A family of four who sold their house in Manchester managed to buy an entire French village with the cash.
Liz and David Murphy had grown tired of "living in the rat race" and put their three-bedroom semi-detached home on the market, eventually selling for £400,000.
Liz explained: "We were both working 9-5 jobs in England, with busy lives and the kids were in after-school clubs and it was like we were on an endless treadmill."
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The pair decided to emigrate to the southwest of France and used the money from their house sale to purchase a hamlet in the region of Poitou-Charentes in January 2021, featuring six buildings for less than the price of their UK home.
The funds also bagged them two barns, three acres of land and two 10x15m swimming pools, which they renovated with the help of local tradesmen.
The Murphys spent £300,000 on the buildings before renovating them and transforming them into homes for their family and holiday rentals.
Liz and David, who both work in the radio industry, then moved into the largest property with their two children – Tom, 12, and Charlotte, eight – late last year.
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Meanwhile, Liz's mum, Helen, 73, and stepdad Terry, 72, moved into the house opposite.
The pair are hoping the four remaining properties, all of which have been turned into holiday lets, will pocket them hundreds of pounds a week once business starts to boom.
Liz said the pair first had the idea when they were both furloughed during the Covid pandemic and realised "life was passing us by".
She said: "We realised 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.
"We've got six houses and another big barn that has been converted into a playroom and a workshop, with three acres of land and a ruin. It's really like winning the lottery without realising it."
The pair now say they are living like "millionaires" and have no plans to come back to Britain – even though neither of them can speak French.
It hasn't all been easy though – David recalled how the home they moved into had flooding, problems with their septic tank and no electricity when they first purchased the properties.
"When we first arrived we didn't have anywhere to stay. We renovated mum and Terry's house so we moved into a caravan. It was not glamorous at all. We had that for four or five months," he said.
But after some renovation, the properties are now ready to use and the couple can hardly believe how far the cash from their house sale went in France, with David explaining that although Britain and France have almost identical populations, land is cheaper across the pond as the country is twice as large and space "isn't as much of a premium".
The Murphys' story also recently featured on the Channel 4 show Help! We Bought a Village.
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