I left London for the South of France – you can live like a king on just £34,000

A London architect who in 2005 relocated to the South of France says that residents enjoy a much better quality of life than in the UK, and it is possible to “live like a king” on a modest salary.

Timothy Harris, who is in his late fifties, lives in the picturesque town of Carcassonne, near the French Pyrenees, where he runs an architecture firm specialising in ecological projects.

He decided to leave the UK before reaching retirement age, and embarked on a three-month journey on his boat, sailing across the Channel before travelling to southern France.

He had been living in affluent Richmond, in south-west London, but decided the area was a “con”, and realised he wanted to live in a real village instead.

“I didn’t want to just sit here and get a big house, big car, because it’s boring. I didn’t want to wait till I retired. I had built a boat as a student to live on. And I checked that it could actually sail across the Channel,” Mr Harris, a father of two, tells i.

He ended up in Carcassonne, a place he had visited on a family holiday when he was 14. The area, he says, has some of the cheapest house prices in the country, with varying costs depending on renovation needs.

“I’ve just helped somebody buy a house for €60,000 (£50,800), you need to spend €120,000 (£102,000) on it to make it lovely, but then for €180,000 (£152,000) you’ve got a pretty spectacular little building with stunning views and stone architectural designs inside.”

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Though he prefers not to disclose how much he spent for his French home, which he slowly rebuilt over a period of 10 years, he says properties similar to those available in Carcassonne would cost at least half a million pounds in the UK, if not more.

“If you could find the right place in the UK for £600,000, I’d think you’ve done quite well,” he added.

His old stone house is 190 square-metres with a garage and garden, and a former donkey barn thpught to date back to the 1650s.

Mr Harris says one can “live like a king” in Southern France on a relatively low salary. “You really don’t need a lot of money because nothing here costs you very much … everything’s on your doorstep.”

Residents can live well with €40,000-50,000 (£34,000-42,000) a year, he says, while he estimates that twice as much would be needed to enjoy a similarly comfortable lifestyle in London. Restaurant meals in Carcassonne are just €25 per head including wine.

The sea is close by, as are mountains for skiing, theatres, and the Canal de Midi where he enjoys sailing on his boat, which he keeps docked just 100 yards from his office.

Mr Harris enjoys hopping on his boat to “fly off for a bit” and says partaking in all the activities the area offers, like skiing, would cost ten times as much from the UK.

He has a carte de séjour that allows him to stay in France but must be renewed every 10 years. He has no plans to apply for French citizenship.

Brexit has slightly affected his business, he says, “as we lost some clients – but we got some clients” too. He has both English and French clients and still runs a parallel English company.

“Importing stuff became more difficult, people moving across became more difficult, clients couldn’t then have a second house here easily. They could only be here for less than half a year.”

He says it would be “very traumatic” to return to the UK. Carcassonne is now his home.

“I absolutely love it, the landscape, the changing scenery, the work opportunities [and] dream projects” he would not have had in London, he says.

“My day to day life… is what I’ve always wanted to do.

“It feels like you’re permanently on holiday. Even if you’re stressing, working hard. There’s an atmosphere, there’s a gentleness, there’s a slowness about it. It’s not manic.”