Living In France-any Advice?

Hiya, I'm a naturalised Frenchie (born in London) and came here via Guernsey, Cape Town and Switzerland having lived a sum total of 18 months in the UK (which for me was enough) in the preceeding 25 years. I live about 30kms from Geneva on the French/Swiss border close to many of the major ski resorts where I run a construction business. My kids grew up here and I'm fully immersed in the system, bilingual and with no plans to leave.
I would thoroughly recommend the country but in order to thrive you do need language proficiency. Are you planning to work? If so you will need to be somewhere which is economically viable: I used to own a large house and land in Brittany due to its proximity to the Channel Islands but sold it and moved to Switzerland when it became obvious that it would not be plausible to live there permanently and earn a sustainable living. Obviously my region has its downsides too, the principle being the high barrier to entry in particular the property prices which in many cases outpace even London. The trade-off being that you can always earn a living, either in Geneva as I used to or somewhere within the ski industry as I effectively now do. To do either of these you need the language, that I cannot over emphasise!
If you are however just planning to lounge around blowing off occassionally, there couldn't be a nicer place. The winters can be cold, but the girls are much prettier and you can jump in your car (or on your bike if you like) and explore the whole of Europe at your leisure. I have no idea about the Brexit stuff as I didn't have a British passport anyway, but to an outsider peering in it does look like what is I think known as a 'dick move'.
You are welcome to PM me if you want any further info on living here but that isn't an invitation to ask me to go tearing around the country looking at houses/dealing with other shit for you (you will deduce that this does happen) because we own the same make of motorbike!
Joe

 

I'd move to France in a heartbeat if I could be assured of a living-wage income.

Naturally, Brexit will complicate that dream but, hey, it's not always about me, is it?

 

Odd how nobody has mentioned Northumberland to Southern England, rather than the drastic step of straight to another country.
Have you thought about that @ibgarrow ?

We have a guy working with us now from Morpeth and he is regularly saying how much warmer it is down here. Seems to love the increase in wage too (he is a bricklayer/general builder).

Stay away from shit hole London though.

 

I'm only 10 miles from Northumberland, fantastic place. But warmer? and anywhere nice is over run in summer with tourists. A lot of fantastic places in France that surprisingly even in the height of tourist season still have space...and free parking. Add in price, depends if its retirement or working as mentioned in an earlier post. Places with a strong economy and/or very sought after such as Provence are priced high. But elsewhere there are absolute bargains, houses with land that I would have no chance of affording if in the UK.

 

Onions, if you don't already like them be prepared to do so.
Oh and the same goes for stripy jumpers, bicycles, berets and unfounded and biased clichés about the British.

 

I don't need a UK perceived living wage income as I don't have UK outgoings.
And contrary to popular belief French healthcare is not free before or after brexit.

 

I did mean a France living wage, not a UK one, My apologies for not being explicit.

 

Even that is a very difficult to define sum as living costs vary by a huge amount across such a big country. Many people spend loads of time trying to work out the figures for a living income in France, but they fail because the comparison between two places even 80 kms apart can be massive.
From 2004, when I arrived aged 46, to 2013, we lived on £6k pa and did not need to work. No way could we have done that in the UK. Having said that, as long as we can run the bikes and keep warm, we live a quiet and simple life.

 

Homesick blues comes to mind for me plus friends/family thats whats stopped me..but i have a mate that went from east grinstead to devon for 12 odd years and now in australia for 8/9 years and he loves it,,so each to there own and Good luck with your move

 

Personally I haven’t lived permanently in France, but my girlfriend of 13 years is French and has lived in France for the past 10 years and as a consequence I have spent a lot of time there. It is only due to circumstance that I don’t live there with her. For the last couple of years until last month we had a council flat in Nantes (thanks to my accountant showing that I earn nothing), but now we own our own flat there. We have spent many years looking into living in various areas around France. We are quite fortunate that she has family and friends in various places in France and I so I have stayed in many around France.

There are many places in France where property is cheap. Most rural areas are inexpensive. The French like to live close to where they work and so tend to live in the towns and cities. If there is little or no work in the area the property will be cheap. I was in the Pyrenees this summer near Bagneres-de-Bigorre and the property in that area is so cheap that it’s probably not even worth a property developer building a new house or renovating an old one because they won’t make a profit.

Be aware that generally inland France can get rather cold in winter. The closer you are to the coast the warmer it tends to be in winter. However it also gets more expensive because the French like to holiday by the sea. The warmer it is in winter the hotter it is in summer. Also the further south you go the hotter it gets in the summer. Then you may well be needing air conditioning to stay cool in the summer.

