Thank you Wendy - I am downloading Memrise this very second! I think it is a case of immersing ourselves in French, and we are trying to speak it at home when we get time...Christmas dinner could be very interesting when the whole family arrives next month!
Merci :-)
Hello Paul,
I have to say I am blown away by the helpful advice and feelgood here! It simply confirms our great desire to get to France and enjoy!
On the subject of wills, do you know does a will drawn up in the UK suffice if residing in France, or is a French one more 'efficient'?
Good morning Paul & Val,
We visited Riberac on our second last trip and really liked that area! Beautiful scenery!
Funny you should say that, but it did occur to me that something along those lines could happen to us too, so we are moving tout de suite before either of our children go down that route!!!
I agree with you completely - I don't think we would gain the many benefits of moving to France unless we had the £s sorted...and this is why we are taking our time, researching and joining very interesting and informative forums - vive SFN!
I hope you get to relocate soon, and in the meantime take every opportunity to enjoy that beautiful autumn sunshine...!
Janet I am actually laughing out loud as my husband (TBM) has dictionaries everywhere too, and also has an audio course playing in the car!! We have decided that the whole experience is to be an adventure, rather than a process, although I am sure that we will have down days too!
Since we won't be retired, we are investigating the cost of health care, and believe that we will have to take out a top-up policy, so thank you for that. I trust that your husband is in better health now - it sounds like you have a lovely lifestyle, and that is exactly what we are after.
Merci!
Hello Julia,
We drove through Nogaro on our last visit during one of our meandering days! We really like that area - we stayed in Riscle and visited Eauze and Marciac also.
We are more than happy to have seasons, as TBM thinks it's better for his veg patch!
SFN is such a good source of information and I'm really glad I came upon it. I imagine that sometime somewhere we could be bumping into SFN members once we make the move!
Thank you :-) I will be in touch for sure as we have had a look at a lot of houses, but just can't seem to find 'the one'!
Duolingo is great. Another good site for learning vocabulary is Memrise - also free. Bonne chance!
Greetings,
We're literally just over the border in Haute Pyrennes, so bare in mind the very southern end of Gers can/will at times have horrendous thunderstorms.
Tips, all of what everyone else has said, but also make sure you have enough money/pension to survive. There are far too many folk who thought they could move over and live on a prayer/the good life/start a new career/get a job, and have ended up somewhat desperate.
As the £ is relatively strong now's an excellant time to make a killing on house prices.
Hi Daisy,
Firstly congratulations on getting this far, the next few weeks/months will go by in the blink of an eye.
Lots of really good advice from the other contributors, all I can add really is learning the language - try Duolingo.com its free, similar to Babble but without the adds and sales pitch to buy add-ons. Duo is very intuitive and you have the option to review your progress before moving on, Language is everything, words are the most important thing to learn first, the complete opposite to night school which focuses on the finer detail. All well and good in the end but not much use if you cant actually say what it is you are looking for. Accents are just as varied as in the UK, again night school tends to teach Parisian French, which is like learning BBC dialect and where I live they speak Cornish. People are very friendly and will always try their best to help you in my experience, but you have to at least try and speak some French at the beginning, you will be surprised how quickly your vocabulary grows and before you know it you will be having short chats with your neighbours and in shops.
It is true that you need to get your ducks in a row as it were with health care, finances and wills etc, but that aside it can be a very rewarding move and an excellent way of life. Embrace the differences and you will be fine.
Good luck!
Paul.
Speaking as an outsider...
We have our holiday home near Riberac in the sunny Dordogne, built in the nineties with the intention of eventually retiring there.
Here we are, still living in UK after retirement, and no plans yet to emigrate! Why?
Mainly because before we could say 'zut alors'' our 2 children produced 6 grandchildren and we felt a strong emotional pull to be doting grandparents. And, we have a good active life here living in the lovely city of Salisbury.
However, having just returned from 20 degrees plus which continues in the Dordogne while back here it is persistently raining with wind chill, we can certainly see the attraction of moving to a better climate. With the grandchildren now growing up, we are turning our thoughts to spending extended periods out there, who knows what the future holds?
I would say that your first priority is the obvious need to have your finances well sorted, there are many costs such as health insurance that you need to be aware of. There are many publications to help with this , being comfortable financially gives peace of mind on top of the 'joie de vie'.
Secondly, make learning french your 'spare' time priority. We always visit our neighbours on arrival in France to catch up with the local news and gossip. It tunes us up in french! Don't only look up the local UK expats, throw yourselves into the local french community, especially good advice from Sandy was to visit the Mairie.
