An interview with a couple who own a holiday home in the French Pyrenees

Why did you decide to buy a holiday home here?

We have always loved travelling and spending time in different countries on holidays. It made sense to us to have somewhere which was our own, where we could go back to again and again whenever we liked. (1)_________ It has everything we were looking for: mountains, beautiful scenery, good countryside for walking and there are towns and a major city nearby. We looked at some very remote places but decided we wanted to be in a town. We enjoy being able to walk down to the shops in the morning to get fresh bread and walk to a restaurant for dinner in the evening. It was important to us that it was easy to get to for short holidays too so the fact that there is an airport nearby was a key factor. (2)____________ We love both of our houses even though they are very different in style and in very different places.

How did you find this particular property?

We did some research into the area we liked and we looked at adverts on the Internet. Then we went to an agency which specialised in property in the area where we were looking. They were really helpful and in three days they took us to a number of different houses as well as some empty plots of land with potential for building a new property. (3)_________ We spent time talking to the couple who were selling it and looking around the garden в as well as the house. It’s not a big house; there are only two bedrooms, but it is exactly what we were looking for. It has a fantastic terrace with views of the mountains. It's very picturesque. In fact it is a beautiful place to have a holiday at any time of the year.

What do you like most about owning a second home?

(4)___________ We spend lots of holidays here ourselves and sometimes friends and family join us, but we also let friends and family stay in it by themselves if they want to. It means the house is occupied more, and the more it is used the better. We also like that we have met some good friends here. (5)_________ It means we don’t feel like strangers when we’re here. Another thing we like is that there is always somewhere new to visit and explore as well as favourite places to go back to.

Would you like to move and live here permanently?

No. We have too much that we would miss back home: good friends and family. (6)________We might come for a month or more at a time instead of a week or two as we do now. But we bought it as a holiday home or second home not somewhere to live all the time. We like having both our homes and don’t want to give up either of them.