Know just what you mean. The medical reason for going back to the UK always amazes me as we have found the medical support here to be excellent and speedy. Not least it’s the pre and post care that we have found so good. For example, OH had a major kidney op and for two weeks after he was home nurses came to our house morning and evening to check his progress, change his dressings and to give him anticoagulant injections. It was incredibly reassuring for me, as he’d had a pulmonary thrombosis and I was more than a little scared of looking after him.
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We are in Loiret - 45
Really interesting opinions and experiences in this thread, if asked to choose I would say that my (our) opinion comes down alongside @Shiba .
We moved here lock stock and non smoking barrel 26 and a half years ago to live in the three room bungalow that had been our holiday home from 7 years before. Sold up in England, never regretted it and hardly ever visited although I went from time to time as part of work and volunteering.
Within a year and with funds from the sale of our UK flat we extended this house by more than 100% on the next piece of land funded by my Dad as an advance inheritance because they had, for a similar sum, baled out my debt ridden brother.
We never ever have regretted it, and indeed very early on my wife and I agreed, that we would never again move further than the small cemetery at the bottom of the hill where she now resides with plenty of room for me to join her when the time comes.
I hope, when you make your decision, that like us, it turns out to be the best you ever did. 
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Wow… some really interesting and thought provoking perspectives here. Thank you all for taking the time to share. Some bullet point info about us by way of context:
Hubby is 62 and retired and I’m 55 and semi retired from my self employed consultancy job. We are fortunate that we don’t need to work and could afford to buy another property in the uk if we needed/wanted to.
I would not say we are antisocial but we do keep ourselves to ourselves. We are already in touch with our neighbours, one of whom was very helpful with a recent goat problem we had 
but we are not social butterflies.
We are both generally in good health bar the usual age related aches and pains. One thing we always said would keep us in the uk was the nhs but sadly that is creaking and crumbling with the demands on it such that health outcomes in the uk are now some of the worst for a relatively rich country.
We have grown up kids who are scattered around the uk and one in Australia. My one reservation about selling up is when they start have their own kids. We don’t see that much of them now as they have their own lives but we would still want to see them and build relationships with any grand kids. We both have kids from previous marriages so the inheritance issues we have considered but think that’s not a good reason on its own to not move. We have helped them out and made our wishes known so they know what’s what after we die.
My French is not great but I have done Duolingo for two years and am willing to put the work in with a tutor to improve. My husbands French is much better than mine.
We can cope with the bureaucracy… we see it as a problem to solve.
We are in Loiret 45 about 10 clicks from a large town with all major amenities including large hospital. We love our property and could live in it full time. We love the peace and quiet, the fact that you can drive places on smooth roads in a reasonable amount of time. We love that the French fiercely guard their cultures and traditions. We love that you can go into an actual shop and buy things rather than having to resort to online. We love the markets….. I could go on. Simply we have not yet found anything that we don’t like.
By social life I don’t mean endless parties or sipping G&Ts on a terrasse, but normal human contact and activities that involve other humans. Lots of research has shown that this is important in ageing well. It’s also important when your car battery dies and you have an unmissable appointment in the next town! It is also a factor when one of you ends up on their own - a long way off, but it will likely happen one day.
The socialising bit depends on temperament. For some it is essential, for others not at all.
My mother was still alive when I left, and I saw more of her once moved than I did when she was only 150 km away. And thanks to Easyjet shared her end of life care with my sisters. Good contact with grandchildren is possible if you are prepared to make the effort, recognising that it will be you who do the running.
It sounds as if you have thought things through carefully and so will probably regret it forever if you don’t give it a go. Good luck.
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Sounds ideal, the only difference to me is that, despite driving the length and breadth of the EU (before Brexit) I now consider the nearest town 15 kms away as unwanted long distance.
The larger village 4 kms away has one butcher, one baker, one presse, one pharmacie, one cabinet medicale, a small supermarket, a post office (my bank) and a spice shop. Other than that and 2 weekly markets, Amazon is my friend and I think they must be getting nervous now suspecting an imminent takeover. 
