Lulubel

I'm looking at buying sat nav for our first trip to France later this year.  (My partner can't tell one end of a map from the other, and driving and map reading at the same time is hard enough in the UK, driving on the left side of the road .....) Can anyone tell me which is the most reliable in terms of giving useful directions in France?  We used TomTom at the place I used to work, which was pretty good most of the time, but I can still remember a few funny moments when it tried to send us through a gate and up a bridleway.  I'd really like something that at least sends us along the roads, and not right through the middle of every major city we come within 10 miles of. Any suggestions?

If you can find someone, employing a local carpenter to make the kitchen to your specification could prove to be a good (and fairly economical) option.  The small carpentry firm I used to work for (in the UK) did "bespoke" kitchens starting from a few thousand. Prices can vary hugely depending on the materials used.  If you want all the units made from solid oak, for example, the price will reflect the cost of the material, but if you choose pine, the price will be much lower.  We compromised when we built our kitchen, and have painted pine units with solid oak tops

I hope this is long enough to count as "long term", since it doesn't really feel like it to me, but it's longer than a normal holiday let. We're looking for somewhere to spend 2 months (October, November) this year, to spend some time and get a feel for the area before moving permanently in the next year or so.  Regions that we have considered so far are Brittany, Poitou Charente and Limousin, so anywhere within those regions as a base would be great, or possibly neighbouring regions as well.  We don't really want to go much further south because it will be the first time our cats will have been to France, and we don't want the journey to be too long for them. We have 2 house cats, who will be travelling with us.  They are well behaved, as long as your house doesn't have fitted carpets or wallpaper.  (If you have wallpaper that you'd like stripped in preparation for redecorating, however, one of our cats would be very willing to make a start for you!)  They don't claw anything else, and we would bring our own bed linen, and throws to protect your furniture. We will need broadband internet access at the property because I will have to maintain my business while we're away. Open fires are not an option, but wood burners are great! I realise this is quite a specific list of requirements, which is why I'm posting here before I start searching through the holiday ads and contacting owners. Location could be a small town, village or even quite rural. I hope you can help. Louise

[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"]If you're looking at moving your businesses to France I'd suggest that you start by watching all the videos on this site: http://thenakedaccountant.wordpress.com/10-questions-to-start-up/ They'll give you some idea of what you're up against and what your options are. Last year I got Lisa to do me some comparative figures for different types of set-up and they really helped to clarify the effect on the bottom line.  [/quote] Thank you.  I'll watch them tomorrow.  (Have to be up for work at 4am, so need to start winding down now.)

[quote user="andyh4"]  No actually with just a small business you might find the impact is enormous.  Even with a moderate business expect outgoings to the government and other bodies to be up to 60% of income.  With a small income outgoings can be more than income. [/quote] I'm still not sure that I understand this.  Everything I've read online about the different types of business has stated the ongoing outgoings as percentages.  I will have to do some more research.

Hello, Ron Yes, I understand that.  It isn't a problem.  We're not talking about huge amounts of money here, so the effect will be relatively small.  I also have plenty of opportunity to expand my business when I'm no longer working in my full-time job and have more time available, so we'll probably end up better off in France.  The only reason I'm keeping the job at the moment, and not concentrating full-time on the business is that we may decide to go the mortgage route, and it will be far simpler to base that on income from employment. It might sound as though we're pretty well off here, but we're not.  I'm talking about buying a small house in Creuse, Deux-Sevres, or one of the other least expensive Departments that will probably still need some work even if we go the mortgage route.

Thank you for your reply, tj We definitely don't have it all.  Yes, we're comfortably off, but we still live in a rented house that we could be told to leave with 2 months notice regardless of whether we pay the rent or not.  It doesn't make for a settled feeling. We will definitely continue our existing businesses in France. What do you mean by best locations?  I see a lot of good locations to build here in the UK (with prices way out of our league, I might add), and I understand the UK is far more densely populated than France.  But perhaps our requirements are less than most people's.  All we want is a little house in a rural location where we can enjoy our main hobbies of walking and cycling.

It sounds like I've done my training for French driving in west Cornwall. Roundabouts were only introduced here a few years ago, so most drivers just seem to do whatever makes least sense.  As far as I can gather, indicators were also only introduced in recent years, and most drivers are still trying to work out what that stalk on the steering column is for. The funniest thing I've seen was a driver approaching a roundabout with exits left and straight ahead.  She was signalling right, and proceeded to take the first exit off the roundabout, then take the first turning on the right.  No idea that she should signal for the roundabout at all.

