Hi Jill,
Well noted - thank you! Services like this are much needed. It has certainly been my experience that the smaller shops have huge prices - it's catch 22 for them - they cannot knock down prices like the big chains but they are also pricing themselves away from the cheaper bigger stores and online space. I feel for them as the small retailers are suffering here too.
But when quality and value for money are so important, we must look at all possibilities :)
Hi Sheila,
Thanks for all that - much appreciated!! We will indeed give you a shout again over the summer - although I am hoping you will be too busy to accept casual drop-ins like us ;-)
I watched Nationwide again last night, and loved it!! Yourself and Celeste (and respective husbands of course) were very good. I bet Henry's french is better than he is admitting!!
Hi Elaine
We are just about to finish a renovation project in the Dordogne and I can tell you that the things to bring from UK (so I don't know if it's different in Eire) were:- paint, tiles (if you want choice), grout and adhesive, bathroom fittings such as taps, light fittings, garden furniture and outdoor paint (if you are doing shutters etc.) It's been a long haul to get to where we are now - and we're not finished yet... the trouble is weighing the extra cost of the above items v getting them to france... we had a sprinter van and filled it to the roof with stuff - but the house is now how I pictured it... or will be when it's completely finished.
Good luck
Christine
Hi Elaine
My brother and his family have set up an eco lighting and fittings online business aimed at the french market they are based in the dordogne area. Not only are the lights and fittings exceptionally cheaper than purchasing them in France but they also save on your fuel bills. The service they offer is second to none with all orders sent to you the next day without fail.
Take a look at the products available www.eco-luminaires.com
Jill
Hi Elaine, and best of luck with the move. Hope all goes well. Like Celeste, I am not too sure if you need a UK/Irish decoder to receive the free-to-air channels, as we brought our Sky box with us (couldn't miss the rugby!). We got a dish here from SFN member Karma Morgan. Clothes are dearer here except in the markets, as are shampoos etc, but I have got used to the Carrefour own brand which is fine. I do miss the tea-bags, but as they are relatively light, it is easy to persuade friends to bring them on visits.
If you have time, take a look at the Renovations group here on SFN. The general take on things is that the standard and colour selection in French bricos is dire, and many people bring their paints from Ireland or UK. As we are still renting, I have not priced bathroom suites, or large white goods. I do need a freezer, and priced one in Carrefour recently for €159 (90 litre) which I thought was reasonable.
If you find a good butcher, you will get good quality meat. The butcher in Intermarché is better than the one in Carrefour here (Lezignan) so I do most shopping in Carrefour and stop off at Intermarché if I want (need) a fillet steak, but that is not very often.
I would, as Celeste suggests, bring some winter woollies. Winter is much shorter here and dryer (usually) but you can find temperatures dropping well below zero for a couple of weeks, but it is a dryer cold not like the long damp winters we remember in Ireland.
Personally, I prefer the foundation and other facial stuff that I used back in Dublin, so I did bring loads with me. I suggest you bring enough of your favourites to get you through the first few months, and then check and see what's available here.
Don't forget to bring originals (where possible) and multiple photocopies of all documents you can think of - birth certificates, marriage cert., driving licences, etc. If you can, scan these as well to PDF, and email yourself (using gmail or yahoo or whatever) with these PDFs. Handy backup just in case.
Best of luck and give us a shout when you get here.
absolutely - brilliant thanks - i was confused with harvey Norman, thought you meant France not Ireland - all good now thanks :)
thanks for all that Celeste.
We are not really caught up on food here, so looking forward to trying out french - meat not really an issue, we don't eat a lot, but wouldn't expect to get the same quality anyway.
Beans and things I won't miss too much either - looking forward to feasting on fresh veg and salads for the summer.
Great tip about the spices - thanks. Not too sure about making them from scrap tho ;-)
So to clarify on the TV thing - I don't have any box or satellite here - would I need to bring something down with me in order to have access to english channels through free-to-air?
Or can I use any dish (buy in france or online) and get a box down there? Or are you saying I need to get an Irish box to use in France to access english channels - and doesn't matter about the dish???
Also, why do you need a French box if you have an existing aerial? Is your acquired aerial analog still?Our TV is full HD and the aerial is digital too.
Congrats on the house, we are delighted we bought, heading down on Saturday to sign with the Notaire and sellers. Still have to shift our cottage here tho :(
Still, we have made progress - that's the main thing :)
Thanks Celeste apologies, I've edited the post now to read we have bought (against all the advice I have had on here).
Door handles for new doors :-) I think we may be replacing them in the future.
I'm confused about the tv stuff. We don't have Sky anyway, and rely here just on aerial irish channels, but the english channels would be nice to have for nature and food programmes (no interest in sport).
Do you pay for your satellite channels? Or just the box in Harvey Normans?Looks like a bit of research is needed once down there - should we take our aerial anyway? Thanks