So I haven’t been on this forum for ages but I wanted to post about the weather/climate as it is something I am passionate about and was interested in others experiences.
We moved over to the Massif Central area in July 2017 with the expectation of warm to hot summers (25/30 degrees) with regular summer rainfall and cold, cold winters (-10 to -20) with sunshine , frost and also with a regularly snowy landscape. There are afterall ski areas in the Monts du Auvergne and even cross country ski stations on the Millevaches Plateau at around 900 metres asl. (When are they ever open given the lack of snow?)
We are based at the western side of the Millevaches Plateau currently renting a house at just under 500 metres above sea level.
I come from an environmental/scientific background and I am a firm believer in climate change. In my opinion this is what we are seeing but much more rapidly than even the scientists predicted.
Here we are on 24th December and it is ten degrees outside. 10 degrees in the foothills of the Massif Central in central France at the end of December? It feels like we are stuck in an eternal autumn?
We have had weeks of unremitting gloom and grey with never ending rain or drizzle. Last winter was mainly mild and wet also, with nearby Eymoutiers (Haute Vienne) recording over 250% of it’s normal rainfall. Yes we had a couple of cold snaps with snow but generally the winter was extremely wet and very mild. This winter seems even worse so far(milder) although with less rain perhaps. This follows on from one of the hottest (regular high 30’s), driest (and windiest) summers on record here in North Correze, with no appreciable spring either. Spring type weather was virtually non existant. Summer began almost instantly in June. We had a tempete in July that felled thousands of trees in the area and damaged many houses. On nearly everyday it was hot and sunny it was also blowing a virtual gale?
We researched the climate before moving here and endlessly grey, wet and mild winters were not mentioned in the climate information for the Massif Central. Mind you nor were searingly hot (close to 40 degree) summers. Maybe this is just a blip but I fear it isn’t?
We have barely recorded a frost since the end of summer and unbelievably there are still active cluster flies around in December?
What is the climate like in your part of France? Has it changed dramatically from what you would expect or from when you first moved here? Who has lived in the Millevaches area for a long time? Is it always like this? I know people have mentioned sitting outside on Christmas day in France, but that is usually associated with high pressure, cold nights with frost followed by briefly warm winter sunshine. That type of winter weather seems to be almost completely absent here? For me personally, I feel everything weatherwise is becoming so extreme and I don’t feel optimistic for the future if this trajectory continues apace. BTW does anyone have a link to accurate weather/climate records for France? Merry Christmas one and all!
Southern Tarn we have very hot summers and mild, wet, windy winters with the occasional snowy period. Only been here 8 years but it does seem more extreme than when we first arrived.
Try this site. It’s great for the weather not sure about climate information.
When we first came to France to live in Dec 2007 we rented a gite in Colne d’Allier and remember sitting out on Christmas day it was so mild but having said that, days earlier when we go off the boat in the early hours at Dunkirk it was really icy.
Our first night in Colne, I left a bottle of water in the car door (by accident) and next morning it was frozen solid!
The English couple from whom we rented the gite told us that this was quite normal for the Allier and on some of our local excursions we did see plenty of snow around the ski resorts whilst the Allier itself was relatively free of snow.
We moved from Colne to the Charente but still have a wonderful affection for the Massif Central and its beautiful clean air.
I’ve not noticed any great difference in the overall weather patterns over the past 20+ years but there have been big year on year variations. When we signed for the house in a December in the mid 1990s it was -12 and everything was frozen solid. Twelve months later and I took a photo of my wife in a bikini on New Years Day. It was a photo opportunity rather than real sunbathing weather but it was very warm. I’m a bit envious of an old school friend of mine who regularly publishes the weather data that he has recorded in his U.K. garden. He is able to make accurate monthly comparisons that are interesting. My recording methods are less scientific, in 2017 I had to cut the grass in my garden every five to seven days all summer; in 2018 I didn’t cut it once in five months. That suggests a big difference in the weather conditions but I really can’t remember a significant difference. When talking short time we can only talk about weather, climate needs a lot of data.
The weather patterns have certainly changed over the past 15 years that we’ve been here, PNR Millevache. We used to get snow almost every Christmas, but these days just mild and damp. February was always the coldest time of year, regularly below -20, lots of snow and frozen over river. That’s not happened for quite a few years now.
We decided to move over and rent here for a while rather than buying straight away. We have been over here about 18 months now…can’t believe where the time has gone? We are still looking to buy in the Millevaches but have narrowed our search area down to within 20-30 minutes east, north and south east of Eymoutiers. We are viewing a place with good potential in Lacelle commune on Boxing day, so hopefully the French owner won’t want a silly price for it. To be honest I’m no fan of the grey, wet winters here, but at least the summers are generally good. What happened with that old moulin near you, did some people renovate it? Hell of a project!