I posted here a bit last summer about our potential move to France, now hopefully in a year or so's time. We haven't managed to get over yet to start having a look around because my partner's business really took off in the second half of last year, and she's been phenomenally busy.  Plus, I decided to start a business alongside my full-time job back in October, and that's keeping me pretty busy as well.  The good news is, the money is coming in at a good rate at the moment, and our initial plan to rent has turned into a possibility of buying. Of course, it isn't exactly like winning the lottery, so there are some limitations on us ..... We're currently weighing up the pros and cons of buying a plot of land with CU in place, applying for detailed planning permission and building as the funds come available.  Or buying a building to renovate, again as funds are available.  Or finally, applying for a French mortgage in my name, based on the income from my full-time job, and buying a house that's immediately habitable. Can anyone who has done any of these suggest some pros and cons? Building and renovating seem to have the same disadvantages of either being at a distance while contractors do the work, or renting nearby for the duration.  I'm confident of my ability to keep bringing in the money to pay for the work, even in the current economic climate, so that isn't an issue.  But obviously, giving up my full-time job and then having to rent in France will reduce the amount of available funds. Would we be able to live in a mobile home on the plot while the work was being done? We're also considering an eco-home, mostly built by ourselves, and I've ordered a copy of La Maison Ecologique to find out more about eco-homes in France.  (I'm aware that some work, such as electrics, has to be done by registered professionals.)  This would save dramatically on costs, and is my preferred option because it's a dream for me to have built my home with my own hands. The option of buying a home with a mortgage is probably easier, and I don't think there would be any barriers in my case.  The amount we would want to borrow should fall comfortably within the one third of gross income that I've read about, if I use my job as income source, say it's a holiday home and that my partner pays all the bills on our current home.  My bank account is very healthy, and shows a steady flow of money through it.  We would be looking at a maximum 60-70% mortgage, probably less. I assume there's nothing the lender can do if you choose to leave your job shortly after getting the mortgage and buying the house, as long as you keep up the repayments?  We would also be looking to pay off the mortgage early. My gut instinct tells me to buy the land, follow the dream, and don't get into borrowing territory (borrowing not being my favourite thing), but there are probably a lot of things I haven't considered. Does anyone have any words of wisdom for us?

I've just had a look at the Rosetta Stone website, and that looks quite interesting, especially the 12 month online subscription (a much cheaper option than buying all 3 levels, if you can get through them all in 12 months). I'd seen the Michel Thomas CDs on Amazon, and noticed they were very popular.  It's nice to hear from someone who can confirm they're good. My nearest library is pretty useless as far as languages are concerned, but it is very small.  I'll check out what's available in our nearest bigger town next time I'm there.  It probably has a better library. Thanks.

[quote user="cooperlola"]Lulubel, I know absolutely nothing about running a business in France, but the cotisations question comes up a lot on here (there are a variety of ways to set up a business - each of which appears to have its pros and cons in terms of how much the cotis are) as people struggle to decide which is the best route for them so you could do a search.  But this thread: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1237524/ShowPost.aspx is a good example of what I mean! [/quote] Thanks for that.  It makes interesting reading.  I'll take my business questions to the relevant forum because they're starting to get very complicated now, and I don't want to fill this thread with unrelated stuff. Someone mentioned not looking north of the Loire if we want "decent" (according to our definition) weather.  Where does the Loire actually go?  And is Poitou-Charentes too far north?  (I'm getting an interest in Deux-Sevres, and thinking it would make for a shorter journey time for our first trip than Pyrenees-Orientales.)

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]Near a largish town you you probably be ok but no certainties.  You need a phone number to 'plug in' to get the speed so you could use a shop or business near to where you had in mind or use the 'white pages' to find a neighbour with a phone and use that. Not guaranteed to be entirly accurate but you'll have an idea.  The replies are very easy to understand. by '8Gb' I assume you mean '8Mbit' You'll be dancing in the streets if you find more than 2Mbit in most places!  I'm 40 Kms from Calais and would be struggling to get 400Kbit [/quote] Yes, I was getting my Ms and Gs mixed up!!  Those numbers are quite shocking.  We're getting "up to" (the magic words ISPs use) 8Mb at the moment, and we still complain how slow it is at peak times.  We'll have to test it out by using internet cafes (assuming France has them), and if it's too slow I guess we'll go for satellite internet.  It's a bit of an expense, but at least it's a business expense.

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]You also dropped in those magic words 'online'  I kind of assume a broadband internet connection is essential for your business.  Bear in mind that it isn't available everywhere in France by any means and even where it is, it  can be very slowwwwwww. Might be worth checking out speeds with SFR for example when you find an area you like.[/quote] Yes, that's really important to us.  I guess I was just assuming that as long as we're fairly near a town we'd be OK, but that's obviously not the case.  I've just looked at the SFR website, and my limited French has got me to a page where I can test my line to find out what offers are available, but that relies on me having a French phone number (and probably better French to understand the answer, unless it's as simple as "8Gb", for example).  Can anyone provide me with a link to check by area?

