Chris

This might seem a really strange question, but how small a mortgage can one get in France? We have most of our capital for our hoped-for purchase, but might need say 40K euros maximum to make the purchase comfortably. I need to be able to cover this with an existing UK insurance policy, since I became an 'unattractive insurance prospect' after recovering from Something Nasty four years ago. People are keen to lend me a lot of money, but it could be more than I want or need (or afford to repay).[:-))] Any thoughts, anybody, please? Chris

Looking at moving to France without falling foul of new healthcare regulations, I need to be 'economically active'! I seem to remember hearing something about a special tax regime for 'artists' (including authors?). Anybody out there know anything about this, please? Chris P

Thank you, both of you - very helpful and practical advice. Chris

Hi, as a newcomer to the whole house buying business I've noticed a property at a good price but of breeze block construction. Is there anything special one ought to be aware of when considering such a property, please? Chris

I know all this is still very confused and uncertain, but what about those medically early retired and receiving UK Incapacity Benefit, ie unable to work, rather than choosing not to work. As I understand it, receiving this benefit gives entry to the French health system - will this no longer be the case?  If so, one way forward might be for my wife to start a small (tiny) business (selling the daily egg from our hen??) and cover us by paying the (fairly small) charges..or am I missing something here? Chris

Thank you for this helpful and reassuring reply, but sorry you have to write about your friend in the past tense. I realise it is a bit of a minority interest, but, although it is a personal inconvenience, being dead (which was the only alternative before me) seemed rather more inconvenient. Re your comment about being disabled, when I was responsible for introducing disability discimination rules in an organisation a couple of years ago I was depressed to find I had four 'official' disabilities at the age of 50! (Should make me unsackable anyway!)  We looked round the 12 people in the room and couldn't find a single one who wasn't disabled in terms of the Directive.

As far as I can tell, UK tax authorities say that if you grow plants in your garden and sell off any surplus you aren't regarded as 'trading', but you would be taxed on trading if you bought things in with the intention of selling them. Has anybody any experience of the French tax authorities 'line' on this kind of issue, please?

Difficult subject, this. Our holiday in France later this year will be my first time travelling abroad since having a stoma, and I'm wondering what others do regarding disposal to avoid having to cart everything back home. In UK I've been lucky with many disabled loos (especially in Service Areas) having clinical waste disposal, but can anybody with similar needs offer any reassurance about the same in Brittany?  Chris

Good idea, and if crushing the leaves isn't a realistic possibility, a quick pass with a strimmer will do the right kind of damage to allow the treatment to work. We are also trying this approach on a bank of wild garlic - the smell keeps those pesky unwanted vampires out as well!

Tricky, especially under shrubs. Trail out strands away from wanted plants and spray them thoroughly - chemical should be absorbed through bark as well as (especially the underside) of leaves.  Also, try mixing glyphosate with wallpaper paste (paint on not spray on!), or laying black plastic/membrane to exclude the light.  Chris Probert

Really interesting to read this new thread, since I had previously read somewhere that Incapacity Benefit was simply not paid if you moved, because there was no machinery to do medical checks for verification outside of the UK. My wife has been on this benefit for about ten years, and the thought of losing it overnight has been a serious negative against making That Move. Clarification would be welcome, whether in the forum or by PM. Thanks. Chris P

Wonderful to read this, as we were getting worried about bringing our (non pedigree, but very obviously) Staffie over.  He's so un-dangerous that the only thing he hurts is anything he sits on too hard - my wife is threatening to re-name him 'Caramel', 'cos she says he's brown, sweet, soft and thick! (The last only by comparison with our devious border collie).

Ah, found it I think: http://www.aspeco.net/francais/cadre02.htm

Thank you everybody for these interesting and helpful replies, much to think about!  We don't mind travelling distances to find something really interesting: in our last place we thought we were mad going 100 miles to a nursery in N.Wales after something special, until two men from BERLIN arrived with a hired van and a big cheque book, and proceeded to buy everything in sight!  One last question, please - is there a French equivalent of the RHS 'Plant Finder' out there?

The recent LF article on gardens in North France left me wondering where French gardeners get their interesting plants. I know there are some Garden Centres, but I'm just wondering about the French equivalent of the little local nurseries we have in England. Within ten miles of us here in Cornwall we have 5 such nurseries, some incredibly specialised (150 varieties of Crocosmia in one!), and all quirky and interesting.  Is there any equivalent in France - at least in some areas? (Which?)  If not, has anybody had experience of trying to start one, at least (initially) to serve Brits missing this aspect of home?  When we moved here from the Midlands we brought ten Luton vans full of plants (the old garden was being redeveloped, so we did a 'Horticultural Dunkirk'!) - will we have to do the same to stock our garden when we move to France? Chris Probert

I've always liked 'tidy desk, sick mind'. Chris Probert

I would expect the worms to do the digging in job pretty effectively for you - since much farmyard manure is full of weed seeds, I think covering it sounds a good idea!

I've always liked: 'if there's light at the end of the tunnel, it's probably a train coming'. My 97 year old father sums up his d i y skills with the verse: 'If all else fails, use b***** great nails'!

Very helpful , thank you - so there is an awareness and a monitoring process regarding water quality. 5 pints of water a day - strewth!  I'd better get in practice!

Very helpful, thank you, although it's disturbing to realise that levels in the water can fluctuate according to weather conditions. Presumably this means you could test the water before buying a property and it might be fine, then a month in you could realise you had a real problem. As somebody who has survived cancer once I'm quite keen not to spend my retirement imbibing carcinogens, especially as, for reasons of alternative plumbing, I need to drink 2 - 3 pints per day!  Drinking this kind of volume makes the wine alternative impractical, since I'd like to remember at least some of the retirement I've spent so long saving up for!

Sorry, arcane reference to when we learned Welsh in Coventry. We then moved to an area of Wales where they spoke a dialect unlike any other (known locally as the WES WES!)(they pronounced OES as WES) - we were greeted like Welsh-speaking Martians: when you asked for something the grocer would shoot into the back and look the word up in his dictionary. We adopted a border collie which had been thrown out by its new owner after he had tried to work it in the local dialect: dog responded perfectly well to us - it turned out that first owner (deceased) had trained it in North Walian forms of dialect. Dog used to responding to TYRD YMA baffled by DERE'MA, and unable to use dictionary to translate. Not a serious post, but I hope the original which started this thread wasn't too serious either!

Thank you for these responses. I was hoping to find an area  with safe(r) water to buy in order to avoid the problem, but it looks like I'd better buy my wife (a former chemist) her own testing lab when we get to France!

As my son says, 'beware of the Taffia - they'll make you an offer you can't understand'

I read somewhere that the tap water in parts of Brittany has been so polluted through intensive agriculture (Nitrates etc) that it isn't safe to drink. Is this still the case, or has the act been cleaned up? Can anybody say in which areas this problem might still be a cause for concern?  All comments welcome!

Not that complicated really, but I didn't want to go into specifics while some readers might be enjoying their lunch. When cleaning out the hutch, sweep the contents of the loo corner into a bucket of water, and leave to stew for a few days. Then pour down the mole hole. Mole exits, holding its breath until in next field or even county - we never had one return!  Added bonus, the magic liquid can be bottled and sold under the counter to discerning and deserving fellow gardeners at the village fete. We did have a cat who would sit by a mole hill for hours, carefully moving the soil to one side as it came up. Very effective, but always left the body where the mower would chop it up. Nice.