Do you like where you live?

[Me&Mi]

We're thinking of relocating to France later this year.  Hubby hopes to work for his present employer remotely.  Anyway, all we know is that we'd like to live in a smallish town or village.  We've 2 kids under 3.  I'd love to find out why you like where YOU live.  Thanks in advance.

[Tresco]

I like where I live because:

There is no 'routine' road traffic noise;

Several of the vignerons around us are 'bio', so there is less spraying of pesticides in the immediate vicinity;

My neighbours are friendly, (a stroke of pure luck);

I can get to one of three good sized towns within 20 minutes;

I can get to one of several airports within 2 hours at the most (for the furthest) and fly back with short notice. I've never needed to, but it's nice to know I could.

 

 

 

[Gardian]

[quote user="Tresco"]

I like where I live because:

There is no 'routine' road traffic noise;

Several of the vignerons around us are 'bio', so there is less spraying of pesticides in the immediate vicinity;

My neighbours are friendly, (a stroke of pure luck);

I can get to one of three good sized towns within 20 minutes;

I can get to one of several airports within 2 hours at the most (for the furthest) and fly back with short notice. I've never needed to, but it's nice to know I could.

[/quote]

Agreed on all that, except the vignerons bit.  It's not that I don't care, it's just that they spray and that's it.

Re the neighbours, I had a half hour 'gas' with Michel this afternoon (after he helped me and I helped him with some four-handed work) over:

• the (allegedly) former corrupt Maire
• Anglo - French swear words / phrases (brought about by cursing over the preceding heavy work)
• the weather
• when was I going to (finally) organise the tree-cutting that we'd agreed on?
• could I help him with his pool concreting in 2 wks time?
• how we were going to beat off the potential 'incomers' to our estate

........ and a bit more besides.   Priceless, and actually more like an hour than 30 mins.

Yes, I like it here.  Trivial, but no worse for that.

•    

[tenniswitch]

We don't live in France (nous n'avons qu'une maison secondaire), but we spend about 5 months a year there.  We love our area because:

It’s (relatively) “undiscovered” by tourists and incomers;

It’s a very beautiful and tranquil area;

The locals are very friendly and helpful;

We’re about 15 minutes from the nearest supermarché, 15 minutes from the nearest railroad station and 1 hour from the nearest airport.

 

(I have absolutely no idea why this is appearing in different fonts.)

[Russethouse]

But where in France are you ? I think the OP was looking for some pointers![:)]

[Tresco]

Pointers. Oh Crikey, that's a different matter altogether.

I have no little (or any) children here. If I did I would have probably wanted to be in a town too.

[TWINKLE]

S'okay........ask me again when the weather gets better[:D]

 

I'm 40kms from Toulouse (31) and 50kms from Carcassonne(11).  If we want to ski then we're an hour and a half from Luchon. The nearest beaches in l'Herault (34) are an hour and a half to two hours away.  Lovely Barcelona is only 3 hours away.  Lots of kids of all ages in my area.  Nearest indoor pool 30 mins away.  It's rather rural though and you have to be prepared to travel a bit for activities and entertainment.

[Gastines]

On our fourth house and this one our home. Only 5 mins from St.Malo which has loads of things in it's favour,including the walled town,dozens of restaurants to suit all choices and pockets,clean and well maintained, plenty of flowers/parking shops/beaches/countryside etc.etc Near to Dol/Dinan/Dinard/Le Mont and within reach of ferry port and Airport..Always something going on for families/children, if you want to join in. Where we live we can look out on fields but are 5mins to the nearest beach,close to one of the French villages of charm,around the corner to the Rance,next to a bird sanctuary,dozens of interesting and different walks. On the Facility front ,we are 5.mins from 4 bun shops/hypermarkets/schools/colleges/doc's/dentists etc etc. Basically a point worth making, although living in the countryside is most UKers dream, it is worth remembering that having facilities within easy reach is also a bonus,probably more so with children. Regarding neighbours,we have been fortunate that near each house we have had very good and friendly neighbours, and that can also be an advantage as you never know when you might need some quick assistance,plus the occasional aperitif/meal invite makes life more pleasant. Don't discount living NEAR a town/city.

Bonne Chance.

Regards.