You have made an excellent decision to join SFR and over the coming months will be assimilating loads of really useful information, especially may I say, if you have or install a swimming pool at your new home. John Withall is just brilliant at all things pool related!
Bon courage!
Paul & Val
Good luck. Learning French is really helpful and as Sandy said just keep adding to your vocabulary. My husband has dictionaries all over the place, jacket pockets, glove compartment of the car etc and he looks words up as he sees them and wants to know what they mean. I think the best advice with French is just to try. The French love it when you try, and so long as they understand you that's what counts. If you say "yesterday I go to shopping" they understand even if the grammar is all wrong. I think Michel Thomas calls it "getting the ball over the net", (as in tennis), you do not need to smash an ace, just get the ball back over the net!
The other thing I would say is make sure you are covered healthcare wise. My husband has had 3 stays in hospital lasting all told about 11 weeks since we arrived Mid 2013. The French healthcare is fabulous but it is a bit worrying if you are concerned about paying huge bills when all you should be worried about is getting better. We have been lucky and his care has manly been fully state funded as it was all life threatening or transplants which are covered 100% (Except for the €18 per night B+B charges for staying in a hospital). We also had an S1 and now I have worked I am in the system. But worth being covered!
We try to join in with all events in the village so we can talk French and mix with the locals, it's good fun and you make friends. Expat groups like this one and on facebook etc are great for info and advice about the administration, of which France famous for, so join some of those too. Above all enjoy your selves and Bon Chance!
Hi Daisy
You have chosen well! I live in the Gers (nr Nogaro, to the west), and love it here. Yes, generally winters are mild, though January/February can be rainy. We usually get a bit of frost but it's rare to have major freezes. Snow is rare, and is usually gone either within a couple of hours or a day. However, with climate change, things are changing here. When there was a really bad winter in the UK about 3 years ago, we had -8C here for about 2 weeks (and the British government says it's not cold enough for pensioners here to receive the winter fuel allowance....). Being to the west of the Gers we do sometimes catch the winds that blow off the Atlantic but generally the weather is good.
Sandy Hewlett mentions finding local websites - there is a Gers facebook page - Gers Englishspeaking community
I work as an agent for Leggett Immobilier, so if you would like me to help you find your new home, please PM me your email address (and phone number if you like) and I would be delighted to assist! Here's a link to: My portfolio
Those are brilliant suggestions Sandy, thank you, and we will take on board all of those points! My husband has the French dictionary out as we speak...
It is so exciting, yet a little daunting to be beginning a new chapter in a different country. It is stressful enough to move house, never mind to a different country - yet I can't wait to get packing! If all goes according to plan, we hope to be spending our first Christmas in France next year. No doubt, I will be a regular visitor here, so please everyone forgive me if I turn out to be a torture!
Good evening David!
Thank you for the link - and it's in French too so that's always a good way of stretching the mental muscles. I know there are little micro climates all over France, so I suppose we simply hope that it is in general a better climate than the UK. I'm looking forward to finding out!
Well the plan is when we get there, we intend to stay! We have always planned to retire to France, and I can't believe how quickly it has actually come around!
Thank you for replying - I do realise I have probably asked what a lot of other people have, but I am always eager to hear from people actually living their dream!
I'm not in your area but offer the following:
(1) learning French. Learn lots of nouns first, loads of them. Worry about the grammar later, it will be easier to knit together a phrase if you don't have to keep trying to remember the things you are describing, wanting etc. Learn three new things a day ... build up your vocabulary. French lessons will give you the grammar but you will have a strong base of 'things' in your head.
(2) Research local Facebook groups for people in your area and join those. AngloInfo also has regional groups. Before we arrived I posted a "we're on our way" message on one of these and got very welcoming replies and met people who, to this day, remain friends and have helped us to settle and integrate.
(3) Introduce yourself at the mairie and ask for advice. If you are looking for tradesmen, builders, etc., then ask at the mairie. They will be happy to suggest local tradespeople with a good reputation (they're not going to suggest any baddies!) and will be pleased to see you're supporting the local community with work.
(4) Enquire about language classes - in this area we have a French/English group to learn each other's language and it has helped us to make new friends.
Good luck.
I learn each day of more changes which have been made in Uk and it scares me to think
of going back.
Most of my close friends are still in Uk but when they come here to see me we can relax.
Only you can decide.