UK couple sell an ex-council house, pay off their mortgage, buy house in South of France with 2 acres for £25,000, and now live off a paper-round.

If you fancy an idyllic lifestyle in a warmer climate, drinking inexpensive red wine and growing your own organic veg, you could do worse than follow the example of this bold Yorkshire couple.

Ann and Tom Algie, both in their 50s, took the brave step into a radical new debt free lifestyle and haven't looked back. Tom ran a small hardware shop and Ann worked as a Physio Assistant but both wanted to live more simply. Thinking maybe there was more to life, they sold their house, bought a 30 year old campervan and set off for the Midi-Pyrenees, an area they had only seen on the Internet. They fell in love with a carpenters workshop and home that hadn't been lived in since they were born, and renovated it themselves.

"We love it here but it's not for everyone" says Ann, "we put in a lot of hard physical work to make it a home. We love the relaxed attitude of the rural French people, and the weather, which is usually much warmer than Yorkshire. Living in the hills of Aveyron means we get snow in January and February. Spending our first winter in the old camper-van with no heating was really quite challenging, one night it was minus 15. It is better now we are in our cosy little house with the wood burning stove. We couldn't have done it without the support of our family and some very good friends, they helped make it all possible."

They made the house weather tight first, then turned the ground floor pigsty into their rustic kitchen. Ann learned how to lime plaster as she went along and Tom did the plumbing and electrical work, including the solar panels. After a year Tom and Ann took on a variety of odd jobs for local people, cleaning and gardening. They both struggled with the language at first but now attend a weekly language class. Ann still misses family and friends from the UK but they have made some great new friends in France. About 2 months ago, one of their Scottish friends asked if they would be interested in taking over the paper-round for their commune. They realised it would pay them enough money to live on, give them health cover and provide a service to the old folks of the village. The couple love their simple lifestyle and hope to share their alternative ideas over the coming months through a blog at theonecourse.org

Tom says "We are pretty good at managing our money, and we are off grid. We find we can live comfortably by delivering about 100 papers, 3 days a week each. It's an early start but we see some great wildlife, spectacular sunrises and we are finished before 9am. We feel we are really lucky, and doing the round every morning gives us a great appreciation for our beautiful surroundings. If you are fed up with the UK, forget The Referendum, vote with your feet and move to France. There's plenty of space, property is affordable and there are lots of papers to deliver."

Media Contact
Ann Algie
ann@theonecourse.org