I stopped the UK for the beautiful European Land-Mine House with 8 bedrooms is the same price as a flat at home with one bed

House prices in the UK are increasingly rising every year – and they will probably shoot even further in Bedford, after the announcement of a new universal theme park in the area.

But a former Bedford -Lokale, Nick Paolozzi, 62, laughs all the way to the couch and moved France With his wife Beatrice two years ago.

The retired business owner is now the proud owner of a 3500 square foot, eight bedrooms mansion in Vanxains, a municipality in Dordogne-en and paid only € 232,000, after tax, before that.

That amounts to slightly less than £ 200,000 ‘the same price of a fairly beautiful flat with one bedroom in Bedford, and then you also have the service costs, “says Nick.

“The place is huge,” he continues. ‘It has a fairly large swimming pool, eight bedrooms, seven en-suite bathrooms, two kitchens, two large front rooms, a playroom and a huge garden.

‘It’s pretty nice here in North Dordogne. It is a rolling countryside and all villages are quite old, so there are plenty of castles and really nice places to go.

‘It is not as busy as South Dordogne, but it is very picturesque, it is beautiful and there are many English people who live here.

“We live not far from Brantome, which is beautiful, and we are only about three and a half hours of San Sebastian in Spain, so we are going a lot.”

Nick Koos to move to France when he retired at the age of 60, because his wife is Beatrice Frans and was unable to get permanent stay in the UK after Brexit.

He also felt that, even though he was retired by £ 150,000, it would not be enough to have the comfortable life he wanted if he would stay in the UK.

He explains: ‘Although I earned a good wage, I was divorced about 10 years ago, so half of the house went to my ex-wife and I still had to pay for my children and things like that, so the money just entered and went out again.

“It didn’t seem like an option to stay in the UK and I didn’t really want to stay in Bedford.”

Nick, on the other hand, says that he has very few spending in France.

“I have hardly spent any money here,” he says. ‘The food is cheaper and because we have land, we are renovating all our own vegetables.

‘Here you can enjoy the natural things without spending a lot of money. Or we can go to Bordeaux, an hour and a bit away, and a bit like London in the sense that it is very cosmopolitan to do with many things.

‘But unlike London, you will not get charged loads to park.

‘We went there to the old U-Boat Museum, the Base de Submarinos de Burdeos, and paid 50p to park for four hours!

“They don’t get rid of you here, such as in England, and there is less pressure on you, Moneywise, here.”

What is even better for Nick is that he now rents his house in the summer, while he and Beatrice stay in their neighbor’s house or in a camper, so it gets an extra income from it.

He says: ‘It is fully booked every summer. The only problem is that we have to clean the pool every morning, so it’s not like we can go very far. ‘

Although Nick nowadays has a very charmed life in France, he acknowledges that it would not be that easy for most British to follow in his footsteps.

“It is very difficult for English people to move here, especially since Brexit,” he says. ‘You have to get an entrepreneurial visa or you can come as a pensioner, but you have to get a health insurance policy and show a certain income, so it’s not easy.

“I didn’t even get a visa. I just came, got married here and then applied for a residence in the local town hall and got it in a year and a half. ‘

He continues: ‘It can also be quite difficult for English people to go here if you don’t speak the language at all.

“It is clear that the French woman has been a bit easier and I try to learn the language, but it’s not easy.”

Nick often comes back to the UK to see his sick mother in Bedford and his sister, who lives in Blackheath, London – but he is very reluctant to leave France forever.

“It’s a bit depressing to go back home,” he says “I don’t think it’s a nice life in Bedford.

‘Maybe if I lived somewhere like the Cotswolds or Devon, I would think differently, but the only way I would go back is if something happened to my wife.

‘If she was no longer there, I would feel a bit isolated in France, and I have 5 children in the UK, so I would probably move then.

“But we hope to spend our lives together here in France.”