Dear All,

My family has grown up, my husband has decided to go his own way, and I would love to relocate to France. Having said that, I could do with some positive advice from those of you who have already embarked on moving to France as a single woman.

I'm focussing on Brittany as it seems that there is a sizeable British community living there plus the relative ease of going to the UK to see family. Don't get me wrong - my French isn't too bad and I fully wish to make French friends - it's just I know from experience when living abroad that there are times when it's so important to have fellow Brits within easy contact.

I'm looking at Rightmove and other property websites and wondered if someone could recommend an immobilier who could help me locate a property which would be on the outskirts of a lively town. Also, how easy would it be to rent a place for 3 - 6 months beginning as soon as possible?

OK. Any advice would be welcome. Thank you in advance.

J.

Although I said I was looking at Brittany, I would welcome advice from people who live in Northern France/Northwest France. Basically, I am seeking a town with good railway connections as well as easy access to an airport so that my kids can visit me....Thanks!

Lille is very nice. That's where we are living, anyway. Your children wouldn't even need to travel by air; they could just use Eurostar. It's only an hour's TGV trip away from Paris, anyway.

Before you move, though, have you thought about health insurance? Are you planning to work in France? If not, you will have to provide your own health cover, which can be expensive.

Welcome to the Forum Joy, Should you wish to add to your thread instead of creating a new one you can press the New Reply button Should you get any issues give myself or one of the Admin Team a shout

It is wise to do a lot of research and planning as to how the administration side of things work in France, because it can be a bit daunting. That to one side, I would personally forget Rightmove, as they're not a French specialist and they don't seem to offer much in the way of bargain properties. If you're looking for a English based website, you can search for your area of interest on google, followed by the word immobilier, and you're bound to find plenty of English and French sites.
I found green-acres.com has a lot of property being sold by British (and occasionally French), and as they're usually sold in a private capacity, you can pick up a better bargain by avoiding the estate agent fees which can be very high. Don't forget you will have to pay notaire fees, and the notaire also collects tax on the property which won't be included in the price. If it's being sold by an estate agent, their fees should be included however.

G-J-B is quite right. Research is the key. House prices in France are somewhat depressed, as they are in UK. Brits have been going back to the UK as the €-£ exchange has affected incomes for the ex-pat community. Rentals are reasonable, you may even get a gite at a decent rate as again business for some has been depressed.

Weather in northern France is quite similar to UK, south of Nantes tends to be gentler.

Fees by immobilier are not always included in the sale, so be careful. Also, you can make offers that are inclusive of all fees, agent and notaire. In the end it is what the owner is prepared to accept as their cash in hand.

Good luck, there are many wise women and men who contribute to this site, so ask questios and answers will be forthcoming.

Hi Joy. We moved to Brittany last year, end of May, and it's wonderful. OK the climate won't suit everyone, and it has a rather "rustique" feel for some, but we simply adore it. It's a fair size, so depending on which bit you are interested in, I can happily help with info about our local bit, which is north west Finistere. La Feuillee where we are is just north west of Huelgoat, lovely town a bit like Ambleside in English lakes, and north of Carhaix, largish town with all amenities. We can be at any coast in under an hour, and Roscoff for the ferry back to England is about 40 minutes away on good roads.

We used an amazing guy called Robert Prynne at Cabinet Kerjean who was great, and we bought a little place through him. Very few problems, and any that arose, ie a proxy needed for remote completion etc, he sorted it all out.

Yes, there is a large Brit contingent here, which is great for my OH who doesn't speak French, and we have English neighbours both sides and there are lots in Huelgoat and most of the French shop people in Carhaix have a smattering too. The CPAM lady and the tax office spoke English to help us out, and we have had few problems here.

The weather is dicey sometimes, although last summer we had a fab June and first bit of July, then a crap August, but wonderful Sept and Oct. Most snow in 25 years was followed by a nice spring this year, and this summer has been good too. Turning in wettish now, but as I write this, it's about 18 degrees and sun is out. You need to be able to amuse yourself in the longish winters, so hobbies centred around your own home and company are always useful, but there are lots of things going on here which you can join in with if you are so inclined. Vide greniers most weeks from about May to October, christmas markets, the weekly markets, knitting circles, plant sales, French lessons etc etc.

There is a great organisation called the AIKB based in Gouarec, which helps Brits integrate in Brittany, google them, they have a website - about 30 euros to join then they help you with everything from doing tax returns to starting a business or getting the fosse septique emptied.

Good luck, any help I can give, just shout!

Andy

Many, many thanks to all of you who took the time to reply to me. And now that this is my third post, I'll be able to pm! Thanks again. J x

If you like Brittany the department "les Côtes d'Armor" (in the North of Brittany) is a very beautiful area, the houses are not too much expensive.we've been there for holidays in September,the weather was very nice." The Golfe du Morbihan"( in the South of Brittany) is also a beautiful place, with "la presqu'île de Quiberon" and "Belle-île",two lovely islands.

I'd like to add something : the place where we stayed for holidays in Brittany, is a little village named Plelo.There are several lovely houses (gîte rural) that you can rent for several months if you want. The owner is an Irishwoman, she has a site named:" Les petites maisons dans la prairie"-Plelo.
You also can choose Lille, it's the beautiful city where I live in the north of France,it's easy to go to London by eurostar. There is also an another beautiful region in the north :"la côte d'Opale", in the department of "Pas de Calais". There are towns as Boulogne, Calais,Le Touquet,Berck. I'm fan of this region because is my native department (despite my name,my husband and I are French,it's rather a common name in the north!).The seaside is very beautiful,and between Boulogne and Calais the countryside "le Boulonnais" is very green, and very beautiful as well.".It's easy to go to England By sea from Boulogne or Calais, and it takes only one hour to go to London by eurostar from Calais-Frethun station. And a last little thing: people in France say we are very NICE in the north!

Hi Joy! Regarding choice of places, I completely agree with Salmon that apart from Brittany, Lille, Calais and Bolougne are also very beautiful places to stay in France. I'm saying this from my 3 times experience of visiting these regions. Connected by train, Eurostar and ferry links, these places are easily accessible from the UK and are full of British community too. There should be absolutely no problem for your children to visit you whenever they wish. Good Luck

I would urge you to rent rather than buy to see if you like it. Rental costs are very reasonable - the house buying process is costly and generally speaking houses take longer to sell than in the UK. We have lived here (Normandy) for five years, have lots of French friends and a few English ones. The winters (for me) took a lot of getting used to, it is very quiet, nothing much happens and it is easy to get isolated and bored; this is a major reason why people we know have gone back to the UK. Cost of living for us is similar to the UK, but health cover is expensive and problematic if you are not of state pension age. Despite all this we love living here, visit our family in the UK about 4 times a year and get lots of visitors (especially in summer.) I would advise settling in a large village or town as problems of isolation are greater in the countryside.
Good luck with your decision, sorry if my advice is not all positive, but I think you need to think about the negative aspects as well as the positive - we know, and know of, lots of people who have gone back to the UK because France was not for them.

Whereabouts in Normandy Emily? We have a house in northwestern Calvados which we live in for the summers and will retire to in a few years.

Are you anywhere near?

We are in the south of Calvados, in the beautiful Suisse Normande.

Nice area indeed.