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Re: Why Did You Relocate to France?


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A basic question, but important for those thinking of relocating, permanently, to la Belle France.

Why did you relocate? What attracted you to the whole concept?

What are you glad to have left behind?

If you could put the clock back, would you take this Quantum Leap step, again?

Very interested in the responses to this one![blink]

 

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Hello,

 I met a French girl at a cycling concentration here.

4 years later we are still together.

It has not been easy for me but I have had the love and support of a remarkable native family.

I never would have moved here otherwise and had no desire to live in France previously.

As it is my lass would like to move to the U.K to try life there.

If and when we return to France we shall choose a place better compatable for each others work needs.

Very rural areas are a big No! Tranquil, quiet, even idyllic but a nightmare to find work for the young.

Retired persons and those of independant means may live where they choose but for the young earning a living often requires a serious population nearby.

 The solution for many Brits may be gites and self employment but this is a rather hackneyed idea and is less and less succesfull.

My own entreprise being seasonal and so I must find work for at least 4 months of winter.

 Upon reflection... it has been an adventure so far...

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I believe that like many people who live here now, the moving permanently bit comes after a few holidays, then the leap to a holiday home, then when you get to know the area's a bit better,the permanent move. Add into this equation  that 15 years ago many builders etc had spare cash and you could buy a ruin for £15-20 K it progressed from there. With the property boom,we saw a terrific rise in the price of our main asset, but couldn't spend it and if you relocated in UK you ended up with like for like.The only people gaining were the Estate Agents/Solicitors and good old Gordon Brown. Another add on being the serious decline in the UK of all services, the rise in crime burglaries/drugs/muggings etc.etc.

As Ty stated above the main thing to consider must be your personal finances. Very difficult to get LEGAL employment here,the social charges are slightly higher [I say slighly as I always consider my Council Tax etc in with my social charges when comparing with here,Brittany ] The life style is better if you find an area that suits you,town or rural but remember if you live in a busy town and move to a rural area because you crave to grow your own veggies on your own land,, that the life may be a bit quieter.

One consideration for us older folk [not an OAP but not far from it ] is to know that you have got a Doctor/Dentist/Hospital within easy reach, nearly as important as having a local bun shop.

Regards. B&B St.Malo   ourinns.org

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[quote user="Gluestick"]

Why did you relocate? [/quote]

My husband begged me.

[quote user="Gluestick"]What attracted you to the whole concept? [/quote]

My husband lied to me. He told me that Winter lasted 4 weeks.

[quote user="Gluestick"]What are you glad to have left behind?[/quote]

Only traffic noise and litter.

[quote user="Gluestick"] If you could put the clock back, would you take this Quantum Leap step, again?[/quote]

Yes, but clearly I am easily duped. [:D]

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Thought the grass was greener and from our point of view, it is [:D]

But we are lucky not to have a mortgage and have retired with enough money to get by and I think from previous similar topics that this clearly makes a big difference to how one views France.

 

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Why did you relocate? What attracted you to the whole concept?

George Bush is NOT the French president (or resident, as we like to say in the U.S.)

What are you glad to have left behind?

See above! Actually, as we lived in Los Angeles: Traffic, pollution, people being too busy to have a social life (at least our friends were that way), traffic, the local so-called news, traffic...

If you could put the clock back, would you take this Quantum Leap step, again?

Yes, but wish it would have been sooner; although having broadband made it possible for us to do now, when it would have been difficult even a few months earlier.

PG

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We just got bored on living in central London. We have also lived in a few other places (North Africa, The Middle East and the Caribbean) but settled on the South of France....because my wife said so. can there be any greater reason than that?

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Tony Blair, Tony Blair, Tony Blair - plus more violence, even in a small market town like Northallerton.  More rules and regulations in OH job, working with young people and not being able to tell them the realities of life.  Not being able to retire, but did  (at the age of 52) and husband at 59 becuase of mortgage, council tax, ect ect.  Sold house, bought house in France, left with some money, no mortgage and small pension to live on, not exist on.

Seemed good to me, still does!

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Much the same sort of reasons as the other folks. Work no longer viable because of age / health: realisation that it was financially viable: if you're going to re-locate, why not to somewhere you'd like to live?

Knew the general area, researched it, recce'd it, and were lucky to find a good property.

Glad to have left the traffic, the variables of the weather, but not much else. We prefer to think in terms of the positives here, rather than the negatives of the UK. Over here, climate, never felt healthier, genuinely friendly people, affordable, a different lifestyle after 40 yrs of working life. It's not a crime and one doesn't have to apologise for doing it. 

