Want move France, any mumsnetters in france?

[divamummy2]

Hi,
We would like to move France, DH got in position that we can live anywhere in EU, so decided France will be the most suitable choice.
DH thinks Bordeux area, where he is got friend. I dont speak French, but Dh got basic. We got dd 2.8y and ds 4m.
Have looked old threads, will go France and look for property. We think renting for the first a few months is good idea.
Hope to hear from other mnetters, got loads to ask.
Happy new year,

thanks castille. one last question - what does "Evidemment, son célèbre hamac est toujours présent et utilisable dès les 6 mois de l'enfant" mean?

"Evidemment, son célèbre hamac est toujours présent et utilisable dès les 6 mois de l'enfant"

Naturally, its famous hammock (fabric sling?)is still there, and can be used from when the kid is 6 months old.

"hamac" refers to the pushchair seat, if we're still talking prams here.

Hi, othersideofthechannel. Only just picked up your post, so sorry for the delay. Glad you like Burgundy . We live about 20 minutes from Beaune in the Cote D'Or. The vineyard views are beautiful ...

and the wine is great too!

wow, so many posts since my last one.thank you very much to everyone who posted
i have been hooked on property website for the last week. thank you jenpet
we are looking toulouse area, between montbauden and bordeaux. i quite liked property with two houses, but dh not keen on having holiday house near by. i really love the idea of running little business. i thought it will keep me busy and also as im sahm it will be nice to earn money.
i already started my efford to learn french. i highly understand speaking language is the most important thing.
i was wondering if we buy house from the expat websites, is there any advantages or disadventages? any experiences?
keep posting ladies

ok stop ROFL i meant that menu's were only in french as opposed to countries like Portugal where they are usually in 3 or 4 different languages.

am really not being sold on france especially in view of employment issues. we would have to work because we are both in our 30's and dd is only 3.9yrs.
we are both skilled/qualified in different things but really want to get away from the sweat and toil jobs over here

Othersideofthechannel, whereabouts in Burgundy did you do your year out?

glitter: it isn't easy to get work in France, and if you have your own business the government take away so much of what you earn. The average French salary is around 18,000 euros, so they earn a lot less than we are used to.

I'm currently back in the UK doing supply to supplement our French salary and to keep the wolf from our much loved French door. It's really hard being away from my 3dcs and lovely dh for 5 weeks, but that aside, I know for definite where I want to live - and it's not GB!

Hi TMD, I was in the Yonne, not far from Auxerre. I was an assistante in a college and lycee as part of my degree.

The employment market is really different in France. We waited until DH (he is French) found a job before moving and I have had to settle for less in both salary and job satisfaction than in the UK. But my boss has three young children and is very understanding when it comes to my parenting committments. Good job too with the unpredictble hours DH works.

Hi

I just wanted to add that Pau is a fantastic area, an hour from the beach and from the ski-slopes. It also has good and cheap flights back to the UK from Pau or Biarritz. I have 3 children here and have to say it is heaven for them too. However, I will say that finding work in general is tough in France apart from teaching English, which could be a good option for you?
Best of luck with it all

Hi
I am just outside Paris and have been here for five years.

Just wanted to add that I think the education system here is great just to contrast against ib who mentioned leaving France because of it.

They start Maternelle (pre school) early here in the year they turn three year but this is really like a big playschool. Once the serious stuff starts in CP (year they turn six) then things get tough in comparision to UK schools re homework and class rules etc. It could be considered strict and very academic (children can be belittled rather than praised to gain results etc.) Very different approach but not all bad and lots and lots of good too.

I would really recommend renting a while to work out where you want to be (ie no use trying to be rural people if you are not rural at heart) and what is important to you. ie close to work over friends/social life/city life etc. Good luck.

