Thinking of moving to france?

Question

i have two children 9 and 11 live in england but thinking of moving to france my husband is a joiner we would still need to work and are thinking of using euro train to work in london any advice welcome

Answer 1

Hi,

Yes it is correct Eurostar is really expensive , l recommand perhaps to think about Ryan air, Flybe or Easy jet : it is really cheaper and conveignant.

The main think is to find the right place for you and your family.

Limoges and around this area is one the most famous one (Ryan Air)

La creuse, le perigord and i am sure many more.

I am French living in UK (Peterborough) , i can advise south Ouest of France is not so bad a really welcoming area.

For practical things , to be honest the main problem is the Language , basically mostly in rural area , peoples don't speak English at all .

For the cost of living some areas can be really cheap is you are looking for a house , but can be also really expensive mostly in all the famous areas.

For school , you can find some international schools but you know chidren learn very fast (Faster than us for sure )especially if they have some friends.

Tax and administration , healthcare and many more . France like papers and complicated process , but don't worry it is not so difficult and nowadays you can do a lot of things with internet .

French people : i think we are pretty much unique , people use to say we like to complain , it is not completely true , we don't like unfair things (that's why we did our Revolution). more seriousely i think France is nice country .

Anyway , good luck for you project

Answer 2

I lived in France for 4 years and I really don't think it is a good idea.

French are narrow minded. I speak fluently french but I had lots of troubles to fit in.

France is really expensive, lots of taxes. The salaries are so low.

I don't think it is a good idea to do it with children.

Answer 3

thats a good idea, french ppl love englishes !!!

but the eurostar is very expensive, or if you have a lot of money.

maybe could you work in france, there are nice part of france, all are very different and attractive.

english are the more in center-west (vendée, dordogne...) but normandy is very nice and brittany too (im from there too :p)

Answer 4

Carpenters are needed the World over.

Have you sorted the area in which you would like to settle?

If so, maybe a couple of weeks holiday to see if there is any possibility that he could find employment there without the travelling.

Eurostar is going to eat away so much of your income or capital.

Is your French up to scratch?  The French generally don't have the patience to bother with Brits who don't speak the language.

Answer 5

Having lived in France for the previous 5 years I have found it an extremely welcoming country, filled with cosmopolitan cities and people.

During these 5 years I have been at a International School and have found that undertaking the I.B will seriously aid my chances in the future.

I believe that for advantage of your children's future, the education system (not to mention the health system) will seriously benefit and allow your children to flourish.

However, my family have encountered numerous tax problems, thankfully (after a 2 year fight) the Tax man has laid off and realised with such a large catalogue of evidence in our favour, he was fighting a losing battle.

I absolutely adore France. Every little bit was well worth it.

Answer 6

Eurostar is hugely expensive. You might want to check if you can afford the expense. Paris is not a good city for a family with children, so I would advise another city.

Now, it all depends if you like countryside, big city, what kind of weather you'd rather have, what kind of money you can put into it... If you still intend to take the Eurostar you have little leeway in the place to live in, either Paris, Lille or Calais, the three stations in France.

Answer 7

Simply tell your husband to stop being a 'joiner'. He should hve told you he was one before you married and if he continues to be a joiner, tell him he really should go and get with a man to satisfy his needs.

Answer 8

you'll have to wait in a queue of all the other english people moving there, parts of france are now majority english with english spoken, crime, rudenenss and drunkeness now a fact of life

Answer 9

You haven't said what kind of work you do - obviously there is a chance that your husband would be able to find work in France, provided that he learns some basic French. Is that not an option for you too?

Eurostar is expensive, but certainly convenient for getting to London. If you wanted to commute very regularly, Lille would be very convenient, or anywhere with easy travel to Paris would be okay for a once-a-week journey. Another option would be to fly from Beauvais to Stanstead. Beauvais is very convenient for most of Normandy.

Buy a book on moving to France and research things which are important to your situation, such as schools and working - being self-employed in France is more complicated than in the UK.

Please feel free to email me if you have any specific questions.

Answer 10

Hem... a bit of personnal experience...

Learn french. You don't need to be very fluend. This is not the question. This is simply a question of integration. I mean;, give to french people the feeling that you make an effort to be understood. This is very important. If you know only 25 worlds, do not hezitate to use them. From this  will depend that you are considered as a friend and invited everywhere or as a foreigner, contempuous and haughty.