[Cat]

I consider myself very lucky to have ended up where I am, although I had a strict list of must-haves when choosing my location, I can't help thinking that a lot of it was also down to chance.

I wanted a small, lively market town in a rural setting, near to railway links and airports, with a real heart or centre and enough local shops for day to day shopping.  I didn't much care if there were any Brits here or not, but didn't want to end up in a Brit ghetto.

I live in the Lot in south west France, there are around 1000 inhabitants in my village, 3 bakers, a butcher, a superette, twice weekly market, 3 bars, hairdressers, a restaurant, schools, 2 doctors, a nurse, a pharmacy, a campsite with bar and bistro, an outdoor public swimming pool and a few other businesses.  All of this means that most things that I need are a short stroll away, and that the village has a life, even in winter.  And yet if I walk for 2 minutes in any direction I am in open countryside.

The local salle des fêtes has gym, dance, judo and yoga classes in the evening, and there is also a hiking group, so no reason to be bored and lonely.  In fact my social life here is far busier now than it ever was in the UK.

One of the nicest things here is that the guy who runs the auberge is a real star, hugely welcoming, regularly putting on events to get people together.  Sometimes it seems more like a community centre.

The nearest largish town is 15 minutes away, with supermarkets, a small cinema and all the other things that are lacking in my village.

I would strongly suggest that you do your house hunting in the winter, and if you find something that you think you will like, you stay for a week in a local gite or B&B and wander around to see what's going on, what's open, how cold it can get, how many people are around etc.  If you find that you like it at its worst, you'll probably love it at its best!

[cooperlola]

It's quiet here but not too isolated.  Small town with little supermarket and a couple of banks 3k's away in one direction; our village with bar, baker, hairdresser, post office,grocer's and butcher's, a similar distance the other way - including our Mairie.  Friendly neighbours opposite.  A few Brit couples around if you care to seek them out but not intrusively British (and really, as said in another thread, whether you mix with them is entirely your choice anyway.)  Good network of chemins for walking/riding and a pleasant ramblers' group to share them with and make friends.  The Centre of the Universe (the Sarthe Motor Racing Circuit) within easy driving distance (abt 30 minutes) - and its lovely City of Le Mans - full of good restaurants, loads of big shops and things to see - to boot.  Slightly smaller market towns of Mamers, La Ferte Bernard, Alencon etc, also close. Beautiful rolling hills and countryside, open vistas and a noticable lack of light pollution at night resulting in stunning skies and sunsets/rises.  Loire Valley not too far away for some great days out.

[Will]

Nobody's going to admit they don't like it much, though, are they?

[Gastines]

Well said Will. If they live here they are hardly likely to admit it and if they want to sell, they definately won't admit it.

Regards.

[cooperlola]

Yes, maybe the o/p should read the "why are so many leaving" thread.  But I was being honest, really.[:)]

[Higgy]

It is nice to get the views of others who have made this move, but each and everyone of us are different, so the needs will change in each case.

Find out if you know where exactly you would like to live in France then make a list from ; Important must have ; down to could live without.   The TV programmes all state Research, Research, Research, seems very good advice.

Best of luck

Shane, Carole and Kai   

[Teamedup]

We wouldn't have built where we built unless we had liked it. We have over 2000 inhabitents now and it sounds rather like Cat's village. I wanted all those amenities when we were looking around and we have lots of associations in the village too.

However, we are just far enough away from proper 'life' for it to now be a right pain in the backside when we go out. Taxi's are too expensive and for all we don't do badly at all for public transport, it stops quite early on an evening. In fact going out is expensive as just a drink is dear, never mind the meal we usually have when we go out, and ofcourse one of us has to drive.

This village served us well for about 20 years, just time to move on now.

we're in the Rhone Alps in an alpine valley.

ps yet again, remember how much your cotisation costs will be if you are working from home in France. Does your employer know about this? Do you?

[Me&Mi]

Thank you all so much for your very insightful remarks.  Teamedup, this may be a silly question, but do you know where we could find out how much our cotisation costs will be by any chance?  The employer doesn't know about the move (yet!) and really all depends on whether or not they say "Yes".  So I need to find out about how much it will cost them.

