To move to France?

[FasterThanASnakeAndAMongoose]

Dh has the opportunity to transfer to the French office of his company. It's in a nice bit of the south of France.

We have 2 dc (7 months and 2yo). I am on maternity leave from my teaching job. I could potentially find work teaching in France (I have a French degree and am bilingual). Resettlement package is good. We could rent our house out and rent over there while we decided if we wanted to make it permanent. Kids could grow up bilingual. The lifestyle would be great. We could go skiing at the weekends and drink wine and go to French supermarkets.

On the other hand...

Dh doesn't speak a word of French. The company does all business in English but he'd still have to learn if we were living there. I could teach him though, and work would also help with tutoring.

Our life here is really good. We have loads of friends. We've just spent a fortune renovating our house - much more than we would have if we were going to rent it out. We're in the catchment for the best state schools in our town. Our families are all within a few hours drive. Parents are getting older and might need us more (although they all think we should go). I'd have to give up my job which I love.

We would initially go for a couple of years, but even that would be such an upheaval. My job would be gone, we'd miss the school application process for our eldest.

I think it could be really great but I'm also completely terrified at the thought and feel so sad at the idea of leaving our life here behind.

Has anyone done this? Any regrets or tips? Should we just go for it? I don't know what to do.

Are you my mum forever? That's basically what she said

I'm questioning it for all the reasons we've been discussing and those in my OP. There are lots of things to consider - this isn't the time for a snap decision!

Very wise Faster this type of decision is best made with all the facts at your disposal.

When we made the decision to move to France it was with a lot of assumptions about how France would work in the same way as the UK, we have learnt to our cost that it doesn't. It might be close but cultural it is very different.

It takes years and years just to learn how everything works here, learn the system and the complex procedures for doing simple things.
That doesn't mean that France is a bad place to live, far from it. It's different.

The principle of going I agree with –as people have said, you can always come back.

Personally I wouldn't go to France, specifically; the burkini ban/intimidation on beaches etc has really turned me off the place. I think the UK at the moment is pretty unpleasant but we're not (yet) at the stage France is.

I love living in France- been here 12 years now and am totally integrated (did a Grande Ecole which helps enormously!)

Agree with PP that you really need to research what qualifications are needed here. That's a huge bugbear of mine - your masters and grande Ecole follow you forever more regardless how much experience you have.

My DS is in a private Catholic school and I have to say it is fantastic. I had my reservations but he is blossoming.

Agree with PPs too about making non expat friends- not very easy but it might not be helped by the fact both French DH and I are very introverted! There seem to be big groups of friends at the school gates for example. Ive also had no problems chatting to mums in playgrounds and have even made 'friends ' with some I see regularly.

After the Tory conference coverage this weekend I would get the fuck out while you can.

This thread on the EU ref forum is an excellent guide to all that's going on politically right now.

I'm a bit late to this thread, but just wanted to say- don't over-egg the "growing up bilingual" bit for the children. They are very young and will only be around two and four years old when you come back; at that age, they'll forget it all unless you put in the effort for considerable on-going exposure to French when you return.

I've lived and worked in three European countries over the last 15 years. I arrived in each one without knowledge of the language. After lots of frustration, embarrassment and effort, I now speak two languages fluently. The fact you already speak French is pure gold and puts you in a great position. If you do go, make your husband gets a private tutor paid for by his work to come to his office for lessons as often as possible.

Living abroad has been given me a full and rewarding existence. At times, it has been lonely and frustrating, especially at the beginning. But, overall I feel I've made the absolute best of my life and of what the world has to offer.

In terms of personal growth, I like to think I'm more open, confident and stronger than I ever would have been if I'd stayed in the UK. Nothing material could be equal to value of the great life experiences I've been lucky enough to enjoy. Learning to do the smallest things, communicating and making friends in another culture can be hugely challenging but once you make it, the feeling of achievement is huge and puts a lot of other things into perspective.

For you, it's not an easy decision. I left the UK with very little and after all this time, I'm still homesick. Having lived all over the place, I still consider the British to be the most tolerant, open and friendly people in the world and I miss the laughter and humour so very much. But it's pretty easy to get back and social media means it impossible to not stay in regular contact.

A good place for more info is the France forum in Britishexpats.com. You'll see quite a few UK families who post questions about moving to France - often without knowledge of the language, jobs or any clue about where they want to live. They are usually given the low down pretty quickly from expats who've been there a while and strongly believe that moving to France with limited language knowledge is asking for trouble.

Good luck with your decision!