Hi Paul
Yes, that old Moulin (Ronteix) was sold to some friends of ours. It was made watertight and secure this summer and the main renovation will start this spring. I got our commune to repair the track to it so it should make getting materials there a bit easier.
Good luck with the viewing, if its no good there is a property I know of just coming on to the market near Aubusson that might be suitable (bit outside your area though).
Well hopefully the place in the hills above Lacelle will be suitable. We have seen the land and setting and we love it. Just need to view the house now. If it proves to be no good or the price is silly (common in our experience for French private sellers) then I will contact you about the place near Aubusson. Regards Paul…Merry Christmas!
We have woken up to a hard frost here in the Clunysois of Southern Burgundy.
It has definitely changed since we moved here in August 2009.
November has always, and continues, to be very misty.
We are at 240 metres and get the mists coming off both the Saone and Loire rivers, rolling down on either side of us and into the valley below, or not if there is a lot of it.
We haven’t had serious snow for about six years now.
We had a long spell of very cold weather about four years ago, -15 at night and -10 in the day for three weeks.
We also seem to be in an area of rain shadow in the
summer.
We are in the valley of the Grosne and often see any clouds disappearing off to the north and, fortunately, to the south this summer with the rain that caused damage and flooding.
We can sometimes see huge electrical storms over Switzerland in the summer too.
It is all very worrying and I am hoping that there is no reincarnation, as I don’t want to cone back to a world so inhospitable.
On that note, Happy Christmas.
Christmas morning here in the deep South (09) - lovely day ahead with a high of 16C on the forecast. Looks like we’ll be leaving the skis behind though!!
Looking across the valley to our village - just now:
Hi Mark. Can you PM me details of that property near Aubusson. Is it isolated with land? We love the place we viewed near Lacelle but the French owner has a very unrealistic price (as per normal really) so we have to see if he will negotiate. Regards Paul
Friends of mine are skiing in a fairly low resort near Salzburg in Austria, the snow conditions there are amazing, well above what’s expected at Christmas.
Hi Paul… I hope you find what you are looking for…
However, from my experience… French Seller or whatever nationality… makes no difference when settling on a price.
If the Buyer considers it unrealistic… then the Buyer can point out to the Seller the reasons for forming such an opinion.
If the reasons for dropping the price are sound enough, negotiations may/can follow.
A neighbour has his magnificent property on the market. His price is high, too high perhaps IMO to sell swiftly. I am fairly sure that he does not really want to move (nearer to shops etc) and, if the property does not sell… he will be rather relieved. His family are pushing him… but he can well afford all the support that he may need in the future… and loves where he is now…
Difficult to say without seeing this one really but unlikely for us as the neighbours are very close and also it’s not in our favoured area as we prefer to be closer to Eymoutiers/Limoges side of the Millevaches. We have been living and working over here since July 2017 so have built up a network of friends and some good garden clients as well.
Looking at the hamlet on Geoportail it seems to be surrounded by quite a lot of farmland and we prefer to be in a more wooded environment. We realise the forestry is not native to the Millevaches but it does give a wilder more rugged feel. WE are not great fans of being surrounded by farmers! Also there appears to be some sort of off road circuit just off the D32 a few hunded metres from the property?
Seems very cheap at €40k for a property with barn and land and part renovation. I think it is definitely more costly over our way. We are not giving up though, just have to play the waiting game and keep the income coming in. We have found the house we want to buy it is just stupidly overpriced by the French seller. He wants €150k + notaires fees for basically a 20-30% renovated house (needs roof and fosse, no insulation, attic not converted so only one level) with an attached barn and 3 hectares. It is in a lovely spot with no near neighbours, but an agent friend of ours reckons it is worth no more than €90k at best. We have asked him if he is willing to negotiate, but that’s probably unlikely he will drop down to €90k.
Anyway, after my post about the endless wet and mild weather (probably a late autumn) winter now seems to have arrived and we have had wall to wall sunshine and frost since Xmas! Hope you are well?
Forgot to say, the Moulin de Rontieux was the perfect setting for us, it was just the fact the adjacent land was a tourbiere and not suitable for growing, plus the small fact that the house was too big for us and a massive project beyond our finances!!
We realise these sorts of places are like hen’s teeth, but if you come across anything else similar in a setting with woodland and forest then please message us.
