feature on commuting from France

[AdrianLee]

Hi

I've been commissioned to write a feature for the Daily Express about people who live in France but commute to work in the UK. Ideally it would be someone who makes the trip at least two or three times a week - more would be even better! If you are part of a family, the rest of the family would probably be living in France full time.

Lucy, the editor at Living France, suggested I put out an appeal on the forum.

If you're interested in taking part it would involve a telephone interview about your lifestyle, journey to work, why you made the decision to live in France and specifically what you enjoy about it. The feature will be upbeat and I'm looking for people who are happy with the choice they've made, even if there are a few drawbacks. It would also involve having a photograph taken.

If you are interested, or have any questions, please email me on [email protected], or call 01273 671324.

Hope someone can help..or if not, can pass my details on to anyone else you think might fit the bill.

Best wishes

Adrian Lee

[letrangere]

I read somewhere that there are people who find property prohibitively expensive in Kent/Sussex so opt to live in Pas de Calais instead and commute daily to London but are they real or fictional?  M

[Eskenazi]

They are real - friends have a superb house next door to chateau, cost equivalent of a 3 bed grotblox in Kent. He commutes (from near Hesdin) Monday - Wednesday & works from home other days. Nice work if you can get it! And they aren't the only ones. Only problem is for the rest of us - the lucky ones are insufferably smug, their wives even more so, if that's possible.

[Chrisb]

................smug, me, never let it be said!! Just because my husband does the same as your friend above, and I spend my time lunching with friends, playing tennis, riding my horse, drinking wine round the pool, and indulgently watching the children romp around our acres of fields and barns, why on earth should I feel smug!!!

Seriously, I do feel very lucky to be able to live in a beautiful house in Normandy with the benefit of a decent UK salary, without having to worry about setting up in business in France, or having to wait until we are retired. It isn't always easy being here on my own with the kids, but, on balance, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else - and believe it or not, my husband finds the commuting less stressful than he did when we were in the UK!!

Regards

Chris

[Eskenazi]

Wow, Chris, could you be any more smugly odious?

[Chrisb]

............I probably could if I tried, but my tongue is so firmly lodged in my cheek that I am unable to pull a sufficiently 'smugly odious' face!!

Smug regards

Chris

[Loopy Lou]

Chris,  how does your husband commute - car, train, plane?  And how does the annual cost compare with previous commute costs you might have had while living in the UK?  I'm asking because I am travelling as a foot passenger on the fast BF ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg shortly at a cost of £53 return.  To take the car on the same ferries would have cost me an astonishing £435 return.  How do you cope with seasonal variations, or can you buy an annual season ticket?  Is it not extortionately expensive?

Loopy Lou

[annie1]

Until recently I worked for Kent County Council and during my last three years with the council I made various enquiries regarding working in France and commuting back and forward.  My husband was due to take early retirement, wanted to move to France,  and I was considering this as a possible way to protect my pension and continue working.

 

I found that the council leader, Sir Sandy Bruce Lockhart, had been making a lot of noise regarding just this type of scheme, key workers employed by KCC could buy houses in Northern France and commute,  in answer to the overcrowded South East, and a way to prevent even more key workers moving out of Kent due to house prices and cost of living.

 

However my enquiries came to nothing apparently even though the cost of housing in France was not as wonderful as it once was, it was still considerably cheaper than Kent, people could still not afford the cost of commuting.  A deal could not be struck with the channel carriers in terms of a annual ticket, weekly ticket etc. making commuting affordable.  So therefore the cost of crossing from Calais to Dover would only be worthwhile if you were an area director or some other well paid official within the council, hardly the key worker scheme that the council had earlier talked about.   The scheme needless to say has not been spoken about again.

 

We moved to France anyway and are now enjoying our life here in Picardie.