'We sold our £400k Manchester semi and bought an entire village in France'

Wife Liz Murphy and husband David felt like their lives were passing them by as they balanced their busy jobs with raising young children.

It wasn't until the couple were put on furlough during the coronavirus lockdown in 2020 that they decided it was time for a change, and uprooted their life in Manchester to live in a rural area of southwest France. They sold their £400k property and with the cash, bought the entire historic hamlet of Lac De Maison, in Poitou-Charentes, in January 2021.

The couple, who have no plans to return to the UK, managed to buy six 400-year-old houses, two barns and three acres of land, and have slowly been renovating the town into a thriving business. Their three holiday homes are almost fully booked for the summer, with Liz, 47, and David, 55, who used to work in radio, saying it's a "lovely feeling" to be able to work for themselves on their terms.

David with daughter Charlotte during the renovations

As the cost-of-living crisis continues in the UK, the family feel certain their dream lifestyle would not be attainable back in England, and now view France as their "home". Liz, a mum-of-two, originally from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, said: "We've been really busy, we're almost fully booked this summer and even in the quiet season we still had guests most weekends. The renovations are always ongoing, but we're mostly done.

"We're four years in now, so we've got used to the upkeep and have got quicker at the day-to-day running of things. But it still takes two-and-a-half-hours to mow the lawn because there's so much of it.

"This is our full-time job now, it's so different to our old office jobs. Every day is different, and everything we're doing is for us and our family. We loved the UK, but we don't regret moving here and don't have plans to move back. It's nice because we're in control of our own destiny a bit more."

Building work taking place at Liz and David Murphy hamlet of Lac De Maison,

David added: "We have more stability now in France. There's not a CEO somewhere that could wake up one morning and decide to slash half the staff in an attempt to save money."

The parents were both working "busy" nine-to-five jobs in the UK and felt as though they were trapped in the "rat race". But after being put on furlough in 2020, they realised their dreams of owning their own place in France.

When the couple came across the huge plot of land, they decided to sell their semi-detached home and move with their two children - Tom, 13, and Charlotte, nine - along with Liz's mum, Helen Diaper, 73, and stepdad, Terry, 73, in December 2020.

David and Liz Murphy with kids Tom and Charlotte.

Liz explained: "We were both working with busy lives and the kids were in after school clubs and it was like we were on an endless treadmill. It wasn’t until Covid came and we were on furlough and we realised we were in a rat race and life was passing us by.

"We hadn't spent much time with the kids and we decided we had to do something to change all our lives. We had talked about moving to France for years. We had this sudden feeling to do it and we suddenly did it.

"My mum and stepdad decided to sell their house and come with us." While they love the UK, Liz and David argue their quality of life has improved immeasurably since they made the move across the channel.

GV of the hamlet

Liz said: "It's not so much the cost-of-living but more the quality of life for our family. We have more time for us, the simpler way of life suits us. Prices fluctuate everywhere, we've noticed costs increasing in France too. But we feel like we have more stability here. And it does make a big difference having nice weather."

David added: "We have big plans for the village, we want to continue the renovations and start to improve our house as well. We'd also like to start putting in solar panels and to be self-reliant on energy.

"None of that would be possible if we still lived in the UK. We've learnt to do a lot of ourselves, we'd go broke if we brought in a professional every time something needed doing. We look things up on YouTube, get our hands dirty and try to do things ourselves."