Who’d buy it though? 
So true! Very well put!
LOL - Though I have to say I have never seen an old codger in saggy lycra - it has always been tight. In fact too tight. In fact * takes deep breath and prepares to be publicly virtually stoned *
I don’t think people should wear lycra.
There. I have said it.
I’m off to walk my sturdy dogs now…
The very same…
Is this the same woman who had a hissy fit on her blog about you??!
I agree that your own attitude to life makes an enormous difference and moving into any new situation requires a lot if adjustment. You need to be clear about why you made the move - for us it was wanting to spend more time together rather than letting stressful jobs eat our time. We do still work here but for ourselves and we get to have lunch together most days and in the tough days that is what makes it all worthwhile . It seems that only the glass half empty stories make the press
Catherine’s term ‘be happy with yourself’ says it all!
We moved here 10 years ago with our 2 children - no dream was envisaged, in fact we were prepared for some tough years ahead. This is our life, we love the french people and the french way of life and most of all, we are happy together as a family. We came here determined that there is only one way to make this work for us and that is to get on with it - ten years later and not one regret at all.
We moved from the very south west peninsula of Cornwall and some may say we already had an idillic life but I know where I’d rather be and I can also appreciate (as well as be thankful for) the fact that it doesn’t suit everyone.
I don’t know who this woman is, but like many others who have posted responses, all I can say is “she didn’t do her research”. It’s not rocket science - you can easily establish from internet sources what the infrastructure is like in any given region. You need to be clear about why you’re moving to another country. I love Ireland and am proud to be Irish, and yes we’ve had difficult times in this country. I also love France - but have only experienced France as a tourist. You cannot know what life will be like in your host country until you live there - so we’re going in about 2 weeks to spend 3 months there, in rented accommodation. If we don’t like it, we can leave. If we do like it, we will return later in the year for an extended stay of at least 1 year. I have already visited the village where we will be staying for 3 months, and I already know we will need a car. I already know how far I will have to drive to get to the cinema, etc. So the shops/supermarkets are different. Yes!
We want to experience living in a different culture. I do not want to replicate my suburban life in Dublin. I am looking forward to going to the markets, exploring the region, meeting people, buying cheap wine!
I know nothing of the person who is featured in the article, so I won’t comment on that specifically. However, how many of us, no matter how much research we did before coming here, can honestly say that living in France is exactly as they expected it to be? You have to live in a place before you really understand the upsides and downsides - and after 14 years, I’m still on a learning curve.
If I am honest, I am probably no happier than I would have been had I stayed in England, but that might be because I’m the person I am. I certainly don’t earn anything like as much as I did before. However, I am probably healthier and I certainly live in a much nicer house than I would ever have been able to afford in the southern half of the UK.
There is no Utopia: wherever you live has its downsides. It’s what you make of it that counts.
…says the man living in Germany!!
Point well made Catherine. I always feel when someone protest’s too much, that there is something they are really trying to hide. Perhaps she is missing France more than she would care to admit.
I think if anyone moved anywhere expecting a Utopian dream when they arrived, they are going to be in for a shock. I also feel moving to another country because you hate the one you are leaving, is also a terrible way to start your new life. I love the UK, and all it’s funny ways, but I just happen to love my life in France , with all it’s funny ways, a great deal more.
Lets all be honest , when the sunshine burst’s through on us all in the next few weeks, to usher in a beautiful new spring, those freezing cold rainy evenings in Cardiff or London won’t have quite the same appeal 
Personally I would take this all with a large pinch of salt (or spoonful of Marmite)
Melanie Jones or Mme Marmite as she is known in the blogging world, is the same woman who (allegedly) received death threats from members of ‘French’ forums after the last episode when she ‘talked to the press.’ So I really don’t understand why she is doing it again.
The last time I heard, the Expat Telegraph don’t even pay for this type of content, so one really has to question her motives.
For us it was never ‘a dream’. We bought a second home, decided to take some time out of IT consultancy to have fun & spend a summer in France…we then thought it might be fun to have babies & stay in France and now we live here. We hadn’t really saved enough though so we still rely largely on IT consultancy which means my hubby has to go working away from home occasionally. Since we didn’t have ‘the dream’ and we know that in reality you still need a decent income, we accept that one of us will always be working some of the time away from home. It works for us for now. Maybe not in the future, it’s not easy but at the moment we still think it’s worth it to be in France.
I agree - I think if people bought a house in the middle of the UK countryside away from anywhere they might find themselves unhappy if they were used to the benefits of city living!
Couldn’t agree more with Catherine. I’ve met a few, very few, unhappy people who wished they had never made the move, mainly for social reasons. Research it, then research it again. It took us 5 years to make the final decision to move and we have never regretted it.
Think the key phrase here is
“being happy in yourself” …
I agree with you Gill, everywhere has it’s bad days! I moved here from London and, yes David I’m living somewhere in the Charente that’s quite fieldy:) but it was a deliberate decision. I love life here and know that my boys love it, even when they compare it with the things they miss about city life. If you’re happy in yourself, does it matter where you live? BTW I moved in 2006 and I’ve done about 70,000 miles, but I’ve been to Southern Spain twice and I learnt to drive 6 weeks before moving- I never needed a car in London!
The dream’s still here, sort of, + work, but family’s in Uk = one very undecided person…
Life’s what you make it! I agree France has its BAD days … (usually when I’ve got a form to fill in or a phone call to make…) but I feel the positives here outweigh the negatives. 20,000 miles driving? Ridiculous. And why can’t she drive her kiddies 14km to the local cinema? My hubby and I see the fact we live away from towns (albiet in quite a lively village) means that we have to accept that travelling will be a part of our lives. I agee, the ‘green grass’ beckons sometimes from the UK, but I think you’ll find when you get there, it’s actually brown…and covered with dog poo and fag ends… !