Our home is in a lieu-dit called Beaugut, in Saint Maigner, in the canton of Pionsat, département of Puy-de-Dôme (63) in the Auvergne region of France. We are in the northwestern extreme of the département, with Allier only five kilometres to the north of us and Creuse (Limousin) but fifteen kilometres to our west. If you click on the aerial photograph it will cleverly cause Google Maps to open in a new window, allowing you to explore the area!

75Km (47 miles) NW of Clermont-Ferrand, we are only an hour from the highest parts of the Central Massif - although we are ourselves at a relatively modest altitude of a little under 2000 feet (600 metres).

Centrally placed in France (72Km south, 18Km east of the Aire de la Centre de la France), we are between 5 and 6 hours by road from the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Channel coasts. The nearest beaches are on a large lake only 30 minutes south of us or on a smaller lake in St Éloy les Mines, just 20 minutes east of us.

The nearest airport with a direct low cost link from UK is Limoges (2.5 hours by road). We are 40 minutes from Montluçon with a direct rail link with Paris.

By Road

For detailed instructions to reach our house from Calais by road, this link to Google maps takes you right to the door. Use this link for the route from Limoges airport, and this link for the route from Clermont-Ferrand airport. For other starting points use the route from Calais, and select 'change route' which is immediately under the costs section in the top of the display.

If you use in-car or hand-held Satellite Navigation, specify the town as Saint-Maigner and you should find Lieu-dit Beaugut or just Beaugut listed (it works with the TomTom and with the Destinator software I used, and with some, but not all others). If it is, that will also take you right to the door. Otherwise, try 46°6'14.68"N (46.1040778°N) and 2°39'40.53"E (2.6612583°E). Do not program in Saint Maigner unless you can select Beaugut. You would be better off pointing your SatNav to Pionsat.

Having arrived at Pionsat, leave in the direction of Auzances and Sainte Hilaire, bearing right at the end of the main built-up area. Do not follow the signs to Saint Maigner - you will get lost! The road from Pionsat to Sainte Hilaire is fairly level, very twisty and two lanes throughout. Many French drivers seem to like to straddle the white line around corners - you have been warned! Shortly after leaving the main built-up area of the town you will pass a telephone kiosk on your right, and a sign pointing to the Gendarmerie. If you see these, you're on the right road. The end of town sign is shortly after this and our turning is about 2km further on.

A word of warning. Our turn-off is on the inside of a blind right-hand bend in the road. About 50 metres before this is a warning sign bearing an exclamation mark and the word "Troupeaux" (roughly equivalent to 'cattle crossing'). Start to slow down at this sign and prepare for the turn off on the apex of the bend, where there is a small 'Beaugut' sign. We missed it three times in the first couple of days. There is a similar "Troupeaux" sign coming from the Limoges direction, but no 'Beaugut' sign visible.

Once on that road you will see, after 150 metres or so, a fork on the left that will take you between two outbuildings. Take that fork and we are directly in front of you behind a pair of wooden gates.