We bought an entire village with our parents so we could have on-site babysitters

A couple swapped their $511,970 USD Manchester, England home to live mortgage free in a village in France – and have “on-site babysitters” after their parents moved out with them.Liz Murphy, 47, and her husband David, 56, bought the rural hamlet of Lac De Maison, in Poitou-Charentes, south-west France four years ago.They joined forces with Liz’s mom Helen Diaper, and stepdad Terry, both 75, to buy six 400-year-old houses, two barns and three-acres of land.Now they have turned three into holiday homes – sleeping 19 people in total – and have renovated their own home and parents house.They are now installing solar panels to become more self-sufficient. The couple, who used to work in radio, don’t make as money as they did in the UK but say their quality of life is better.Liz, a mom-of-two, originally from Altrincham, Manchester, said: “Our quality of life is so much better, and we haven’t got the pressures we had in the UK.“In France, we’re mortgage free.So although we’re making less money than we did in the UK, it’s massively outweighed by our quality of life.“My mom and stepdad decided to sell their house and come with us.“COVID made us reassess, and David and I said if they’d like to come with us, we’d really love that.

They both said ‘why not one last adventure? Let’s do it.’“It’s been lovely – having them so close by for the kids has been really great.It’s great to have on-site babysitters.”Previously the couple felt trapped in the “rat race” working “busy” nine-to-five jobs.But after being put on furlough in 2020, the couple realised their dreams of leaving their lives in Manchester, England, and owning their own place in France.They chose France after visiting for holidays and wanting to be “somewhere close enough for people to visit and it not cost a fortune”.  When the couple came across the huge plot of land, they decided to sell their three-bed home and move with their two children – Tom, ...