There are infuriating things of course, but you'd be naive not to expect some. You need to step back, shrug your shoulders and tell yourself that there's always tomorrow. Business life was never like that.

Friends ask, "When are you coming back to the UK for a visit?" or "When are going to go on holiday?"  The answer is "Why?" 

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Old enough to retire (almost, still have a business in UK but don't work March to October), young enough to enjoy it seems to sum it all up for us.  Bought a house and garden we would never be able to afford in the UK with money left in the bank.

Lifestyle change after working in London/environs for all our lives, room to think and to move around, less traffic, less pollution.

Not all roses, flooding after 8 weeks saw to that but that's all sorted now but took a year, huge garden to work in/on, new kitchen almost installed, different challenges.

Lots of new friends of all nationalities.

And there's always tomorrow if we don't do something today, another lunch to eat in a resto we haven't tried yet.

All we really miss is the London arts scene, NFT, theatre (long drive for anything like that where we are) but apart from that, life changes worth every day spent at work.

 

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Hello,

 An observation...and I am not having a pop at any-one here.

Talking to 'some' people here I find that they have sold up in the U.K and moved here on more of a whim than any real desire to better their lives. Arriving ill prepared for making a life here other than a wadge of cash from a property sale.

In doing so they have found they can't get any work and end up spending any capital on living expenses and renovation costs.

Another group I observe are those who have retired here.

I should like to ask, retired here for how long? I can understand living here until the goodlife is over but will many of these people actually go into a French old folks home especialy with the language skills they have?

 Its just that I have rarely met any older people who have any serious language skills and I just can't see them staying when they are no longer able to manage for themselves.

I assume that they will all go back to the U.K unless they have any serious family living here.

Me, I haven't a clue where life will take me....

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Ty,

I am not being argumentative but why the assumption that old people

will end up in an old folks home, I would suggest that the majority of

'old' people actually live out their days in their own homes, why

should France be any different?

Regards

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The last thing I wanted this thread to be is a "What's wrong with the UK" type approach.

Quite obviously, certain specific and glaring factors must act as significant drivers, which have resulted in people carrying out some sort of value analysis and reaching conclusions.

I understand what you are saying, Ty, however, I would suggest that perhaps, whether one spouse or partner remains in France or wherever, once the other is deceased, would depend on a whole set of variables, unique to the couple.

However, just for a tick, let's play suppose....................................................

If the surviving person did return, where would they live? How would they buy a property?

What sort of healthcare might they expect in the UK? We know, that whilst a fiscal problem - apparently: another debate -  the French healthcare system is probably the best in the World: unless one is very wealthy.

Yes, a person remaining, would also depend on their language skills: and the level to which they had integrated in the local community: and, of course, where they were located, as all communes are different.

From the direct experience of a dear friend who has lived in France for quite a long time and is totally bi-lingual (spoken and written) and has been very ill with a serious cancer, the treatment he has received and is receiving can only be described as fantastic!

Having some considerable, personal, experience, recently, of the NHS, I refrain from much more comment, except perhaps, "Patrica Hewitt what are you on?"

In fact, when I wrote a recent short article on the Hewitt fiasco, I sent him a copy and his comment was, "From what you tell us and from what our children tell us, we are so grateful that we elected to retire in France!"

Yesterday, I had to assist my neighbours, both in their 80s, as she was very unwell: she told me how her GP had employed a locum, who was Spanish (she thought) and spoke little or no English! Helpful.........

I finished up taking them to the local hospital: and collected them some four and a half hours later: with no diagnosis and just even more pills!

In our commune, the elderly are respected and looked after: people are genuinely concerned for their wellfare. Being old in France does not appear to be a crime, as it is fast becoming in the UK.

So in conclusion, it would seem that language skills and integration would be the key to long-term residence and future wellbeing. Surely, these two are a priority in most sensible people's minds?

 

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We moved to France on a whim, found a job and there was skiing. If we hadn't liked it we would have moved on.......we were young then, so were ripe for an adventure anywhere.

I go from being amused to slightly disturbed/irritated when I see british policitians being cited as reasons to leave. Like french policitians are better or something strange like that. And I have my son now saying that if Sarkozy becomes the next President then he will leave France and frankly I don't blame him. And Sarko as president, that is something that really does worry me for France's future. That however has never influenced our plans. We always planned to go back at this point in our lives.

