My parents live in France most of the year. One of the issues is that if you don't sell up here generally home insurance will only cover absences of up to about 30 days at a time. They have two houses in France, one smaller with more land which they originally bought and a second, larger house with less land but with a pool. Originally they stayed in house 1 and let out the second one but TBH they found the rentals too much work for too little reward as they got older and now they live in the house with the pool and I suspect the original house is a bit neglected (I have suggested selling one of them but you know what people are like):-))
Also it is definitely a long term thing as there are punitive tax implications unless you keep it over 10 years if you are a non resident,.
If I did it it would have to be something like a lock up and leave apartment with a management company that did all the lettings etc, lower returns but not the hassle. Or live out there full time.
We went the all the eggs in the UK basket and bought our mad wild place. Not as hot and sunny but more relaxing - I could go to parents house but that would assume I can get time away from the duties here on the farm!