Introduce yourselves!

Hello everyone

I thought it would be nice if we all said hello and ‘introduced’ ourselves. I think it will add to the warm and cuddly nature of the network and…as I am incredibly nosy, it will help satisfy some of my natural curiosity.



So I’ll start…We have been in France since 2002, started off in Brittany and headed south via the Lot-et-Garonne before landing in Biarritz. Two months ago we moved into Les Landes and are currently living in The Renovation Project From Hell. I’m a journalist and write for various publications both in the UK and in France. The household includes my long-suffering husband, 3 kids, 2 dogs, an assortment of four legged creatures and some mad ducks. Most of the time I love living here, but there are days when I would cheerfully exchange one of my kidneys for a decent pub lunch, an Indian take away or a working internet connection…

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Hello David,

There are two in Limoges. The best one (in my opinion) is the 'Krishna' which is very close to the Aquarium and Hotêl de Ville on Rue Delescluzes.

http://restaurant-krishna.e-monsite.com/pages/le-restaurant-krishna.html

https://www.google.fr/maps/place/Krisna/@45.8274022,1.261741,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x7e81b6902e5ce92c

The people are from Sri Lanka and the food is usually delicious.

The other one is called the 'Etoile de l''Inde' which isn't bad but nowhere near the quality of the Krishna. This one can be found in a back street in the old quarter next to the Cathedral.

If you want anymore info or fancy a cuppe when next in St Junien just 'pm' me.

Where's the excellent curry house, Peter?

Hi Janette, welcome to Limousin. Which bit are you moving to ? If it's anywhere near Limoges you have two curry houses, one excellent and the other not bad. There's also a nice one in Poitiers.

Hi Janette here…planning to move to SWITCH France…Limousin area sometime later this year. …so frantically learning all I can…ps any curry houses anywere!! X

Hello everyone!

We moved here as a family from London in 2001 so my kids - now 18 and 21 - have grown up here. We started off in a bit of a monster house where I ran a gite/B&B and I am glad to say that, as the kids moved on, we have been able to downsize and I could kiss goodbye to the holidaymakers.

We only moved 10km down the road though, to an ugly duckling house with stunning views and plenty of horse land. My handy OH is sorting out the house while I spend my 'retirement' time riding and looking after our four horses. Actually, that's not quite true: they are not OUR horses, the OH doesn't ride LOL

Much of my social life revolves around the nags - I would say I am pretty well integrated and having had two kids go through the school system has helped. The Oh misses a good pub but has made the transition from London lad to country bumpkin pretty well and is brilliant at building chicken runs and raised veg beds!

We lead a quiet life (with two uni-age kids - one in the UK - there is little spare cash for anything else!) Our greatest pleasure is a glass of rosé while watching the sun go down ...

I think we both feel lucky to be here :-)

Hello Alex,

Not sure about 'laws re sewage'.....but if one is not connected to mains drainage in or on the edge of a town, people have 'fosse septiques'...which need some maintenace and a truck will come to drain periodically. Try googling this but the local mairie should be helpful.

What ever you do there is no need to rush into buying a place (don't be swayed by estate agents telling you they have another couple of interested buyers)....and make sure you are not too far from a good town with facilities. There is a very good number of places to renovate at (in UK terms) incredibly cheap prices as the French see (probably quite rightly, unless you can do most of the renovation yourself), 'money pits'

This place might appeal and this site has plenty of this kind of thing....

http://www.frenchestateagents.com/french-property-for-sale/view/307...

Good luck....

I am a rugby mad kiwi that wants live near the french rugby clubs and be as self sufficent as possible. I need some advice re laws and especially what lawful sewage options there are. hence am looking for a cheap chunk of land with a stream in SW france. with or without a ruin or restoration project. I fly into carcassone on 21st and out of bordeaux on 29th. :)

Hello,

I am new on here but my husband has been on for a while. We live in Correze (near Pompadour) and have been living in France for just a year. We moved from Australia, but my husband is also a UK citizen and I, unfortunately, am also a US citizen. We have 3 gorgeous cats and that's about it....a simple life, really (except for the US bit! Grrrrrr.......).

Hi all

My newby intro.

