Retiring to France: Over 50 and fancy la vie en rose in a French village? Homes in Les Senioriales, a string of retirement villages from the Dordogne to La Rochelle, start at €159,000. Anne Dempsey reports

It's an understandable dream. You've always loved France and had visions of retiring there, but it seemed too difficult to manage at a distance.

Or you take the plunge and become tied up in red tape or dodgy builders, or both. Alternatively, the purchasing arrangements go well, but the natives are distant and the hoped-for belonging does not materialise.

It was these potential problems that led the Ramos Group, a family of Toulouse property developers, to identify the marketing opportunities arising from the housing needs of an ageing population in Northern Europe.

Vibrant retirement villages are a totally new concept in France, where age-related housing schemes have traditionally catered for a dependent population, with (expensive) medical services on tap, and little contact with the local community.

Les Senioriales - The Seniors - is different. Aimed at couples and individuals aged 50-plus , the first residence of 52 bungalows was launched in 2002 in Perpignan, on the Spanish border.

The buyers were Parisians moving south to the sun. The development sold out quickly and retains full occupancy. Six new residences, a total of 316 homes with on-site facilities, have been built and sold since and there are 11 more under way.

Spread across southern France, in coastal and interior locations, the policy is for a 70/30 per cent mix of French and non-French residents. It is company policy that only 10 per cent of homes in any development can be bought to let, with year-long rather than seasonal lettings only. This is to foster community cohesion and it seems to be working.

There has been one wedding already when Jacques met Jill over the garden wall at Perpignan, and rumours of other romances.

Suddenly, retiring to France, or buying a second home there now for later, seems not only affordable, but manageable and fun.

Prices start from €159,000 for a two-bedroom bungalow. The developments are set in private, gated grounds with shared parking spaces, a swimming pool, clubhouse and transport.

Each has its own staff, an administrator and gardener/caretaker - endearingly known as the hostess and guardian). She organises activities in collaboration with the residents' committee; he looks after grounds, maintenance and security.

New developments are sold from plans. Standing in the field of what will be a 52-home complex of Villereal, southern Dordogne, you look across to the 13th century town. Villereal has retained its quintessential cobbled streets, beautiful church, stone and timber market hall.

They've been holding a market there every week for 700 years, and on summer Monday evenings, up to 300 people buy their wine and paté, choose their meat and vegetables, see them barbecued, then sit and eat together in the square.

Prices in the Villereal development are €159,000 for a 65sq m (699sq ft) home, €179,000 for 75sq m (797sq ft) and €199,000 for 85sq , (915sq ft) with each bungalow fitted but not furnished.

To sample a completed development, you could go to Nîmes, Avignon or Bordeaux, all such viewings organised by Ramos or their selling agents AFIMS. The Irish Times travelled to Casteljaloux near Bordeaux where families moved in this summer. Houses are sited east to west to maximise the sunshine. Each has a small front garden, patio, and retractable awning in yellow stripe. There is a tiled cold room, known as a cellier to the side.

The front door opens into a tiled living/dining area. The kitchen is fitted with cooker and ceramic hob, plumbed for a washing machine. There are two fitted bedrooms, and a main shower room with separate toilet.

Each house is double glazed, with a heating/air conditioning system. There are no steps in the complex.

The shower tray, for example, is flush with the tiled bathroom floor, with wall sockets at waist rather than skirting board level. A second development is planned in Casteljaloux.

Management costs of €120 a month per household cover maintenance, entertainment and resident staff salaries. Budgeting also for electricity, light and heat costs, plus local taxes, brings average monthly costs to €350.

Paying taxes entitles you to avail fully of France's well-thought-of national health system and it is reckoned that the Galllic shopping basket costs 20 per cent less than its Irish equivalent.

As the local Thursday market opened in the town of Cozes recently, women with shopping baskets emerged from their cornflower blue-shuttered houses to choose their oysters, bread, olives and powerfully smelly cheese, while others sat outdoors drinking tiny cups of lethally strong coffee.

Many Les Senioriales developments are set in wine-growing country. As the French wine market contracts, the company has been approached by local mayors interested in attracting new income streams.

Meursac, near La Rochelle, already has a small British and Irish community. Its mayor, André Vollette, resplendent in Tricolour sash, welcomes us in his chambers, and speaks enthusiastically of the 40 bungalow Senioriales complex coming to Meursac next year.

Sited in a former children's camp, the bungalows will be grouped round an original manor house, whose period façade will be maintained, while the interior will be modernised as the clubhouse.

Upstairs, two floors of guest accommodation will be free to friends and family of residents.

This free guest accommodation is a thoughtful feature of every complex, though probably not on as ample a scale as at Meursac, earmarked as a flagship development. Prices here are at 169,000, €189,000 and €209,000 and sites are still available.

Homes ready in 2007/2008 are now being marketed in Dax near Biarritz, St-Gilles, near Nîmes, and Villegly, five minutes' from Carcassone which has flights from Dublin.

The Villegly homes have the lowest prices currently - at €155,000 to €209, 000, while the Dax complex with enhanced health and spa facilities is currently selling from €174,000 to €214,000 depending on house size.

Some homes have changed hands since 2002, and based on actual resales over two years, have achieved capital appreciation of 27-40 per cent.

You pay full capital gains tax if you sell within five years, after which an annual 10 per cent tax rebate applies on a sliding scale so that after 15 years, you incur no capital gains tax should you sell.

• The Senioriales Group, 2 Place August Albert, 31500 Toulouse, France

Tel: 0033 56247 9494 www.senioriales.com