Ex-pats in France?

[Jonzjob]

OK, just as a matter of interest, how many of us are there, and where, here in France.

Also, working, retarded or what and what made you move over?

Me, retarded, took the early version because of an accident to my back. We moved over because we got fed up with having to cross the Manche every time we wnted to be in our favorite place. Now live in a place we couldn't have even dreamed of in Blighty and loving it. Bleedin cold here at the mo though, 3ºC with a wind chill of -4 now!

 

[Chataigner]

As my sign off will tell, I'm in Dordogne. Retired, but working harder than ever with a 2 acre garden, 6 acres of paddocks for the horses and 20+acres of woodland to maintain, plus a 17C forge to restore!

As for cold, it was -9C here on monday morning, and windy too. Happily, that is very unusual.

 

[barkwindjammer]

:shock: Ok , which one of you is Rico Daniels from 'le salvageur' , and, where do you buy your 'crossed cutlass' T-shirts ?


Jim

 

[gus3049]

We came because we could afford to buy a house here! Here being near Villebois in the Charente.

In the eighties I made a fortune, 17 room Georgian Mansion, five Alfas in the mews, several acres out the back. Lost it all.

After the bankruptcy finished, it took a while to get back to relative normality but getting a mortgage was a no-chance. My wife has her own sorry tale.

Basically as we were both starting from scratch it seemed an obvious choice as she had come back from France to meet me in the UK - the power of computer dating!!

We've been here four years. First two were spent in agony with Trigeminal Neuralgia (look it up if you don't know, google can offer all sorts of nastiness) Surgery No 1.

Just got the business going like a train and, like John, did the back doing a kitchen. THREE slipped disks and still not fixed after Surgery No 2

Looks like I might need Surgery No 3 to stabilise it!

So its hasn't all been plain sailing but the system here has meant that when I needed things done, they were done NOW not in six months time.

What a tale of woe. Love it here though. Even if the house is four years behind the schedule we set. I'd rather live here in what most Brits would call a slum than in luxury in the UK.

 

[dexter]

I hope to be joining you later this year, the sold sign has just gone up on my place here in the UK, I retired in 2007 and put it on the market just as it started to fall apart, (market not house!) Nearly went for a place in early 2008 with the hope that mine would sell as quickly as they had been previously but pulled out when the reality of the state of the market hit home. Good job to or I would have been £20,000 out of pocket after loosing my deposit and the cost for fees etc.
I`ve never given up hope and have looked at loads of properties in France in the mean time. I`ve got my eye on one in the Limousin and will be over there in a couple of weeks for one more look at it with a view to a survey then an offer on it.
I`ve looked into working over there but decided against it as I would only want to do it part time and don't want to end up having to pay social charges for a few hours of work that would probably see me out of pocket. I will definitely not even think of working on the Black.
The place I`m looking at has an old house with it that needs a full refurb so I can do as much or as little on it when I want to after all I`m supposed to enjoy my retirement.
Of course early retirement and no working in France means that I will have to fork out for full health insurance but you're only here once so better to live your dreams.
I`ll let you know how I get on.

Dex

 

[Jonzjob]

We were incredibly lucky in that we decided we wanted to move in 2003 and after an incredible amount of inquiring put our house on the market in spring 2004. It sold in 9 daze for our asking price and 3 months later, 4 th August we were on the ferry and homeless. We had found a place to rent in a village that I said I couldn't live in because I couldn't even say the name, Villemoustaussou, and we found our new home after 5 months and moved in 3 months later. That was almost 6 years back.

We didn't have to worry about working as we were, and still are, retired and I came over with an E121 with the Incap bit ticked. That meant that we dropped straight into the French health system and that has been exceptional!

It has got to be hard indeed to move over with a working life ahead of you, but with the correct planning it is possible and we know lots of ex-pats who have done just that and are enjoying life here just as much as we are.

