Any advice help please?

Kids
21

They had an extra half hour before school once a week for the first couple of terms to help with their french, but that was all.

We knew this probably wouldn't be our "forever" home because it's hard to tell what it's like to live somewhere before you actually live in the area. Now we've been here for over a year we've had plenty of time to get more of a feel for other areas (not far from here) and realize what our needs are. Where we live now is in a tiny village in the countryside, it's really beautiful here but there aren't any shops, restaurants, boulangeries etc and the school is 5 kms away. We came on a trip over last January (2012) to find our new home and unfortunately there wasn't much choice at the time. With hindsight it would have been better for us (as a young family) to have chosen somewhere with more facilities, but we have really enjoyed our time in this beautiful peaceful place.

I have also started working (yay!) and this event helped us narrow down the area to live. My work is 50 mins commute from here, 10 mins from our new place. Plus our new house is within walking distance of the kid's new school, supermarket, restaurant, bar, post office, boulangerie etc and the beach and airport are only 20 mins away (which is great because my OH works alot in the UK).

I hope you get to find a new property sooner rather than later. Maybe be prepared to rent in the short term, in case you don't find anything straight away. It's better to keep your money in the bank and take your time to find the perfect property rather than rush into buying something that's not perfect because you need somewhere to live. Winter in Brittany wouldn't be very fun in a caravan. (Or are you just doing a tour for the summer then going back to the UK?)

I wish you all the luck, and really hope it works out for you x

22

thankyou for your reply, its nice yours have settled, its good to hear a success story.why havnt you settled? renting first is not an option for us,but we are going to tour areas in a caravan first before buying our small farm. did your kids get extra help ? xx

23

Hi Emma, you are moving here at the right time! We moved to Herault in April 2012 when our 2 were 3 and a half and 5 and a half. The first 2 weeks were horrible for them, especially for our daughter. But after those first couple of weeks it got better and better. 2 months later they had both formed some great friendships and their French was really coming along. They both love school now and aren’t even afraid to speak to and play with strangers in the park or on the beach. A big benefit for Hollie is that she had already done 2 yrs in a UK school and so she could already read and write quite well in English and when September came last year she started to learn to read and write in French from scratch along with all the other 6yr olds in CP.
I don’t think you should worry too much, your kids will be fine they will hate it for a little while but get past that and it’s definitely worth it. You are giving them the opportunity to become bilingual which is an amazing gift and they will thank you for it one day.
Regarding your home, I would definitely advise you to start by renting at first, that’s what we have done , it has given us the time to get used to living here and we have realised this is the wrong village for us and so we’re moving again next month hopefully for the last time!
Good luck! I hope you take age plunge!