Would still love to hear about why others like where they live(and of course if you let on whereabouts it is, that'd be really helpful :)).  Like the idea of being between Toulouse & Carcasonne although I went aupairing once in Luchon- Lasted 5(12 hour) days!!  I've been to Le Mans, the people are lovely there.  Been to Tours many times(people not AS friendly) and have a good friend living there. SIL lives in the Pyrenees(just realised I can't spell that!) near Ceret.  So we just don't know. The advice so far is great and I suppose I asked the question to bring up priorities for us.

Thanks for all the replies so far.  Will read the "why we're leaving" thread.

[Will]

If you are to be employed in France, then to comply with French employment laws your employer needs to set up a French subsidiary company (assuming we are talking about a non-French employer, if the company is already active in France then the employer should know all of this) which will issue your employment contract and be responsible for employer social security charges. You ask how much - the exact figure varies slightly according to the amount of your salary, and what you do, but typically the employer pays a sum equal to about 40% of your salary. You are responsible for the employee contribution, which is normally deducted from your salary before you receive it, and which amounts to about 20%. Note that this is the social security payment, you are responsible for declaring your income to the tax people the following year - there is no PAYE (yet). Although the system is that salary details are automatically sent through to the French tax offices so your form will arrive partly filled in - another reason why you have to work for a French company.

The alternative is for you to be self-employed, and negotiate a higher salary (or even the same salary as before with the added  benefit of working remotely) to cover the charges. Cotisations for self-employed work out at around 46% of taxable income (i.e. income less allowable costs and expenses). You can either register yourself as a business and invoice the employer, or work through what is known as a 'portage' company, that handles the deductions, helps with the accounts etc and invoices your employer. The portage company does take a fee but it can be well worth it if you work for a bad payer [;-)]

Hope that helps - if you do go down either of these routes, it's worth doing it through an accountant because getting it wrong can be pretty expensive and cause troubles later on.

And yes, where I live is perfectly pleasant. Pretty quiet, a bit smelly when the cows are out, but it's all good clean fun.

[Teamedup]

If it would mean a drop in income, maybe you should take into account that France perhaps isn't as cheap as you might believe it to be.

[Gastines]

I'm always amazed at the comparisons with the UK cost of living. I can only asume that it must vary considerably in different departments.If you calculate your outgoings in the UK, , I'm sure that you will find you get more and better for your money here,than in the UK. Otherwise a lot of us wouldn't be over here. Yes I agree that your personal  finances/income are a main consideration. No pleasure in worrying about money and bills all the time but I think a large percentage of us add into the equation the improved quality of life and what we get for our money. I was interested to read Teamed-up's remark about the cost of meals.. We lived in Bournemouth and the last visit to a restaurant, as a treat for daughter and granddaughter, we could only think of one place where we would get a decent meal.It cost £152, which maybe peanuts to todays earners but not to us. When they are over here on holidays,we treat them out all the time and can have a very good meal plus all the extras for 25-30 euros a head are spoilt for choice of where to go. Many Routiers doing a fantastic lunch for 9-10 euros.  I know your expenditure doesn't revolve around food and wine etc,. but if you add up the rates etc etc I'm sure you will be finacially better off. However, I wouldn't recommend anyone to move here if they are on a limited income or expecting to find legitimate work here. I suppose it all depends on your lifestyle in UK as well, many variables to consider.

Regards.

[TWINKLE]

My income has been the same for at least 7 or 8 years Gastines - but the cost of living has definately risen with no sign of salary increases in the near future for the majority of people earning a living in France.

[Gastines]

Twinkle. Yes ,I agree that seems to be the main problem,actually trying to earn an income/living here. Most of the French friends/neighbours we have had over the years ,all seem to do more than one job.As a family it seems more than one income is required. Farmers with their wife doing B&B or having Gites. Tradesmen who have to work weekends and again,wife working at a shop/school etc. Even couples we know who have what we would call a good home etc. seem to do a variety of jobs to make ends meet. It seems that times may be changing and that there may now be more state help,or not hindrance, to people wanting to start a small enterprise. We have a small,seasonal B&B that we run ,we still have to pay all the extras as we HAVE to register with the CDC. Most of the cotisations are a requirement anyway but as we are classed as self-employed ,we obviously come in for the plus's. However, peoples expenditure must relate ,to a percentage, on their lifestyle and as can be seen by the evergrowing debt problem in the UK, it seems that there are a lot of people who didn't bother with sums at school. The easiest thing to do nowadays ,seems to be to borrow money but they don't make you borrow it and you have to pay it back ,a fact some seem to forget.  Don't worry,I've made about all the mistakes possible in life but thankfully I don't owe anyone anything,at the moment.

