moving, but to which region? help please!

hi, 
my husband and adult daughter and i plan to move to france in about 2 years when my husband retires. my daughter will either pursue another degree or teach english as a second language. we spent four and a half years living in germany many years ago and would visit france as often as possible. we know some regions, and in the last few years have spent time in the cote d azure, paris and brittany.
for the type of property we desire, the cote d azure, most of provence, and paris will not work for us. we considered brittany for a long time, but finally realized that as much as we love it, we do not think we could tolerate the amount of rainy days, windy days, gray skies and the inability to play in the ocean for most of the year.  we would like a climate with sunny warm to hot days and cooler evenings.
here is where we need suggestions and advice.

we would like to have a detached house on at least 4000sqm of land, minimum 3 bed and 2 bath. the location would ideally:

be within 30 minutes of a large town or small city where we could purchase necessities, have multiple restaurants, cafes and at least one patisserie, one or more market days.

be within 30 minutes of a coast, and much closer to a river or lake where we could swim and play in the not very cold water. being near a canal for bicycling and walking would be wonderful.

we would love a town or village where the local residents accept new people and where there is a sense of community, which we could hopefully add to in some way.

within reasonable driving distance to a university would be appreciated by our daughter and also an area with enough people in their late 20's and early 30's so she can make new friends and develop a social circle. my husband and i have each other and we know we will meet people once we move.

my daughter does not drink and i  lost my taste for alcohol, although once back in europe,  i will probably start drinking wine again.

we prefer the mediterranean diet with lots of vegetable dishes, we do love fish and shellfish, but our daughter does not eat pork or fish.
we are not particularly fond of heavy foods or many foods considered winter fare.

i know we have a long list of desires and of course we might not get everything on our list, but if anyone has ideas about what regions we should be looking at please share your thoughts.

we are not worried about our ability to move to france, that will not be an issue. it is just about where is the best place for us.
thank you, deb:)