Just to be able to drive from one town or village to the next on clear roads has got to be worth a lot. Yes, there are times when the roads are busy around the towns and cities and I hate driving to Toulouse to the airport, but those times are so far apart that it just doesn't matter.

Something else that helps is that we jut happen to live in the biggest vinyard in the World! And they produce some of the deepest, richest reds, deepest rosés and tastiest whites around 8) 8) 8)

 

[gus3049]

I hope to be joining you later this year, the sold sign has just gone up on my place here in the UK, I retired in 2007 and put it on the market just as it started to fall apart, (market not house!) Nearly went for a place in early 2008 with the hope that mine would sell as quickly as they had been previously but pulled out when the reality of the state of the market hit home. Good job to or I would have been £20,000 out of pocket after loosing my deposit and the cost for fees etc.
I`ve never given up hope and have looked at loads of properties in France in the mean time. I`ve got my eye on one in the Limousin and will be over there in a couple of weeks for one more look at it with a view to a survey then an offer on it.
I`ve looked into working over there but decided against it as I would only want to do it part time and don't want to end up having to pay social charges for a few hours of work that would probably see me out of pocket. I will definitely not even think of working on the Black.
The place I`m looking at has an old house with it that needs a full refurb so I can do as much or as little on it when I want to after all I`m supposed to enjoy my retirement.
Of course early retirement and no working in France means that I will have to fork out for full health insurance but you're only here once so better to live your dreams.
I`ll let you know how I get on.

Dex

Hope you like the place you see, its definitely worth the move. I feel totally at home here, it feels much more like the UK did 40 years ago. I started to feel threatened somehow, just walking down the street in the UK. That was in Kingston, Surrey which is considered a bit upmarket. Didn't stop the shootings and muggings though. I had a knife in the side trying to stop a couple of 'kids' stealing a handbag!

The work situation is dire now. Too many people chasing a reducing pot. If you can offer something different then fine, but the whole place is bulging with English builders, carpenters etc., all after the same business. I only did well offering bespoke kitchens in the Mark Wilkinson style ie "if you can afford it......." shame I did the back. And of course, working on the black is not as easy to get away with as people think.

I think you are right. Just come and enjoy the climate (whilst it lasts - its getting a bit dry in the summer), the food and the people. I'm sure you won't regret it. But do, if you don't already, learn to speak the language, that way you will be made doubly welcome.

 

[dedee]

I'm on a sabbatical as I am far too young to retire. The missus is keeping me in the luxury I deserve at the moment. Moved here in Sept 2007. No regrets although as mentioned tools etc very expensive. priority a droit I can cope with but when the don't stop on a stop line I get really scared. There are bad drivers everywhere of course but over here I think at least 50% of the drivers never saw a roundabout on their driving tests.

Andy
Calvados (14)

ps speaking the language is the easy bit, understanding what has been said in response is another matter. I still normally only fully understand about 2 mins after the conversation has ended.

 

[hanser]

I'm sort of stuck in between the two countries.....I've rebuilt a stone barn in Loire Atlantique, love the countryside and increasingly like the French for their lifestyle -they all say how busy they are but no one seems to work hard/long hours like we do back here. Unfortunately, SWMBO doesn't want to move there permanently.

Dex - good luck with your intended move. Hope it works through. Don't think that the French do 'surveys' so you might have to trust your judgement on that/ take a mate from the UK.

 

[JMcK]

Been coming to France for the past 40 years. Retired and, like Jonzjob, came in 2003 with an E121 (UK State Pension). Live in the North of the Dordogne almost in Haute Vienne.

Been a francophile since schooldays. I was fortunate to have French teachers who passed on their love of the country.

Spend most of my time on DIY or working on the car. Bought a house with nothing to do to it and haven't stopped "doing to it" since. :duno:

BTW I'm an immigrant not an ex-pat. :lol: :lol:
(Hope that doesn't start something #-o )

Dexter, As hanser says don't expect a survey UK style here. If you have a good builder then, as he says, get him to look at the property. Good luck.

