The couple haven’t looked back (Picture: SWNS)
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)
Meanwhile, Liz’s mum Helen Diaper, 73, and stepdad Terry, 72, now live in the house opposite them.
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)
‘It wasn’t until Covid came and we were on this furlough and we realised we were in a rat race and life was passing us by.
‘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.
‘We didn’t have a clue when we came, neither of us had done physical jobs.’
A bedroom in the house (Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
None of the family could speak French either.
‘Both of us had done school French but not for years,’ Liz added.
‘The only way was to immerse yourself here. We’re conversational now, we pick things up while chatting.’
Liz and David Murphy (Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
While the family were initially nervous, and things haven’t been completely smooth sailing, they have now settled into a new way of living.
‘When we first got there it felt really weird being across the way from my parents,’ Liz said. ‘It’s really nice to be so close to them though.
Inside the home (Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
‘We were really scared about the move and making enough. For the first four months, the kids hated school, and we were thinking this was difficult.
‘Now I don’t think any one of us would go back. Everyone is so welcoming, I wouldn’t go back for anything.
A pool at the home (Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
‘We had flooding, issues with our septic tank and no electricity when we arrived.
‘Now we’ve got everything working fine, but at the start we didn’t have anywhere to stay. We renovated Mum and Terry’s house first, and we moved into a caravan.
‘It was not glamourous at all. We had that for four or five months.
‘For the kids, it was a big adventure, to us it was hell.’
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They will never go back to the UK (Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
Liz’s husband Dave, 54, who is a trained hypnotherapist, said the value is what attracted them to this property.
‘Some people decided to buy a dog during Covid, but we decided to move to a different country,’ he explained.
‘We were amazed at what we could get for our house price in Manchester, we could get a hamlet. We kind of made the decision to move in August 2020 and we came over in the Covid break in travel [restrictions].
Lots of outside space for relaxing (Picture: David Murphy/SWNS)
‘It was really quick.
‘I think we both loved France. We fell in love with it and came over here on holidays.
‘Wanting to learn a language, the food and the weather – we never considered anywhere else. When we came here we could only say “hello”, “goodbye” and “can I have a beer?”
‘The French love it if you try. Thank God for Google Translate. But it’s reached the stage where we learn from conversations.
‘We’re living like millionaires here. You’d have to be [one] in the UK to own this. It takes two-and-a-half hours to mow the lawn on a sit-on mower.
‘In Manchester, I could do the lawn in ten minutes. We’ve got two pools as well.
‘The wildlife is insane around us too. We have to stop for deer and wild boars while you’re doing the school run, not other cars.’
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The pair spent a total of £300,000 to transform the ruined buildings.