But most important of all, is a close French neighbour who is my goto emergency friend and life saver. We don’t drink or party together but we do chat and laugh in between the houses and is far and away the most important of our amenities. 
My mother used to say “You never miss what you never had” I agree. You can’t regret what you never experienced.
Life is a series of choices. There’s an infinitude of choices one may have made over one’s life. Not doing something is to do something else. It’s how that works out that may be cause of regret
We have just moved back to the UK after 20 years. We loved our two homes in France, I served on the Conseil Municipal, taught English in a variety settings and my husband created a beautiful and productive organic garden. We had many wonderful kind friends and neighbours.
Then my husband became seriously ill. The cutting edge treatment he had over three years was wonderful and undoubtedly saved his life. The support from agencies like SSIAD and ADSAD was brilliant.
At the end of three years he had considerably reduced mobility, was unable to garden, travel or have any independence. I was his sole carer. Our children in the UK and Spain were frustrated and upset by how little they could do to help us.
We took the decision to come back to the UK and rent a flat which makes mobility easier, is close to family and in a town we know and love. Three weeks in, we are enjoying life, appreciating the huge variety of food available, have got through the administration necessary, including registering with a GP practice in the first week. On Saturday we went out as a family to celebrate Mother’s Day for the first time in twenty years.
We loved our time in France, but we also knew that it was time to come home. Not one of our French friends questioned our decision; they understood the importance of family and are happy for us.
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Your experience really puts what is important into perspective.
You have the right angle of looking at the situation. It was great whilst it lasted, but also the right decision to move on.
I wish you and your other half all the best!
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You must apply for this before you leave the UK. You cannot simply stay in your French house and “convert” your status once you’re there.
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Not Frexit, more the change in temperature towards third party nationals that resident Brits could get caught up in. Even not having got into power Le Pen’s lot have already used tbeir influence to create a climate of change in that direction.
M. Retailleau’s infamous circular and consequences that seem ridiculous for many settled Brits here being a case in point.
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I’m hoping that Burgundy will live up to it’s reputation for hospitality, even though there’s a right-wing trend in society. However while France remains part of the EU I’m not a 3rd country national. 
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A really interesting thread. I think the key points are that “everybody’s different” and also that circumstances change (yes obvs. I know).
If you had asked me six months ago I would have said “yes I am definitely moving to France as soon as I can, after my mother dies”.
But then my partner Di came back into my life (we first dated 40 years ago, for those not up to speed), and in her role as She Whose Views Must Be Taken Into Consideration the plan now is that I will live in Cornwall with her, where she has an established life and circle of friends, and we will just be visitors to France as often as is practicable.
So my feeling is if you have the urge to move to France and the stars align, go for it - but also think where you want to end up when you are not so young and active! And expect the unexpected!
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Well if I was forced to live in England (well GB, I think the Sons of Cornwall (Mabyon Kernow) might quarrel with the England bit), I think Cornwall would be my first choice, but don’t worry, I think that 2 more good looking Anglos might be a tad too much. 
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You will need to learn the national anthem:
A good sword and a trusty hand!
A merry heart and true!
King James’s men shall understand
What Cornish lads can do!
And have they fixed the where and when?
And shall Trelawny die?
Here’s twenty thousand Cornish men
Will know the reason why!
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But we are 3rd nation nationals as the UK left the EU.
We may be, but @Ancient_Mariner is saying that he isn’t. He’s an EU citizen.
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I left the UK for the second time over 30-years ago and will never go back.
Given recent trends I would recommend that you ensure sufficient monetary means especially not relying on UK state pensions given the push to cut UK benefits; overseas recipients of UK state pensions are easy pickings.
OK, I wish I went for Belgium nationality when I had the chance.
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For some reason I knew that from being very little, maybe because my Great Grandmother was very proudly Cornish, but Gt. Grandad, visiting Truro from the family home in Llanelli married her and took her back to live with the wider family. They gave her a hard time because they said she was English and often refused to speak in English when she was around. She swore her 2 sons, my Grandads, would not speak Welsh but they learned it anyway. Sadly nobody passed either language on to me but I used to know those few lines about Trelawny in Cornish, translated from my own English/Cornish dictionary.
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