Why the Dordogne is not a perfect retirement

I have been lucky enough to spend the last week with my family in this idyllic spot in the Dordogne. Perfect for a family holiday (this is the link if you want to know more!)

But we got to chatting to the owners, Rupert and Frank, and they mentioned in passing, “We know so many Brits who retire to this area – and they are bored out of their minds”.

You don’t have to retire to a piece of paradise to have the same level of boredom – when you retire, it’s not about the where.  It’s all to do with what you do there.

Retirement is a form of bereavement, but one that no-one talks about.  Overnight you lose your sense of identity, your social connections – for many, they fail to realise to what extent these are connected to your work – and, above all, a sense of purpose.  A reason to get up in the morning – other than a swim, lunch at the local café and time to read the latest Grisham novel.  Or whatever.

OK, so this is the downside, the warning if you like. 

How do you make a success of this stage of life?

The first thing has to be to find purpose. Easily said but for many, the hardest thing to do. If you are not sure where to start, I shared some thoughts in this blog about starting with a blank sheet.

One of the best starting points can be to help a charity.  Find something you care about, research the charity and see if you can become a trustee.  (This is not necessarily straightforward, which is why we are about to run a short series of webinars on what is involved and how to win your first role – the tips are helpful for getting both trustee and non-executive director roles.  More information here – Courses – Next-Up)

What becoming a trustee does

What becoming a trustee does is to fill so many of the gaps after work.  It gives you a sense of purpose in spades – I don’t know anyone who has become involved with a charity who doesn’t get drawn in to the issues, needing to understand more, finding solutions in really tough times).  But it also gives you new connections – not just to the charity’s network of employees, customers/users, suppliers, funders and more but also to your fellow trustees and their connections and networks.

It also gives you an identity. When you are working you don’t even think about ‘identity’. If someone you meet asks what you do, you just reply ‘lawyer’ or ‘I work at Asda’ or similar. It’s a non-event! But saying what you do when you retire is a mini-nightmare. People generally don’t want to say they are retired – it’s a bit of a conversation killer! – but how do you describe a life where you want to be working and doing things, but you are still trying to work out what that is and how to do it. Someone said to me, “I now take five minutes to explain what I am trying to do – I used just to say I’m a sales director”.

First step to building a new life

So if you want to get a trustee role as your first step to building a new life ready for – or in – retirement, or are just keen to become involved with a charity, then join our three-part webinar series starting on 30 June 2026.  We have experts sharing their insights and tips to help you and I am running a masterclass on how to turn all your experience into relevance for a charity or others.

              Click here to register Courses – Next-Up

And I should say, you can retire to the Dordogne, France or anywhere else that you have dreamed about and combine all the ingredients for success at this time of life – but you need to work at it. I recently shared my sister’s story of doing just this at the age of 70 – eight years later she is reluctantly selling her house and I posted about her story of reinvention.  You will see she thought hard about finding sense of purpose and belonging to the community.

Getting a charity role can help do the same – join our webinar to learn how to do this.