jim the drummer

Thanks for all your help so far. Seems that provision is a bit hit & miss. As has been said, a lot of research needs to be done. Thanks for the links, I'll follow these up & see where we are.

We are planning a permanent move to France and have a 9 year old son who has recently been diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome.  Our preferred region is to the southwest of Limoge. We have heard that there is skant provision in the French education system to assist with the additional learning needs of such children, but that this may be changing as the condition becomes more recognised in France.  Has anybody out there personal experience of educating an aspergers or autistic child in France? Are teaching staff sympathetic and trained in the techniques needed to help such children succeed and integrate? Or are such children largely ignored in favour of more conventionally able youngsters?

Hi Lizzy,  thanks for that, yes there are kids involved, (boys, 5 & 12) and one of the reasons for doing this is to give them a broader european perspective and a better education in a society that is not swamped by corporate america.  Being somewhere stunningly rural would be nice too.  On the b&b / Gîtes front we perhaps have an advantage over some of the hordes of wannabes, I have in the not too recent past owned and run a successful music pub with accommodation and food and I am looking forward to creating a welcoming ambiance for our guests. Its still scary though. But then it wouldn't be half as much fun if it wasn't.

We saw the Place in the Sun prog, it certainly showed the region in a good light.  We will only have the funds from the sale of our UK house and I am concerned that with the interest being generated we will be priced out before we have a chance to find somewhere.  Regarding additional income, I hold an HGV licence and people seem to think I play the drums pretty well ( 30 years pro & semi pro) has any body any thoughts if this will do the trick in the area.  e.g is there a live music scene and are there any hauliers I might pick up some casual work from

Thanks for those chaps, didn't know about the separate registration for caravans, but hopefully during the initial property search we can just be british groccles and regularise things later, and zeb, thanks for the contact, I'll give him a try.

Thanks Blackadder, we were intending to follow the "value added" route offering speciality breaks and trying to maximise on the natural appeal of the region, more or less along the lines you suggest. 

Has anybody any thoughts regarding Limousin as a prospective region to set up a gite/chambres d'hotes business? I know it's becoming a cliche but humour me I appreciate that there is wide diversity of landscape within the region and we will be careful to chose a property that has visual appeal and a good situation. Has anyone any experience of how popular this area is as a tourist destination and is there an over supply of accommodation with relation to visitor numbers?  Also where can I find raw data regarding visitor numbers and occupancy rates for this or any other region in france. thanks for your time and help, Jim

Hi all, the tribe and I are planning to sell our uk house and live in our touring caravan while we search for a suitable property for the ubiquitous  (it seems) gite/Chambres d'hote business.  Has anyone done this, and how does one obtain valid motor insurance while having no fixed address?  jim the drummer