Had a holiday home/cave in the Creuse department of the Limousin since 2008 and taking early retirement we dithered on a permanent move for a quite while. As our friends circle grew we realised that we were more settled in our area than England. So the for sale sign is up and a reasonable offer on the table so fingers crossed! Myself, my partner Angela and Our Beagle Millie better swot up on our French.

Hi There,
I am Indonesian married to a Belgian francophone and we’ve been living in France since 2010. We reside 23 minutes train ride south of Paris. I used to be a hotelier, a banker and lastly, for the sake of a piece of a peace mind, I’ve jumped from corporate life to development sector and work for foreign funding agency.
I love walking in Paris and take pictures of it…Due to my poor French, nobody wants to employ me in Paris, so I’ve been back and forth to Indonesia when I have short consultancy jobs. I kinda like this arrangement because if I am bored in Paris, then I got a chance to go back to Jakarta, see my friends and family, exercise my brain a little bit, and gain several kilos in a blink because the food is sooo good…:)…And when I got fed up with my work, I can fly back to France and enjoy my walking, the trip to many parts of France, or simply sitting in my terrace enjoying the quietness of the neighborhood. I have lived in couple other countries such us the USA and Switzerland, but I think France is quite challenging. The language barrier has somehow prevent me from making interaction with the local easily. And maybe that’s one of the reason why I still don’t feel ‘at home’ here…:).

Hello there,
Our place is in the south Deux Sevres and we’ve had it since early 2013, we live between here and the U.K. We are slowly finding out about our lovely area and trying to learn better French, we can get by but I can’t argue or be very assertive in French which is tremendously frustrating! So improving is a big priority. Of course we love wine and food, in fact my husband is particularly foodie being extremely talented in the kitchen, whereas I tend to do the wine bit…Looking forward to discussions on this site and hoping for less argy bargy than some other sites…

Jazz'll do for me, Emily! Welcome.

Welcome Christian, welcome to you and your wife/partner - I’ve only just seen your new membership here - after you jumped straight into the fray to help with my with my LL problems - thank you so much. I also love your beautiful country and the French friends I have made here and elsewhere over 8 years. You and all the others I know, are the complete opposite of my LL - so I’m delighted to help with your learning curve for us as expats - just as you have already helped me. I was told last year she intends to sell and not renew my Contrat de Location - so I’ll let you know as and when - by then you’ll know whether the problem ever got resolved or not! :slight_smile: in case it the property ends up on your online website if you will have one. or on your books! Have a good weekend!

..memories of childhood....

'Voila, that's life, enjoy it !'....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3aZNqwIpOE

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I love your wife's comment! Welcome aboard.

Bonjour,

In theory I should know how to survive in France as I am French. A long time expat I am living between le Berry, Dublin, London and other places where my children settled. Therefore I know how difficult it is to get used to others' culture or lack of.And I decided to make a living out of it by starting an estate agency that sell no house. We are property finders and, more, we are place finders. We rover for the right place for our customers. That's why I am delighted to become a new member of this group to read your mubling and grundging about living in France. I will not keep them for myself but share all this with our customer, to make their new life in France a little bit easier.

And for those who find it really difficult to live in my beautiful country, I'll repeat what my wife said when we arrived in a (really) chaotic country: "let's keep calm, it's just for laugh, like in a movie".

we have been in theHaute Marne 52 for 10 years

I was a primary school P.E. teacher in Norfolk . After having a stroke 1/6/2010 I am now a Writer and I help other stroke survivors with my kindle stroke experience books and my you tube stroke blog.

Hello everyone!

I'm new to the network, and relatively new to France.

A little bit about me: I am a professional violinist. Originally from the U.S. (midwest), but lived in Boston for the past nine years. I've been a classical musician my entire life, having played in a professional orchestra in Boston and was professor of violin as well. I finished my doctorate in classical violin performance in 2013. After all that education, I decided it still wasn't enough for me, so I completely uprooted my life to move to France to learn jazz! I'm now a student in a 2-year jazz program just south of Paris, where I live as well. Luckily I do speak French, having had a strong foundation in the language from attending a French school in the U.S., and I did live in Geneva for one year after my Bachelor's degree, where I studied at the conservatory. For the time being, life in France suits me very well!

Sandra,

Your French services website works well, but I think there's a problem with the bnb one....Tried twice and got this ...DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN