海角大神

Throughout France鈥檚 Dordogne region, dotted with ch芒teaux and vineyards, and home to some of the country鈥檚 finest delicacies, British retirees are living the European dream.

In the northern part of the Dordogne, Bernie Bannon is adding cement to the stone wall of the old barn he and his wife have renovated into a luxury home. Farther south, amid rolling hills, Ian and Julie Long, from Portsmouth, England, are searching for the right place. In the town of Eymet, where a third of residents in the area are British, the Caf茅 des Arts is filled with English-language banter of retirees drawn to a slower pace, more space, and a kinder clime.

But Britain鈥檚 choice to leave the European Union has clouded these retirement horizons. For all the impact that 鈥淏rexit鈥� has had on EU nationals residing in Britain, it has also thrown the fates of hundreds of thousands of聽British nationals in the EU into uncertainty.

Within the EU, Britain counts the most foreigners living abroad, according to United Nations population data crunched by Metrocosm. Among them are thousands of pensioners. Just like the Erasmus students who have turned European study abroad into a rite of passage, a generation of northern retirees in the past 30 years has taken full advantage of EU freedom of movement in the search for a better quality of life.

鈥淔or a long time there have been no real barriers for them to retire abroad,鈥� says Maria Casado-Diaz, an expert in retirement migration at the University of the West of England in Bristol. 鈥淣ow they are in the exact same situation as EU migrants in the UK, which is a heightened insecurity. A lot of older people in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy never thought they would have to worry about this kind of thing.鈥�

When it comes to settling in the EU, British nationals have chosen Spain (300,000), Ireland (300,000), and France (200,000) as their top choices. France鈥檚 Dordogne, a battleground of the Hundred Years War, is so popular it is jokingly dubbed Dordogneshire. The bastide town of Eymet, with its central market and half-timbered homes, is ground zero. The area was even chosen for a reality TV series on British expats called 鈥淟ittle England鈥� in 2011. Up to 10,000 鈥淏rexpats鈥� are estimated to populate this region.

Some here say they might have changed their plans to retire south had Brexit preceded their relocation. 鈥淚t might have done,鈥� says Adrian Cattermole, who runs the Caf茅 des Arts with his wife since their retirement here two years ago, 鈥渂ecause of the fear of the unknown.鈥�

鈥淏ut now we are here,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲e just said, 鈥榳e鈥檙e gonna stay whatever.鈥� If we have to become French, we become French 鈥� that is fine.鈥�

Not everyone is as blithe about it 鈥� currently because of the value of the British pound, which has slumped by 12 percent against the euro since Brexit.

鈥淚t is dropping like a stone at the moment,鈥� says Hadley Hasted-Holt of her pension as a court clerk. 鈥淲e are of an age in which we have put a heck of a lot into it. We prepared for it, and we paid in, and we took insurances so that we weren鈥檛 a 鈥榖urden,鈥欌�� says Ms. Hasted-Holt, who moved to the Eymet area five years ago from Cambridge. 鈥淎nd then all of a sudden, those who have paid don鈥檛 seem to get anything out of it.鈥�

Fluctuations have hit fixed pensions before, but Brexit brings unknowns: about visas, drivers鈥� licenses, and access to health systems. Fear has gotten the best of some as they anticipate what an official divorce from the EU will look like, says Roger Haigh, who represents the Dordogne region at the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry. A top concern for pensioners, for example, is their healthcare.

But he says those rules are governed by bilateral agreements that Brexit wouldn鈥檛 impact. 鈥淲e better get used to bilateral agreements,鈥� he says. 鈥淭o think the two countries won鈥檛 at one time or another agree on things is just scaremongering.鈥�

Still, uncertainty weighs especially heavily, says John Beynon, who retired in the Dordogne after moving for his job to France in the 1970s. 鈥淭hey have come down here just to settle down, get a pension check every month, enjoy,鈥� Mr. Beynon says. 鈥淎nd of course the older you get, the less you like uncertainty.鈥�

Many retirees in the Dordogne, like David Cowan, say they have no intention of leaving 鈥� especially because of Brexit. 鈥淲e do see a trend in Britain of quite a rise in right-wing thinking,鈥� says Mr. Cowan, who is president of South West Left, a local group of expats who are left of center politically. 鈥淭hat is not something I feel comfortable with.鈥�

At a real estate office off a main street of Eymet, agent Jane Seedwell is fielding a call about a possible home sale. She says she has received more queries from Britons wanting to relocate out of the UK since Brexit, far more than from those wanting to return home. In fact, for those here, anger at the UK has grown.

鈥淭here have been no moves to reassure those people who live in Europe,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t is almost like they are saying, 鈥榶ou decided to go, so tough luck,鈥欌�� she says. 鈥淭hey are the ones who changed the terms on us.鈥�

She says she doesn鈥檛 understand the anti-foreigner rhetoric coming from Britain. It makes no economic sense to swap people who want to live and work there, she says, with people like herself, who do not want to live there, or like her mother, who is retired and dependent on the health system.

In the end, she says, she does believe, as do Mr. Haigh and most Britons here, that common sense will prevail.

As Mr. Bannon puts it, employing a good dose of British understatement: 鈥淚 would prefer Brexit not to have happened,鈥� he says, shrugging as he steps down from his ladder. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 happened, so we must carry on.鈥