Hello, I joined because I was half thinking about retiring to France.Having read all the posts for a few weeks now I am more than happy to stay at home as the french and their attitudes,the bureaucracy, and the weight of negative postings have cleared my mind and this little englander is happy to stay at home.I will just have to buy more wine,bread and cheese at the deli.Being a vegetarian did not seem to help either.
So many thanks to all the subscribers of the last few weeks who helped me see things as they are.
France is a great place to retire but as long as you do not plan to work in France in my opinion. It can be far too complicated to get the work papers and business set up under French law.
If you are not needing to work and would literally retire and be here for the food and weather etc then certainly I would recommend the area and especially Agde.
we get alot of rain in winter, not as hot as you are in summer.the roses are usually superb as is the lavender and liliac, My english yew hedge is 6ft in 9yrs, veg not a great success unless well watered,The tree peonias and normal tuber varietys are good as well. The flower market inTour is great place to buy plants and get advice from local nursery growers although they are often a bit optimistic about the survival of the less hardy plants such as mimosa and bouganvillier all of which I would love to have ,
Perfect advice John.....well..at least I wholeheartedly agree....for those of us who rushed in.. time to repent....and weirdly...am not managing to grow some of the stuff here I did in the UK! that was a main reason for moving....am a manic gardener...hoping to have more exotic stuff... silly me...again...didnt research areas well enough...missed the fact that though the Dordogne is hot in summer...winters are far colder...so we lost everything...in fact we regularly lose most things in the garden that are not hardy in northern Scotland!
rent first do not buy until your sure ,stay over a winter, live in a town or village with a bus service and shops.Be a little reserved in dealing with your nieghbours till they get used to you.The french are fine where I am in the loir because they are used to strangers, the parisians own most of the best properties as holiday homes so locals like to see homes occupied full time remember in the fullness of time your likely to return to the UK, but France is delightful ,my garden here grows all the things I had wished for in the UK but which never seemed to thrive there
oh and let's not forget that it isn't always a fantastic experience... unfortunately there are always some people for whom it doesn't work or doesn't turn out to be what they expected. having a holiday somewhere, even for weeks at a time each year and living somewhere, earning a living, dealing with day to day life and admin/bureaucracy in a foreign language are not the same thing and some people pay dearly for making this mistake. Me, I love it (but that would probably be the case if I had moved to Italy rather than France, it was a very close call!) even if it is a bit cold at the moment ;-)
so very true about the different expreriences of France depending on what stage of life you at and the big difference between working or retired, mixed nationality couple or 100% "etranger", kids or not, family here or not I could go on but I won't as you sumed it up in your last line AM "different..."
I think this is a little sad :-( Living in France is an beautiful experience however I think if one moves to France for retirement then this is another question altogether, moving here and being retired is not moving here and working, mixing and getting to make some brilliant friends, the french are as the french are, as are the british !! I am employed here in France and have been for the last 14 - 15 years ! The french can be so very very kind when you try to speak their language and make mistakes :-) they will take the p... and then tell you the correct way of saying something :-) I still go on and make my mistakes, but they appreciate that I do make an effort :-)
If I had moved here to retire I am absolutley certain that I would not have had the same feelings about living here, it would have been more difficult to adapt at a later age
Sometimes I think that I would love to go home to Blighty, then again I think of all the advantages that I have here and the lovely life and friends :-) The food, the cosy Sunday lunches whereby we all sit and chat over a meal that takes over 3-4 hours to consume :-) The family / friendly feeling when we all get together is lovely :-)
The medical care is second to none and the children not being bought up with mom and dad going to pubs is another reason to be happy here :-) The crazy soaps on tele are another thing that I do miss, however I dont miss the fact that oohhh Eastenders is on everyone be quiet now !!! etc....... My children are all grown up now and when they go out in the evenings they are usually invited to friends houses for a meal and not 4 or 5 hours down the pub !!!!
Di fferent opinions :-) Different lives:-) Different experiences :-) Thats life and thats cool !!!!!!
I am back in France by the 10th Feb (though our return booked with Sea France...so alternatives will need to be sought!)...but returning March for a friends birthday party... so that could be do-able...
Have just been to the Corn Exchange in Newbury...and seen the film...The Well Diggers Daughter a film by and starring Daniel Auteuil....from the Marcel Pagnol book...and I have realised the problem I am having settling in....its the wrong century! all my French reading, plays, films...are from the early 1900's onwards...maybe that is what I was expecting..anyway...apart from an impossible to understand provencal accent (thank goodness for the subtitles...) an amazingly fab film..wholeheartedly recommended.....
certainly take heart....we put our ours on the market just as the property slide began...took us 20 months to sell...3 buyers...all losing their own buyers...then along came magic number 4...and despite hold ups and probs..we eventually sold...at the worst possible time...so you will be fine.. happens when you are not looking or thinking about it...
lovely area....we thought property was moving fairly fast here...every week I look at properties for sale in Newbury and they seem to be selling quite fast.. certainly a lot faster than they were when we left in 2009...
haha! I love charity shops...my saturdays in Newbury...begin with a troll around the 9 charity shops..some lovely things are drooled over and usually purchased! I would love to have similar charity shops where I live now...just outside of Eymet...we have a couple of junk shops and one is a charity shop...though the clothes are..er...different! not anything I would buy..maybe I am spoilt in Newbury...and I go to London sometimes..wonderful charity shops in parts....some even have bouncers due to the expensive stock...there are fewer regulations with clothes exchange than catering...
