Geoten

Hello
My husband (Spanish)will be moving to Toulouse with Airbus. I will be moving with him with my 2 year old son and another baby due in spring. He is working near the Ramonville offices ( so not the central ones). Which area is good for living with a family and green spaces such as playgrounds etc... I speak French and Spanish and grew up in France in my teens so understand the culture. We are looking for an apartment with if possible a swimming pool. Also a child friendly area near good metro/bus transport links. Ideally an area with child playgroups 'ateliers' so I can meet other mothers from all nationalities. All help much appreciated. Thanks

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!
I can't help on the Toulouse front, but several members live or have lived in the area and will come along soon to help!

petitefrancaise

There are some lovely towns out that way. Castanet Toulousaine for example might meet your requirements and it is an easy commute to ramonville.

There's a very international english language mums and tots group that meets in various places. The website appears to be down right now but its mumsandtots.org. I would suggest you track them down, someone will be living/working near you.

Can't help you with apartment hunting I'm afraid. Will you not get relocation service from Airbus?

Theoule06

One nice village though maybe on wrong side of Toulouse is called Tournefeuille
It is about 20 minutes outside center of Toulouse. Advantage it is still a village
and they have a very good market on Sunday mornings - get good cheese as well as nice strawberries in the summer and the Bakery called Petit Coquin if still there makes very good bread and the home made chocolates at easter and Xmas one will never forget!!

petitefrancaise

This made me smile

Whilst everything you write about Tournefeuille is correct... I don't think I would describe it as a "village". It has a nice town centre, the area around the Mairie and Utopia cinema is especially nice - which is where the market is but it is really a suburb of Toulouse. Tournefeuille/Plaisance/Colomiers/Portet are all one big suburb now, without the signs for each commune you wouldn't know you had passed from one to the other. Rush hour traffic in Tournefeuille is a complete nightmare, the place is gridlocked.
Plus points for Tournefeuille is the relatatively good public transport network, near to La Ramee(huge park), fairly easy to get into Toulouse city centre and right on the ring round to get around the outskirts ( which is why it's gridlocked at rush hour). Schools are ok, huge international community living around there thanks to airbus proximity. Housing is plentiful and finding a "residence"n (apartment complex) should be easy. Not a bad commute round to the OP's work either (but rush hour blah blah blah).

Tweedpipe

Must agree in general with most points above. Tournefeuille is very pleasant and some lovely villas there - we lived there for 3 years. BUT........it's expensive! The agencies realised some while ago that Tournefeuille was proving as popular if not more 'tendance' than Pibrac(shire), which in turn drove rental & purchase prices upwards.
Commuting from Tournefeuille to Ramonville is certainly feasible, but if it were me I'd be looking more around St Orens for a less stressful commute.

petitefrancaise

That rush hour traffic!! For my work, I had to go to the Dental School near Rangeuil for a while. Nightmare. I have friends who worked at the airbus/EADS site at Ramonville, you can cut over the hill from Castenet to avoid the main roads.