier, 00 33 468 340 888, www.jmbimmo.com
