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14/07/2008, 15:46 sturrdave Joined on 15/11/2005 Posts 14 Moving to South Charente Maritime I`ve seen an estate agent ad, which claims that the south Charente Maritime has no real winter, and the year goes from Spring to Summer, to Autumn, and back to Spring. Can anyone who lives there, please confirm if this is true? And if so, exactly where is the SOUTH Charente Maritime, as opposed to the rest? Thanks in advance for your input.   Sturrdave    Report

14/07/2008, 16:22 Chas Joined on 23/08/2004 Mortagne sur Gironde, 17 Posts 337 Re: Moving to South Charente Maritime I suppose the south is anywhere below halfway down - check it out on the map. We are towards the south on the coast in Mortagne sur Gironde where the climate is generally pretty good.  This was in december 2007 but it didn't last very long!  Chas 17    Report

14/07/2008, 22:02 sweet 17 Joined on 05/08/2006 charente maritime Posts 2,883 Re: Moving to South Charente Maritime Chas, I don't remember the snow but we moved here in April last year.  My one abiding memory (amongst others really much nastier) is the cold.  I don't think it helped that ours is a converted barn with us being the first people to live in it. We used to go to bed with socks and sweatshirts on over our pyjamas.  I seem to think that lasted for a few weeks. Then we had our first woodburner installed and I remember using that for at least 2 weeks.  Then our furniture arrived and we were able to sleep in our own double bed at last and the weather got really warm after that. Sorry, don't know if that's helpful or not to the OP.  I am tending to find increasing difficulty in keeping to the point these days.  Apologies!    Report

15/07/2008, 9:03 Lotmontel Joined on 31/05/2008 Charente Maritime Posts 18 Re: Moving to South Charente Maritime Hi We moved to a village near Jonzac last December.  We had no snow whatsover last winter and only about 10 frosts.  It did feel cold however, and we definitely needed the fire burning all day during January.  We were eating lunch outside from mid-Feb (although the neighbours did think we were slightly mad!).  Obviously, I can only talk about last winter (!) but to say that this part of France jumps from Autumn to Spring is just WRONG!  The winter didn't seem to last too long though (but then I am comparing this to Scotland )      Report

15/07/2008, 12:52 Renaud Joined on 23/08/2004 Barnes / Mirambeau Posts 628 Re: Moving to South Charente Maritime Sturrdave - France being on the Continental land mass reputedly has harsher winters than the UK but the southern Charente Maritime being more well... maritime is thought to have it milder than most areas. Can be damn cold though as Chas's photos show. Anything Chas does not know about the area is not worth knowing. Gus www.relax-in-france.com    Report

15/07/2008, 15:24 sturrdave Joined on 15/11/2005 Posts 14 Re: Moving to South Charente Maritime Many thanks for all your replies.  So OK, it doesn`t go from autumn to spring!  But would it be fair to say that in general, winter is fairly short and mild? Basically, as a pensioner, I`m looking for somewhere to live, which has a relatively short, mild winter, so I don`t have to spend a big chunk of my pension on utilities. Or am I looking at the wrong part of France? Thanks again for all your help   Sturrdave    Report

15/07/2008, 17:39 Anton Redman Joined on 23/08/2004 Gironde Posts 2,208 Re: Moving to South Charente Maritime We live just south of 17. I think the winters are pretty mild. The snow was a real novelty and lasted less than a week.  The more inland you go and the further North in general the harsher the winters and also has fiercer the summers.  Worst winter weather I have driven through in years was as far South as we are but about 250 kilometres due East. I do not think there is anywhere in France which is warm enough to not need heating in winter. Everywhere I know which is that warm is too hot for me in summer.    Report

15/07/2008, 20:10 Cendrillon Joined on 19/10/2007 S.E. England & S.W.France Posts 440 Re: Moving to South Charente Maritime "So OK, it doesn`t go from autumn to spring!  But would it be fair to say that in general, winter is fairly short and mild? Basically, as a pensioner, I`m looking for somewhere to live, which has a relatively short, mild winter, so I don`t have to spend a big chunk of my pension on utilities." Well it can be delightful there in the winter, lunch in the garden in November and some beautiful mild days in March. It can also be cold, grey, wet and miserable and some winters have stretched on and on.   Is it possible for you to make some off season visits and try the climate before you buy?   Cendrillon    Report

15/07/2008, 22:26 sweet 17 Joined on 05/08/2006 charente maritime Posts 2,883 Re: Moving to South Charente Maritime Also, it does depend on what fuel you use if you want to work out what heating costs will be. We have a couple of very powerful woodburners and we spent maybe 600 euros in wood last winter.  Don't know yet about electricity bills as we are on monthly direct debit. When it's really cold, we have the electric heater on in the bedroom plus 3 hot water bottles in the bed. I know Cendrillon has some fancy storage heater type radiators.  We didn't in the end plumb for those because they are quite expensive to buy and we don't really need more than a couple of hours heat in the bedrooms during the very cold nights. Insulation, however, is key and money spent on that is money well-spent.    Report

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France Forum » Regions » South West » Moving to South Charente Maritime

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