RELOCATING TO ILLE-ET-VILAINE FROM AUGUST 2008

[brown owl]

After thinking about relocating to France for five years we are taking the plunge and looking to move to Dept. 35 with a view to renting for a year to see how we get on before purchasing in this area. We have two children age 7 & 10, two cats and are non-smokers. I work from home online and have agreed with my employer that working from France will not be a problem, thereby giving that much needed regular income so hard to come by for Brits in a foreign land with limited language skills. Garuanteed Broadband connection is essential as is proximity to schools. Can anyone out there offer guidance and words of wisdom? Any areas recommended or ones to avoid? Maybe you live in this area: any regrets?

[Clair]

To comply with the non-advertising rule of the forum Code of Conduct, please

do not make your offers in open forum, but contact the poster by

clicking on the Email or PM button at the bottom of his post.

Posts offering accommodation will be removed without notice.

Thank you

Forum Moderating Team

[samdebretagne]

[quote user="brown owl"]I work from home online and have agreed with my employer that working from France will not be a problem, thereby giving that much needed regular income so hard to come by for Brits in a foreign land with limited language skills. [/quote]

Just wanted to make sure that you realize that even if your employer is in the UK, you will be required to register and pay taxes in France (which can amount to almost 50% of your income by the time you're through with social charges & income tax)....

[Benjamin]

Guaranteed Broadband connection..............as near as possible i e probably a town centre, to an exchange.

proximity to schools..............see the answer above.

In other words don't go looking at idyllic little cottages in the middle of nowhere; stick as close as possible to civilisation.

[brown owl]

Thanks for the tip-off. I will look into this further now.

[chessfou]

[quote]Guaranteed Broadband connection..............as near as possible i e probably a town centre, to an exchange.

In other words don't go looking at idyllic little cottages in the middle of nowhere; stick as close as possible to civilisation.[/quote]

Not necessarily. We live in a hamlet (only travelling shops) on top of a hill, 8km by road from the nearest town BUT we have broadband (along a neighbouring valley and then up the hill - opposite side from the road and just makes it).

When we first investigated the place, it seemed that there was no chance of broadband (all the "nearby" phone numbers I could find drew a blank when punched into FT's broadband searcher) but only very few numbers are served by the connection. So if you see your ideal home and you doubt that it has broadband, don't give up without making absolutely certain (I don't think we'd have forgiven ourselves if we had missed out on this place).