Regards.

[Ormx]

me&mi,

i think we may have been chatting on another discussion board : )

we're living in Gers, 45 mins from Tarbes, 1h30 from skiing, 1h30 from the sea. Small village (2000 inhabitants i think) with schools that are delighted to see more children arrive. For us, with small children, walking distance from the town*, lots of associations, swimming pool in town, and playground are all invaluable. Being near the countryside is great. It's important for us to be able to do things we didn't at home like grow vegetables, wander around markets at children's pace, eat locally produced food. It's also important that children integrate, so we're happy that there are very few English children in our schools. a big garden is great too.

*one thing i regret is living beside a fairly busy road, i cannot let the children go anywhere unless i drive them. i'm sure this will change as they get older.

 

[Me&Mi]

Ormx, Hi there!

I'm not very imaginative when it comes to my username, am I?  Sounds like you live in a lovely place - you should keep it a secret unless you want us landing in your neck of the woods :)

Will, thanks for the information.  I was hoping  we could continue being taxed in Ireland(dual tax arrangement) and bring worldwide health insurance with us.  I know, I  know, it's not the right thing to do; especially as we'd have to open a  bank account, rent somewhere and pay local charges. I suppose we'd still have to pay the heafty social and pension charges.  OH earns 35000euro which is  not a lot for Dublin.  He works as an instructional designer(it's an IT job).  There is no way his company would fork out another cent. 

Out with the calculator I suppose! Thanks again for the reality check.  The best way to succeed is to prepare I suppose

[oliveau]

A few random thoughts:

Will cheap flights always be cheap? Usually better to have a car. so ferries/tunnel more practical except for quick trips

Brittany - Like Cornwall, including the weather?

Normandie - nice, but again, weather like England.

Head down into Sarthe - Le Mans & the weather improves

Deep south, Provence, Midi etc. Hot in summer. Long drive. Mistral in winter

Alsace and East - don't know

Charente - flat and boring [howls of protest arriving shortly!]

Dordogne - Full of Brits

Auvergne, Aveyron - Cheap but remote. Probably fine in summer, but what about winter?

Limousin: Cheap property. Limoges airport currently has routes to Southampton, Stansted & E Midlands. Good [free] motorway A20 Distance [Chateauxroux] c. 3hrs 40 from Caen + c. 1hr30 to Limoges.

Centre; Generally speaking the weather changes at the Loire. Ryanair fly to Tours from Stansted. Tours is c. 3hrs from Caen, but new motorways from Alencon - Caen will knock this down to c. 2hrs30. Also A85 E-W due for completion this year.TGV at Tours for Eurotunnel. Property prices away from Tours not to bad. 37 not desparately cheap, but 36 very rural and bargains still available. Pretty countryside.

With young children you must still have parents in the UK. You need to consider ease of access to/for them. 3 -4 hrs by car from Caen [6 from Dover] is bearable. 10-12 for the South isn't. But........

Once you live in France, it's easy to jump in the car & go somewhere else eg Centre - Provence 5ish hrs.

Visitors coming by air are a pain - insist that they come with their car by ferry/tunnel, or if they must fly, hire a car for the duration at the airport. If we have visitors who fly to Limoges it's a 2 hr journey for them, but 4 hrs for us, there & back - and you have to do it twice!

Don't forget - It's one thing having summer holidays, but living here is different. France has winter too!

Hope this helps.See also my thread 'Professional help..........'

 

Bonne courage, Peter

[Blanche Neige]

Apart from one or two sweeping statements [;-)]with which I would not agree Oliveau has made a quick summary of all you'll need to know [8-|]

Choosing where you would like to live is personal and the only way it can be done is by visiting the area and seeing / trying it for yourself.

 Bonne chance et bon courage[:)]

 

P.S.In the Saturday telegraph there were a few letters in the property section yesterday from people who have relocated abroad, pros and cons etc.. There was also a short piece about low cost airlines who decide to pull out of certain routes at short notice affecting those who plan to commute back to U.K. for work.