 

[Dibs-h]

BTW I'm an immigrant not an ex-pat.

Admire your honesty for saying so!

On a general note - I do feel like doing a bunk (abroad) sometimes, but then wonder exactly what more we'd get abroad than we currently have vs what we would loose - unfortunately at the moment, there's more losses!

 

[Chataigner]

I came here in 1999, to a large 17C house that was almost a ruin. It's about half restored now!

As Gordon says, you really must learn the language to get the best out of being here. We arrived with O level scraped passes and quite a lot of years of not practicing. Now we are fluent enough to converse comfortably at all levels, though no frenchman would think we were other than english. Despite that, I was nagged by the mayor into standing for the town council in the last elections and, to my surprise, was elected against strong local competition. I am really enjoying the involvement, but it takes up a good day per week average. Take a look at http://www.jumilhac.fr, that's where we are.

The only snag is grand children, we want to see more of them, but its a long way. Both of us traveling at the same time involves complications in looking after the horses and other critters, and the kids, quite reasonably, dont want to spend all of their limited holidays in France year after year. The current compromise is to go quite often, but separately, one of us remaining here to look after the animals etc.

As for working, I'm retired, but there is plenty of work for craftsmen, but not from other ex pats., you have to sell to locals and for that you must be fluent, qualified and legal! Everyone complains that local craftsmen produce good work, but are completely unreliable on time. Turning up 6 months late is not unusual. Sell reliability and the work will come in. You can always use penalty contracts to convince people you are serious....

 

[Russ]

OK, just as a matter of interest, how many of us are there, and where, here in France.

Also, working, retarded or what and what made you move over?

Me, retarded, took the early version because of an accident to my back. We moved over because we got fed up with having to cross the Manche every time we wnted to be in our favorite place. Now live in a place we couldn't have even dreamed of in Blighty and loving it. Bleedin cold here at the mo though, 3ºC with a wind chill of -4 now!

We live in Le Gers (Midi Pyrenees) Wife's French and decided to set up base here in 2000.
Both self employed and busy but paying for it, social charges equate to 45% of our annual profit which pays for the nice hospitals. Very expensive country to live and work but at least there's some nice cheese.

Russ

 

[Jonzjob]

I suppose that I could have worded the title better? But as quite a number of our U.K. type friends seem to spend a hell of a lot of their time and hard earned in returning to Blighty, well?

As for us, I have been back 2 times, once for a funeral of a dear friend and the second with OH for my sons wedding. Other than that we are quite happy to live out the rest of our natural here, so I suppose that makes us immigrants as well. I just suppose that I just ain't thought about it before and that this is now my home. Our best friends are both English and French. We ate still learning the language and helping our neighbours grandaughter with her English.

I have no plans to go back to where I used to live, England, until I really have to. i.e. close family problems that really demand my being there.

Until then the Carbardes, Minervois, Fitou, La Clap, Corbiers and a dozen other AOCs demand my unflagging attention. Well. I have to try to help the local economy don't I!

Just as a matter of interest and thinking about the side of the road the French drive on. When I went to Cyprus for my daughters wedding I asked a taxi driver which side of the road they prefered to drive on? He told me " the shady side"!

Russ, you have one of the best reasons for being retired here! That bloody tax! Good luck to you mate!!

 

[Chataigner]

Why here? Love the wine and food, love the slower, more relaxed pace of life, but, above all, love the space. We have around 25 people/km sq. in our little corner. That compares with 500/km sq in much of SE England and 650/km sq in places - not including London!

This results in us buying a 6000 sq ft house (in serious need of restoration) standing in 30+ acres of beautiful river valley for half the sale price of our 4 bed semi on 1/4 acre in sussex. How far are we from SE England? About 40yrs.

As for going back, we went twice in 10yrs until our grand daughter was born. Since then it has been a lot more frequent.