Right from the beginning I have always said two things, one is that I would not like to be old in France and juggling with two languages. And if something had happened to my husband I would have left too. I would not like to be a woman alone in France, I reckon I would be far too lonely and, and I know it sounds like it contradicts the 'lonely' bit, believe that I would have far too much unwanted attention.

If some are escaping noise and people etc, then I will be pleased to get back to some activity and life. Even if we were not leaving now, I would have to move to a city, I love the country, but I can visit it, holiday in it, but live in it, well after 23 years I really have had enough of all it's inconveniences now.

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TU, although I was slightly facetious in my response about Bush, it certainly was a contributing factor.

Being dual-nationals/bi-lingual, Mr. Possum and I had ALWAYS planned on coming back to France to live at one point or another.  Bush's re-election was symptomatic of a direction being taken by the U.S. that we felt we could no longer support by remaining there, so we moved sooner rather than later.  We were lucky in that we could continue to work in exactly the same way as we had been doing in Los Angeles, but from a different location.

Our move was a quality of life decision and one we made with no regrets. French politicians are far from perfect, but the French lifestyle is better than the one we left behind.  As to feeling alone, I felt far more alone in the States than I do here.  When Mr. Possum has to make the occasional business trip to Paris, I know that there is an entire village looking out for me and making sure I am okay.  No one particularly looked out for me in Los Angeles.

PG

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Possum girl, I had said british politicians.

And I said that if I were a woman alone, and I do believe I would be lonely. I know how far 'we' have to go now for a bit of 'life', it's bad enough these days, never mind doing it on my own. No thanks.

 I don't want 'everyone' in our village looking out for me either. We have some folks in our village who I suppose are the equivilant of what americans call rednecks, my son calls them fachos, and the less they know about me and my business the better.

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 Well, I felt guilty, TU, because I started the politician thing!!

I suppose the "everybody" in our village, are really only the people who have become our friends.  I don't think any of them are of the redneck variety; although clearly, we surely have them.  I just don't know any of them.

I don't think being a woman alone is easy in a lot of places, not just France.

PG

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Now, the last thing I wanted this thread to be, is it to degenerate into a sort of "British politicans are worse than French-German-American etc politicans" !! type thing.

However, breaking my own rule, ( Poetic License? [;-)]), TU, do you really believe that the French would allow Nicholas Sarkozy, or any other pol, for that matter, to ruin the health service in the same way that Thatcher-Major-Blair have ruined the NHS?

Just last week, my local authority announced that it was "Leaving it to residents to cut the council grass verges outside their properties in future!" Oh yeah! When the council has been paid - in advance - to maintain the roads and pavements and parks etc.

At least on this occasion, they were absolutely inundated with angry 'phone calls from irate Council Tax payers! And did a rapid Volte Face.

Can you imagine any French politician, local, regional or national, even trying such a cheeky stroke, let alone getting away with it?

Can you imagine your local water company charging you to extract water, from your own well?

Personally, I cannot.

Can you imagine how the French farmers might react?

Thus perhaps it isn't actually the British politicans that people were escaping from: it was the futility of their lack of electoral voice and meaning: and the actual effects of British politicans.

 

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Similar to TeamedUp ,we came here for skiing and walking so are near

the Pyrenees. But we aren't really in the category you're asking about

Gluestick as we do intend to return and still have our UK house. But

just thought I would add the conversation I had with an elderly

frenchman in the Carrefour queue the other day. To cut it short, 

he asked if I was spanish then when I said Anglaise he said " oh- and

you can buy land here?" I tried to explain that in Gers Profonde the

farmers are mostly trying to sell their land so he commented " but we

are all europeans now". So I think other answers are people locate here

because they can, for the adventure, and we are more cosmopolitan these

days. Pat.

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Got asked to sing backing-vocals for a tour with a french band in '89 - said yes, did it - never went back.  I married the bass player and so had a head start with settling here.  His family and the other band members made it very easy for me to stay, otherwise I honestly think it would have been hard for me to move here. 

That said,  with my incredible voice I could have gone anywhere I wanted and made it[Www]

Would I go back?  The thought has NEVER entered my head in the last 17 years. 

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Put simply we like living in France and believe it is a better place to bring our children up.When that view changes we will move on. Back to England? Probably not, the worlds to big.

Steve

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Ah but gluestick, what are you comparing.

Believe me the french health service is not what it was and as the black hole grows it can but get worse, there simply isn't the money to improve at the moment.

 

I think that there is so much urban myth and bull about France in the UK at the moment, that maybe if I ever learn to write properly could write a book about it.

 

I also think that there is much bull about the UK in the UK, at the moment too.

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