Hi everyone, Thanks again for the posts. Please keep them coming
I can see many people also planning to move France,so it should be very helpful.
At the moment im hooked on French property websites Is there anybody who renovated?[sp] property in France? I watched A Place in the sun last week and it said re-doing electric wiring whole house is 5000pounds It would be nice to hear from people who actually got experience.

Hi Diva, We have 2 weeks to go to our big move, getting very excited now!! We have bought a house, we waited until we got there as we were unsure about the websites as things can look so much better on screen than in reality.

We found an area we liked and went to the local auctioneers we bought off a French agency and found them excellent, we bought a house that just needs deocration, its has 4 beds with a basement to convert also, a nice sized garden with fruit trees, its in a village (which we prefered as we have 4 kids and I don't want to be isolated.

We went with the intention to buy a site and build but on getting there realised that it was a much more expensive option. The house we bought was 158 euro before auctioneers fee and we put in an offer way below at 138 and got it for 140 then we had about 7 k on auctioneers fees. So I would def advise you to put in a lower offer to start.

In regards to doing up a house I am not able to advise you on this as our house was just decoration really. But I do know that the old farmhouse, barns type houses are way over priced so be careful. We bought off an aucioneers called "chassemon immobilier"they are in a town called Saint Maixent Lecole check out their website they seem to reasonably priced. Its probably good to decide on the area you would like to go and then go there and source the local auctioneers out.

You can be really surprised when you are actually there viewing houses how you will begin to get a feel for what is and is not right for you. The day we found the house we liked it was the 5th of 6th I was very disheartened as the kids were crying it was hot and just felt we were on a wild goose chase! but when we arrived at the 5th house to view I at first didn't even bother to get out of the car my mom went in with dh and then called me in. When I got inside (despite the fact it was not lived in for 6 years and was like a (brocante) second hand shop full of antiques and bric a brac I just knew it was the one! and dh felt exactly the same. Also I had no idea of the price and was pleasantly surprise when I discovered that it was so good. So as I said things sometimes turn out not at all like you plan them from back at home browsing the web.

I would advise you get over there and get looking if you are really interested. We had a house in Limousin a couple of years back that we sold on the internet and it was on a very busy road but that was not advertised on the website!! We did very luckily sell it in just 5 months but as I say things can be so deceiving on the net.

Hope this helps you some bit. Send me your email add and if you like I can keep you updated on how it is going for us!! Sorry for the long post!!

My dh does quite a bit of property management - he speaks French like a native (I know loads of people say that, but he really does), and works with a team of French artisans acting as a linguistic intermediary between them and UK clients.

Often things are a lot cheaper here, although we have clients who priced up a kitchen in Ikea in the UK, and then found it was more expensive in the French Kiea .

But in general, because wages are so much lower, you won't be charges anything like as much in labour costs for re-wiring and stuff in France.

Oooooh I miss it!

One guy we spoke to about 2yrs ago said that 1000? per sq metre was a basic guideline for calculating renovation costs if you need to really do up a house (wiring, plumbing, etc).
Maybe cheaper in less extortionate parts of the country, and in areas where fewer foreign purchasers have been buying up property to renovate and thus bumping up prices.

Arent there lots of us in France?

AuldAlliance Bonjour ma cherie - I owe you an email.....

Hiya, I'm a newbie as I was browsing, reading this thread and couldn't resist joining and saying Hi to all you mumsnetters in the Poitou Charente area. We've been here since 1996 and here is near St Jean d'Angely in the Charente Maritime so often pop down to Ikea and Melles just down the road . We've got a very nearly 5yr old and a 2 n abit yr old boys. What do you all do over here ?

Is it a coincidence that it's a miserable January here and so many thoughts are turning to a move to France?!

We have just been given 2 months notice on our too-small UK house (rented) and can't afford to buy anything decent in this country. Husband self employed (could work from anywhere) parents-in-law live 35 mins from Beziers and we've often contemplated moving nearby.

Always loved holidays there, I speak decent French. 3 kids 8yrs, 7yrs, 2yrs. should we or should we not give living in france a try?? (in six weeks time we have to move somewhere...)

