3 months in France 2025...where?

Three months starting in fall means you’ll be in France as weather gets rougher.. For a village or small town, you should start in your more northly area first. Late fall and winter in villages can be gray and isolating, lack activity. A lot closes. Transportation is difficult.

So you might want to divide further into three one-month stays, with the last in Paris where there’s activity and things to do with grandchildren.

Transportation: not so convenient to Brittany from England. Ferries are often cancelled due to weather. It’s train to Paris and then one to Brittany. You can check on flights from England.

Southern France, which is where I’d go for a month: you can fly from England into Nice, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse.

Paris is the easiest for direct train travel.

I didn’t mention the Dordogne but it would be fine instead of Brittany for your first month, both getting the west coast of France Atlantic weather. It does have the English colonies there, Dordognshire they call it.

You might consider some of the villages in the Alsace region of France: Sélestat, Obernai, Molsheim, Avolsheim. (Some of those might be too big to be considered "villages" but it gives you the geographic area to consider). With the proximity to the German border, the Rhine River, and the Black Forest, it offers you some choices for exploring a wider area that is known for autumn beauty. It is a wonderful region of France, filled with half-timbering and castles. Disney animators used towns like Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé for their inspiration in designing the villages in Beauty and the Beast, if that gives you any indication! Of course, Colmar is the most popular, but I suspect you want something a little more off-the-beaten-path. We'd go back in a heartbeat!

if you are there for 3 months you may violate the Schengen restrictions only allowing 90 days - including arrival and departure days - in any 180 without a special visa.

Are you both EU citizens? If not be careful, it is carefully enforced.

Charming French villages often have no economy but tourism or serve as suburban bedroom communities for commuters to larger cities. We have been in many French towns that are locked up tight as a drum all day and where you can't even get a cup of coffee. So pick carefully. With 3 months I'd probably rent in 3 locations for a month each (coming in under the 90 day Schengen limit of course)

The Dordogne is lovely, Brittany is lovely -- we spent a couple of weeks in Burgundy and enjoyed it. but pick a big enough town that the amenities you assume will be there are there -- baker, butcher, etc. You might also consider towns with lots of expats as the odds you will make friendships of any sort with local French people are close to zero especially not being fluent in French.

Thank you all so much for responding so quickly. Great thoughts on your trip GeoffB which i will look at closely once we decide where we will be. Fabulous to have that detail thank you.
janetravels44 and Bets...I am listening to your advice and will try to rethink dates...maybe a month earlier if we can manage it. Hadn't considered many things closing which would be a shame. We have travelled in France some years ago so not needing to do continual sightseeing but of course the aim is to explore and immerse ourselves in the culture so is obviously a big consideration.leaning to Dordogne for first month.
And history traveler...had not even looked at Alsace region but makes sense.Especially being Autumn. Will have a close look
Will think about doing 3 regions but also the plan was to be immersed in an area. Hoping to do french classes too.
So many options...
And thank you Nigel re visa. We are Australian so definitely not EU citizens. We are aware and would need to maybe apply for longer visa or as you say be under 90 days.
I hope you see my replies as I really appreciate you taking the time to help. Not sure how to navigate direct reply to you...

Does anyone have recommendations of where to look for accommodation? Mind you we need to make decisions first. Its more about the region than the house!

kerrybarling,
I can highly recommend gites-de-france. Older than AirBandB and much more reliable. We rented a house last June for seven of us for ten days in the Dordogne...4 bedrooms, 3 baths and loved it. Try them; they have chambres d'hote for one night and lodgings of many sizes all over France. We have used them for many years, sometimes for one night, sometimes just a few days, sometimes longer. I prefer them to VRBO also. (They have been around longer.) Take a look at the website and enter the area you are interested in.

As for areas to stay....With three months, I would opt for three places/areas. I love Brittany and recommend it, as well as Normandy...a good pairing.. A month in the Dordogne would give you lots to do there...and day trips or overnights to Bordeaux, Carcassone, St Emilion, Albi are very doable from there. Provence has so much to see I won't even try to make recommendations. See the RS book and this forum for ideas. Check the trip reports section for suggestions.
In Normandy/Brittany travel to and from London would most likely go through Paris. Ferries can be unreliable, especially in the fall and winter. To Provence or the Dordogne, the Eurostar from London could put you in Paris and there is a TGV to Bordeaux (for Dordogne) and several cities in Provence (e.g. Avignon).

How fortunate that you will have so much time in France! Bonne chance et amusez-vous Bien!

i'm not sure what culture you are wanting to immerse in if you are talking about smaller towns. And fall and winter makes it tougher. For example when we were in St. Malo in early spring, things like the boats that go from there to Dinan were not running as they only run in Summer. We took the bus which was fine, but the boat would have been scenic and fun. In the Dordogne the summer night markets are a lot of fun, but they are pretty much over in August -- we managed to locate the very last one the first week of September and it was great fun. There are snapshots of the last night market of the season in the Dordogne here. We did manage to interact with local ex pats at the night market.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/perfect-place-for-murder-commarque-chateau/
Big cities have high culture i.e. opera, concerts, museums etc. I am not sure what you would do in smaller towns to engage in local culture. there will be local markets -- in most small towns this is a half dozen vendors once or twice a week; there are some huge ones which are more interesting to travel to. But unless you bring friends with you there is no good way to socialize with others. In summer months it is fairly easy to connect with other travelers and perhaps enjoy a dinner together or whatever, but it is very unlikely you will have that experience with locals. ON the other hand, shopping for local foods and preparing them in your gite is a large part of the fun. be sure whatever towns you choose have good bakeries and a restaurant and cafe or two open in winter.

I don't know enough about France to give you an idea of where, but a good friend of mine bought an apartment in Pau and heads there for 3 months every February, March and April. They love it and especially the weather as they typically live in a northern climate. Evidently there are other expats there and she said it has a nice sense of community.

Pau is in the southwest near Lourdes and the Spanish border. You’d need to check for flights to England.

For English speakers, the Brits have been here for a long time but now Americans are immigrating in droves all over France. More first-year visas are issued to Americans than any other nationalities, including from former colonies.

If you want to impove your language, I'd recommend a week at the Ecole des Trois Ponts school in Roanne, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes. Its a small language school for adults, primarily catering for native english speakers. Its in the town of Roanne, which is sort of between Lyon and Vichy.

Ian

Apologies for slow reply after all your wonderfully helpful comments.Shame you can't just immerse yourself in planning instead of needing to deal with life commitments...ha ha!
Judy...thank you re gites. I will look. I take on board idea of 3 places each for a month. A few have suggested that so we will have a think. I didn't want to be packing up and traveling too often but yes makes sense too. Especially with time of year as janetravels says if things close. I knew it would be quieter which is ok but obviously want activities. And thank you ianw Will look at these language classes.
I will now try to be a little more specific in locations and explore suggested regions. Thank you all so much

I will assume that you will have the visa or Schengen issues in order by the the time you finish planning this multi-week stay in France., totally envious of that. If I had that duration , even just under the 90 days, say 82 or so, I would have no problems in deciding the singular places to be visited and staying in France .

Visiting and exploring smaller towns and villages certainly provides a good insight into the life in the varied regions. Work on the language skills , keep at it regardless of any frustrations or such trivial set-backs. It pays off.