Gardening work in Normandie

[Phil.H]

Help..........Myself and my family are very seriously looking to move from Kent to Normandie in 2006 .We intend to sell our UK home first and then whilst staying with Parents concentrate fully on viewing properties.However we do not wish to commit ourselves until i have gained full time employment in the area. As a gardener by trade i was wondering what if any options are available to me in my said trade. I would ideally like to work in a role similar to that as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, However they very rarely have vacant posts, so i was wondering if the French Goverment or the Americans have similar posts as both also (unfortunetly) have large war grave sites and monuments.

 Failing this could Normandie support yet another Gardener ?.  Thanking you all in advance.Phil.H.

[Coco]

I know that the US cemeteries are just as hard to get work in as the British ones.  Regarding the French ones, I would think that as they are owned by the government the gardeners will probably be regared as civil servants and thus only available to French nationals (but I am guessing at that one!)

[Le Scouse]

Hi,

Is the bit about French govt jobs only being available to French nationals correct?  Surely with the free movement of goods and services, the French have to have an open policy toward other europeans when it comes to employment?

I had hoped that when I settle in France the only obstacles would be a good command of the language and customs and the equivalency of my uk skills, qualifications and experience to the French standards

Is this an actual policy then?  or is it just what actually happens in reality despite the policy being "open"

With regard to vacancies for gardeners, we don't see many brits in our area border of 14 and 50 (Pontfarcy-vire) trying to run a garden/landscape business, but as always this may indicate a> lack of demand  or  b> untapped market

My area of expertise (computer support) throws up the same dilemna... wondering if the ex-pat community is big enough to support a living or not

Lee

[Will]

There are plenty of British in Normandy, particularly in the area you mention (the Sourdeval area, to the south of Vire, has a pretty high population of English speakers). I think most of them are not working themselves so have plenty of time to do their own gardening and not a lot of spare money to pay others to do it for them. There may be a market among holiday home owners, though we know people who have failed to make a go of gardening businesses here. Whatever you decide, do look into the legal requirements for registering a business in France and the high cotisations (social security charges) that are payable.

[Chrisc]

You could always try the Gemans-It used to be done by the young socialist party-Not since re-unification I think.

Local gardens-roundabouts etc are taken care of by the canton-Its a job for life-OOps-like bin men sorry about italics