Will i damage the children irrevocably??

Why should it damage your children LuBenT? It's not a war zone
Living abroad is an enriching experience whatever your age and your children are still young enough for the change in language not to affect their schooling long term.

Hi Charente, I'm over here because I married a Frenchman!

I guess I'm just worried that we might change our minds, come back and we'd all be three steps behind where we are now.

Anyone else put their children into a foreign lanugage school at that age? Any ideas how long it might take them to get the hang of it?

Quality of life for children in UK just doesnt appeal at the moment (January-of course!) but does the grass always just look greener elsewhere...?

January in northern rural France is pretty hard work with the kids. We have a huge garden but it is completely waterlogged so don't go out there much. Might be easier near Beziers though!

There are lots of people of mumsnet who have put their children in other language schools, perhaps try starting a specific thread, either here or in language/bilingualism.

Of course you'd have to study the financial implications of the move but if your husband can work anywhere and you are renting, it's hard to see what you could lose (apart from the removal costs!) by giving it a go!

If your husband is self employed, the laws are very different here and the tax/sick pay and other depressing realitiess are just that - depressing realities. he will also need a 'siret number' to work for himself.

On the plus side, if you are lowish earners, your child benefit number will enable you to have very cheap very good quality childcare etc in the holidays (brilliant holiday schemes and camps) and the child benefit itself is I think, higher than that it the uk. Renting is generally cheaper as are school lunches etc.

BUT, big but, France is no longer a cheaper place to live than in the UK and the rules are tighter - no post dated cheques, unauthorised overdrafts (ever!) and french admin is a mare.

The school system is brilliant for some children and dreadful for others - generally v conformist. Private schooling is highly subsidised. Local village schools would be a good inroad into village social lifee/language for you and your children.

I live in South west France and love it - could never imagine going back.

I will have to contact the accountant!

Withouth wishing to sound naive, could we circumnavigate much Fr admin by living off savings for an initial six months? It's our company which makes income, not us personally at the moment. Wonder if this will give us breathing space as the move itself will be rushed.

From our visits I can see that the cost of living (food etc) is not significantly cheaper than UK but what we're hoping to get in france is more FREE fun in the better climate. Also, one doesn't get stung by the national trust just to park by a beach does one? or to launch a small dinghy?

Spot our bugbears!!!

Problem is they have just changed the system to stop people coming over and not working but getting the healthcare for free with the various E forms. You could get away with the E111 for a bit but not ideal with 3 children. Getting into the system isn't a problem paying for it is - costs a fortune to be self employed but saying that income tax is zero with 3 kids,(as long as you arn't earning mega bucks) so its swings and roundabouts - we are personally about the same financially tax/healthcare cost wise as we would be in the uk but lifestyle wise its a billion times better here and we are in soggy poitou charente too! But every time I walk out the front door with endless open fields infront and no neighbours within screaming child distance, I feel like I've won the lottery and I've been here 12yrs. Got loads of bugbears about french service (or lack of it), bureacracy, rubbish shopping (but we do live in the sticks) etc but I wouldn't swap it for living in the uk EVER.
You've gotta move somewhere anyway, take the kids off school for 6mths - don't say you are moving forever, put them in french school and have a 6mth 'exploration' of french life, houses, schools, business etc - call it an extended holiday (particularly if you can afford to do it) then make a decision after 6mths.

Charentemaritime, It's so good to hear all that from you! (Thank you all btw)

You've suggested really what we are thinking. We did the same seven years ago and moved to Sydney with a 14month old and me eight months pregnant (ie I had to ring all the airlines to see who would actually transport me!!), so surely 6 months in France down the road from the in laws cant be so bad....

There's probably a lot to be said for not telling people we're trying to go for any fixed amount of time- then there's no 'tail between the legs' returning.

BUT fair to put 8 and 7 year old into french school for poss only 6 mos??