I really like the Limousin area, but it can get very cold in winter. My girlfriend lived in Limoges for 3 years and several winters involved quite a lot of snow and very low temperatures. In comparison Nantes is warmer in the winter due to it's proximity to the sea and its lower altitude. She also lived in Fougeres (eastern edge of Brittany) for a year and that was no warmer than southern England in the winter.

If I were seeking warmth, nice countryside and cheap property I would be looking at the area around Cognac as JimVee said. It is noticeably warmer in winter there than in the UK. In that area there are Ducati dealerships in La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Poitiers and Limoges.

As Pavey mentioned the south of England is a lot warmer than Northumberland. I live in Bognor Regis and so far this winter the temperature has rarely dropped below zero. Snow and ice are fairly infrequent - none that I’ve seen so far this winter. If you just go a few miles inland it gets noticeably colder. Despite the mild climate in Bognor my girlfriend does prefer the weather in Nantes as it is on average warmer, especially in the summer. Unfortunately rural property in Sussex is expensive, but Dorset and Devon are cheaper. I'd still prefer France though.

 

Hey, Bognor Dude.

I live in North Bersted, where are you?

 

South Bersted. So probably about 1 mile from you.

 

Indeed. Neighbours!

 

A friend moved to the Dordogne last year and we went to visit. He lives in a little village and there's nothing there - not even a bar. You can drive for 10-15 minutes to get to the nearest "town" that has one small supermarket and 2 petrol stations. You can drive for 40-45 to get to a real town. His plan was to work a couple of days a week but he is struggling to find work as there's no way to integrate into the community. He's had a much colder winter this year than we have.

France have apparently just announced they're going to tax second homes which may influence whether you move completely. I wouldn't be surprised if they bring in an additional tax for non-EU property owners after Brexit as they mooted trying to tax overseas property owners before but weren't allowed to discriminate EU citizens (I would expect for this that existing property owners would be exempt).

If you move out there and sell up here I think it'll be next to impossible to move back as our property prices rise much more than theirs (in the areas people by because they're cheap).

@ibgarrow - Have you looked at various places in the South East? It is surprising how much prices vary down here e.g. Hastings is probably 1/3 the cost of Brighton and they're only 40 miles apart. It is noticeably warmer down here than further north, even going to places like Suffolk I notice a massive temperature drop and my staff that live in Essex have had a much worse winter. Doesn't mean the weather's great as we get long grey, drizzly winters but they are rarely cold.

@Loz and @SunEye - I bought my 851 from your neck of the woods just over 4 years ago. Do you know the previous owner (Mark)?

 

I'd do a lot of research before moving to the Hastings area. It can be cheap there for reasons.

@Stang - I didn't/don't know an 851-owning Mark from Bognor. I do know an 851-owning Barrie who was from Bognor but now, coincidentally, now lives in France (and has done for perhaps fifteen years).

 

Perhaps it would help if people did some homework before moving to another country.
Fancy moving to a village where there was nothing that he wanted, why didn't he move to one of the small towns that have all sorts of amenities? He could have had a worse experience moving to some parts of Scotland or Wales.
France already tax second homes and first homes too. It is the equivalent of your council tax, but about 20% of what you would pay in the UK. The taxing foreigner game is played by all governments, I have to pay UK tax on my pension despite not living there nor being able to use the NHS should I visit.
It might be difficult to move back to the UK, but why would anyone move to France with the aim of moving back? I have no interest in moving back. If I did and sold my house, I would have much more money in sterling than I came here with as the exchange rate has dropped, but that would not go far in the UK with wage freezes and inflation bites. I would have to pay road tax on my bikes and car if I moved back to the UK.
Anyone can paint any picture using one person as an example.

 

Move to Italy instead. Italy is better than France in every way except cheese and wine. And even those are pretty close.

 

To say winters are or were colder this winter is misleading. France is vast. Altitude, nearest mountains, Med or Atlantic influences all to factor in. Western tip of Brittany gets different weather to, lets say around Dinan in the North East. Nice on the med coast may see no snow, only several miles inland you will be able to ski at certain times of year.
Compare the English Riviera to the Peak district. Distinctly different weather throughout the year. Do your homework as mentioned in earlier posts.
Local climate, micro climate. Shops, services. Jobs. Tbh if jobs are a factor then that would surely need to come first. The right skills (not sure what they might be though) will probably mean a passport to living/working there after Brexit.
Jobs that can be done remotely (internet based, writing etc.) could mean working from home. This is what my wife plans are looking like. (in fact taken 1st steps to building new business built around this where home will be the workplace )
Whilst healthcare may not be free per se compared to some things here. I'm sure that the EHIC means emergency access to hospitals etc without needing health insurance. For now.

 

The EHIC is only valid for visitors. If you become a French resident then you would not be classed as a visitor.
Residency is a legal definition rather than a personal option or choice. That said there are many illegal brits living here.