Buying a home – and setting up a business – in France

Paul Finch is admiring a giant robotic lawnmower he has been given to trial: it is part of his mission to simplify the running of La Balie, his gîtes and wellness retreat business in the Lot-et-Garonne in southwest France. He’s a fan. The mower is reliable, it cuts up to three hectares and runs eight hours between charges. Best of all, he can monitor it remotely while pursuing his cycling adventures around Europe.

Finch has never looked back since buying his farmhouse in April 2022, leaving behind his life in Hampshire. He had sold a wealth management company and a commercial insurance brokerage and was seeking fulfilment abroad. “I looked at Spain but realised I loved France and had a better chance of learning French.”

Aged 59, with three grown sons, Finch realised that managing other people’s wealth had taught him valuable lessons: “My happiest, healthiest clients were focused on making memories. Creating financial independence was only part of my journey – the most important thing was finding purpose.”

He found his perfect turnkey property through Beaux Villages, a Savills international associate: La Balie is a farmhouse with three gîtes, two pools and a studio previously used for piano retreats and creative workshops. Retained and rented UK property gave Finch the financial security to embrace entrepreneurial life in rural France.

Tapping into his marketing skills, he has quickly built a business hosting generational family visits in July and August; while in May, June and September, yoga instructors lead retreats in the studio.

“When I saw La Balie, I had the vision for a retirement where I could live in the beautiful Lot-et-Garonne and try managing a wellbeing business, generating an income rather than watching the stock market and reacting to financial budgets,” Finch says.

He puts his success in finding balance and happiness in France down to two factors. First, his entrepreneurial instinct to streamline operations: minimising admin and making everything – including the booking system and a slick property and regional guide – digital. Second, local immersion. He immediately began learning French with a nearby octogenarian, joined a running club, befriended his hot-air ballooning neighbours and drank eau de vie late into the night with the local farmer.

Finch now keeps livestock and has met Cecile, a local vet who has become his life partner and helps to run La Balie. “This is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and I’m enjoying every minute of it,” he says.

Philippa Girling, a former New York bank executive who began her French property adventure around the same time as Finch, has similar feelings. “The biggest validation was when a French guest said, ‘This is exactly what people should be doing with our châteaux.’”

Girling set up Camp Château at Château de Béduer in the Célé Valley in 2022 and has enjoyed such extraordinary success running it as a summer camp for women that she recently negotiated the acquisition of a second French property, Château de Camon in Ariège, through Beaux Villages. She joins other entrepreneurs who are seeing the income potential of these properties and setting up camps, yoga schools, holiday retreats and art galleries in beauty spots in France. While Girling, like Finch, was leaving behind life as a financial services executive, her story is more serendipitous. Two factors collided: a passionate love of the French countryside and culture, and a château up for sale in the valley of her childhood holiday memories.

“I’d been looking at French property in the area forever. We didn’t need a château, but we stood there saying, ‘We have to buy this.’” She had brought her grown-up children with her to visit the property as they had all fantasised about starting a summer camp for children – a 13th-century château, however, was a very grown-up proposition.

Anything Girling did would have to preserve its essence and economically benefit the area. “In about 10 seconds, we came up with the idea: a summer camp for women where they could just be. Not working on themselves, not trying to get thinner or more beautiful or into a better yoga pose. Not working to higher levels of leadership and power. Just having fun.”

Recruiting her best friend and oldest daughter as co-founders, she devised a funding model: 10 equity investors at €80,000 each would receive two free camp slots annually, plus profit share; 120 to 150 founding members providing interest-only loans of €8,500 would get one free slot per summer and 5% guaranteed interest over five years.

Camp Château now has 2,000 guests a year and an online community. But for the former banker, it’s not just about the numbers. It’s about fulfilling a vision – protecting the patrimony for the locals, inhabitants and guests alike, while creating the joyful environment absent in her previous working life. “My mantra today has evolved,” Girling says. “In my earlier career years, women were coached on how to change in order to be successful. Now I believe the right approach is, ‘Don’t change, change the rules.’”

According to Alice Storrie, head of Savills French desk, the southwest of France continues to captivate domestic and international buyers – the region is celebrated for its picturesque landscapes, charming towns and villages, exceptional gastronomy and rich cultural heritage. “Across the broader area, we see sustained demand for historic homes (châteaux, maisons de maître and manoirs) from purchasers around the globe,” Storrie says.

“While international purchasers’ drivers vary, the potential to generate income is often key. As a result, larger châteaux and rural estates offering generous accommodation, both in the main residence and outbuildings, hold strong appeal. So, too, do properties situated within easy reach of a village or small town.”

Finch concurs. “There are lots of opportunities for entrepreneurially minded types to develop businesses in France. I’ve met people who have bought equestrian properties and are making a good income from renting stables, and someone who has developed a glamping site.” British buyers’ love affair with France looks set to continue well into the future.

ALICE STORRIE, HEAD OF FRENCH DESK, SAVILLS GLOBAL RESIDENTIAL
AStorrie@savills.com