[quote user="cooperlola"]To get the kind of weather you're describing, you can certainly pretty much write off anywhere North of the Loire Valley for a start.  Although the summers are a little warmer and longer here in the Sarthe, the rainfall is pretty much on a par with the South EAST of England - ie less than Cornwall for sure, but not exactly dry! [/quote] That's really helpful.  Thanks. [quote user="cooperlola"] It looks to me from your post that you are planning to run a business in France.  Those on here who do so estimate that you  lose around 50% of your profits in social welfare and healthcare contributions (known as "cotisations") so a bit of research into this might also influence your decision a little. [/quote] That's also useful to know.  How do they calculate profit in France?  (I mean, is it what's left before or after you deduct your own salary? Or are "profit" and your personal salary considered the same thing?)  We already do all we can in the UK to keep as much of our money as possible, but I think achieving the same thing in France will be a steep learning curve, and probably require the services of a professional, at least until we work out what we're doing.

[quote user="Baz"]It is really essential if you do not speak French to learn the language before you go as it will be extremely difficult to integrate with out it. If a French job is part of your plan you will need to choose your location with extra care as unemployment is problem in France and fluency in the language will almost certainly be essential. [/quote] We've already thought about learning the language, which is very important to us, and plan to be as close to fluent as we can be (without living in France) before we move.  I may be looking to get a job, and hope my PCV (bus) licence will be useful to me if I do, although we're hoping our business will support us.  (It already does in the UK, but we're both working as well to save up as much money as we can to pay for the move and transition period.)  If I do have to get a job, I'm hoping it won't be within the first year because we'll have enough savings to make up any shortfall in income, and by that time I will have had plenty of time to practice speaking French.

Thanks, Cerise.  Our plan was to make most of our visits out of season anyway, mostly for practical reasons, but also for the reasons you suggested.  (We always travel with our cats, and it's easier to have cats in the car when the weather's cooler than in mid-summer.) Our hobbies are really quite solitary.  We like doing things together and, since rising fuel prices have made us cut down our car use, we don't go outside our own town and surrounding areas much, unless it's within cycling distance (which means we mostly walk, cycle and go to local and village events).  We have a few friends who we see now and then, usually for dinner and a couple of bottles of wine at each other's houses. The only practical things I can see on your list that are hugely important are a post office (our business relies on posting things worldwide) and vet, although we're prepared to travel pretty much any distance for a good vet, regardless of the cost.  The only time either of us is likely to visit the doctor or dentist is in an emergency, and we do all our banking online.  We already try to shop locally as much as possible, and eat regional food that's in season. We'll certainly be taking all our holidays in France from now on - the only thing that's holding us back from starting right away is getting the cats legal to travel.  But at the moment, we're barely past the "sticking a pin in the map" stage, and we don't want to start visiting places that are definitely not what we're looking for because checking out the whole of France will take a good few years, and we'd like to be moved before then.

My partner and I are considering moving to France - considering pretty seriously - in a couple of years time.  The only time I've ever set foot in France is when we walked across the border on an Italian skiing holiday, and the only times my partner's been to France are a few camping holidays as a teenager.  But we feel it's time for a change, we're already as far south in the UK as we can get without falling in the sea, and we're always prepared for new adventures. We're currently at the stage of poring over maps, studying regional and more local information, and trying to make a list of requirements, so we can make a list of places to visit and find out if we like the area.  I'm hoping if I post a list of our requirements so far, people who are already living in (or regularly visit) France can suggest areas that might be worth investigating. Large village/small town location.  (We currently live on the outskirts of a small town - parish population around 3000 - and it's perfect.) Beautiful countryside.  (The far west of Cornwall is a mixture of pretty farmland and rugged coastline, and we love it.)  I love mountains, but wouldn't want to live too high up because of the cold.  We also do a lot of walking and cycling. "Nice" weather.  It needs to be mostly better than here.  (It doesn't get particularly cold here, but we can get days at a time when there's no hint of the sun, and that really gets us down.  It can also be quite wet.)  My ideal would be lots of sun and a short, bright winter, even if it does get cold.  Cold and bright is better than wet and foggy. Community.  We're not worried about access to city facilities, such as high level arts and shops, but we do love community events such as fetes and festivals, and access to the work of local artists and crafts people. I've been looking quite carefully at Languedoc-Roussillon, most particularly the Pyrenees Orientales because it seems to satisfy most of our requirements so far (at least on paper), but I'm sure there are other places we should be considering, so if anyone has any suggestions, they would be much appreciated.

My partner and I are considering moving to France in a couple of years, and we want to get a good head start on the language.  So far, we've both done GCSE French a "few" years ago, but we want to be able to communicate fairly comfortably by the time we get out there, and be at the stage of what I call "thinking in French", without needing to mentally translate to and from English. I work shifts, so we can't commit to local courses, and we haven't managed to find a native tutor here in the far west of Cornwall, so we've been looking at home study options.  The most interesting option we've found so far is Linguaphone Pro, which is expensive, but seems like a pretty good deal if it really takes you to degree standard.  Does anyone have any experience of this course, or can anyone recommend any alternatives for home study that would get us to the same point (or further)?

This is my first post here, and just wanted to say regarding the kids being bored, I think it depends a lot on the kids, and what they're used to.  My brother and I grew up in Devon, in the middle of Exmoor.  No buses, and our parents were too busy to drive us around.  There were fields with hedges, woods, rivers, and we had bikes.  We were definitely never bored!!