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How many /what percentage of contributors to this site live permanently in France


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I asked the question because so many people think France is brilliant, Its not I have lived here permanently since 1996

The winters are cold and the amount of time paperwork to do anything goes on and on Yes its a Great country but life is not that easy but no chance of me leaving happy to die here
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We knew that once retired we would return to the UK. And we did.

An interesting nearly 30 years in France, but I never fancied being there in my dotage....still, we may end up back in France what with Brexit, I'd prefer not, but would do as I did the first time and get on with it. I always do?

NB, IF we had been unhappy in France before retirement, we would have left.
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Permanently on the continent for 22 years and in France for 5 - can start thinking about a TdS permanent now.

Bought our house some 15 years ago and have probably spent more time in France than the average second home owner in the 10 years before the final move.
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I have lived here permanently since 1995.

There can be a couple of cold weeks down here but with the Mediterranean evergreen vegetation oranges and Mimosa the winters feel short.

I have no illusions about the country, certainly not the rosy-tinted spectacles of those who stay detached  from the reality insulated by money from the sale of a UK property and deaf of what is happening in a language they haven't mastered, but at the same time I see the system here as one that works for the French: parallel and neither inferior nor superior, just one that has evolved from different histories.

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Bought house in 1991 and moved permanently in 1996. Both children raised here from infancy. Selling current large house to move to a flat in Loire Atlantic.

Don't thinks any country is the paradise you think it is if you live there full time.
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Lived here half my life now.

I saw on the other forum that someone said that a local estate agent in the Dordogne was selling 3 houses a week to Brits. LOL

I bet most houses being sold were Brit houses.

Most moving won't last because they don't know France. Sooner or later they will go back much poorer than they arrived.

If they did know France, they would not move there. There is no point moving to such places. It just is not France.

Another year of merry-go-rounds and disappointment.

You have to move to France because you like France and like it for what it is. Most don't move for those reasons. They are escaping from something. If they think life is better in France, they are in for a big shock.

ALBF could live anywhere in France and enjoy. Well except the Dordogne.

It will all end in tears.

Anyway, off into Paris today.
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Bought 2005 after 25 years exploring the country. Avoided the usual hot spots and settled on somewhere south of Paris I could reach by car and where the people seemed nicest. Have not been disappointed. Initially it was a renovation project used for holidays but since retirement it has become a second home which might become the permanent abode, particularly if all goes titsup with Brexit. The locals already treat me as resident.
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Left the U.K. to work in Europe in 1986, bought my house in France in 1995, spending a minimum of three moths there every year and moved here full time over five years ago. I feel at home here, in Germany and in Holland. England is a foreign country that I visit for long weekends once in a while, the last time over three years ago now. I keep up to date with what goes on there in the same way that I do for the USA and Canada but have no desire to return.
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Moved to France 2000. Previously lived in Mallorca for 20 years, Sarawak 7 yrs, Algeria 2 yrs, Lebanon 3 months (didn't like bombs), Iran 3 yrs, Australia 3 yrs,  Travelled in Europe & Middle East for a while after leaving UK in August 1963.

We did go to the UK for 3 days in March 2009, to deliver and collect stuff, not much else to do there, stuck on 2 motorways, too much traffic and road rage, left and drove back to enjoy the journey through France.

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Bought a small bungalow in 1998 for retirement but returned to work for a further 7 years. Rented that property out, and on final retirement in Jan 2006 bought 2 nd house and have lived here permanently since then. I have made 2 return trips for family funerals, and at the moment have no desire to return.
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What idiot is messing about with the titles on this thread. Mmmm.

OK - I'm a sad Dordogneshire person and have owned long enough to realise that Les Anglais will never be accepted as true French.

How do you residents reconcile this with being permanent in France. Dont give the standard cr>p of the need to learn french as accents still remain no matter how "fluent" you are.

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Well that is quite easy Richard. You move to pro active modern areas where people don't give a tôss where you are from and would prefer to speak to you in English so they can practice their English. I have given up on speaking French. People want to talk to me in English.

It most cases, that is not rural France especially rural France that has become Brit ghettos.

And given what Macron has just conceded to the Chassuers, life will get worse.

But....nobody listens to my advice.
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OK ALBF - why then should people move to France (Paris). There are many better cities throughout the world.

Is it because its the nearest to Southern England?

NB I actually like rural but, hey, that is not the question - it is perhaps why urban areas are better in France than elsewhere.
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I don't live in Paris. Used to.

I love 'rural France'..... for holidays. You will never be accepted in rural France.

All our French relatives grew up in rural areas and now live in/on the edge cities. They would stick pins in their eyes before moving back.

Urrban areas in France are superb. But...houses are the same price as the UK.

Most Brits move to France for cheap houses. That is for sure. But it is false economy.
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ALBF says:

I love 'rural France'..... for holidays. You will never be accepted in rural France.

Funny that. I don't fall over myself to be "accepted" anywhere. If I am, I am. If not (insert Gallic shrug). However, having periodically been cornered for diacussion/debate on Brexit over the last couple of months by assorted French people, I've been told more than once that they'll gladly keep me here if it all goes Pete Tong. Then, this last weekend, I spent 3 days selling my work at the village fête alongside my friend who used to run the village bar. A few people - well, more than a few if I'm honest - made a point of saying that they didn't have a bad word for the local Brits and were pleased to have them in the village, adding that they'd met a fair few and found them all to be an asset to the place.

Given that my views on such things are generally more jaundiced than a very jaundiced thing, I was quite touched. Naturally, they could all have gone home and complained that they'd found themselves having to be pleasant to a bloody Brit, we'll never know. Mind You, all the Brits I know round here have taken a good 15-20 years to get to this point, so maybe its jyst your "never" that's a bit strong.
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Ok, after 15-20 years. I agree on that point Betty.

But if you move in retirement, you will be 80 +++ before being accepted. LOL.

When we lived rural it took a good 5-7 years before the neighbours asked us around. I am not sure they even realised I was British before that.

Rural France.....different country. It really is.

So question (which the OP brought up)....have you planned your space in the local cemetery ?

Fair question !!!

PS. OH whats us to be buried in her rural village and I want to be buried in our local urban town !!!
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But I was accepted, not overnight, but I was. As I am sociable sort of person, people would meet my husband and say to him, 'Ah you are married to l'anglaise', (or say my name). He is rather more discrete than I am.

And I have lovely, wonderful friends in my old french village. Doesn't matter that I am une etrangere, well as a conseiller at the bank said, 'non, Madame you are not une etrangere, vous etes anglaise'.

Still it would always depend where, there are places in France that I would never move to, ever. And there are other regions, where I could move to and just fit in again, no matter what. Making good friends means making an effort and making up a good circle of acquaintances also takes effort.

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Within the first 12 months of buying our house, we had 3 meals in French homes and were made completely welcome, even though we only spent a few weeks in France at that time. It's now a regular thing.

Perhaps it depends on the region but, as I said earlier, I chose this part of France because the people seemed nicest.

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