My wife, daughter of 16 and myself are seriously considering taking the plunge and moving to "La belle France". We've been over twice this year looking for a suitable property to do gites and B and B from but have not found the right one yet. We go again in three weeks to look at a few more (as we feel we need to be sorted before spring) and have an interview at the local Lycee for our daughter to start at next September - all being well. Apart from the obvious doubts re. the right property, annual income etc. the equally important issues regarding tax, social security and health care are a bit more difficult to find out about. We are in our late fifties, so not eligible for retirement, speak reasonable French and do have friends and extended family there.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hello Throbster
If you're running gites as a business, the tax and healthcare will sort itself out. (Well not literally - you will have to help it along a bit - but it will be easily sortout-able.)

It might be unwise to rely on gites as the sole income for a family unless you're very confident, but if you have savings to fall back on then why not.

Sixteen might a tricky age to swap countries though. Where will that leave her with her GCSEs?

Welcome to the section at 16 how is your daughters French? Because at that age it's going to be hard work catching up...

Thanks for your prompt replies.
She'll be taking her GCSEs before we hope to go. I would be going first in order to catch the season, with them coming in July when she's finished them all. Her french is not as good as ours, but I understand that the first year at Lycee is a "getting to grips" with it one and that year 2 is when they knuckle down. I would hope to supplement our income by doing gardening, maintenance and house checking for the holiday home market.

Which bac is your daughter likely to want to take? If she wants to take a 'good' one it's not going to be a walk in the park even in her first year because it could be a bit of a culture shock, she'll likely find school very different from the UK - the teaching style, the expectations, and depending on what options she takes, the subjects themselves, some will be probably be totally new for her. The first year of the course is really about discovering her strengths and weaknesses, and if at the end of the year she hasn't "got to grips", she will be able to repeat the year.

The gite season tends to be quite short unless you're in a winter sports area, and it co-incides with when gardens need doing regularly and people want property and pool maintenance done, so if you need a year-round income maybe you should have a plan for winter too...

Which part of France are you looking at?

Hi and welcome to the Forum!
The first year of Lycée is a "hinge" year, where the pupils decide which Bac to take: Science, Letters or Economy. But be aware that ALL subjects have to be taken (with the addition of Philosophy) and the final mark will be an average of all the marks (with different coefficients depending on the Bac taken).
Second year Lycée is the French Bac, which includes an Oral to discuss a French work taken at random from a list (= many books to read at depth). Students who have chosen a Bac L (and maybe ES) also take the scientific subjects (Maths, Biology, Physics) at the end of Year 2.
Final year Lycée, pupils have to cope with Philosophy, in addition to all the subjects not yet examined. This is a bane for all French students and very few get a more than 10/20 in the Bac and it brings down their average, but there it is.... Sport is also examined, and you may not be aware that, in addition to the usual English as first foreign language, pupils will have learnt a second language in Collège (usually Spanish or German), which will also be examined (analysis of a Spanish/German text in French...)
Will your daughter "whose French isn't as good as ours" be capable of writing essays in French in ALL the subjects as from Day 1? Having been through two lots of Bacs with my daughters, I can confirm that students have to study French literature thoroughly and be able to analyse all the works included in that year's Bac. Even for the English courses, your daughter must be able to translate into good French.
All this means an awful lot of homework to cope with, in all the subjects...
I'm simply giving facts here, from experience - up to you and your daughter to decide whether she'll cope or not. It will be interesting to hear the advice given by the Lycée where you have an interview.
Have you not considered an International School, so that your daughter can finish her English Curriculum? Or even wait a couple of years to allow her to finish her schooling in the UK? You should all think about her future (you need to pass the Bac to enter a French University).
Another aspect which should be mentioned is that adolescents have their own personal problems at the best of times, and need friends or other relatives to discuss them. She'll only have you in France, at least at the beginning, and, from experience, parents are the last people that teenagers confide in....
In addition to the question of earning a living dealt with by others, hope this gives you food for thought! Fore-warned is fore-armed!

I think it'll depend a lot on which way she leans - if she's more maths and sciences, her studies to date would, I imagine, be more transferable. Though saying that, mathemeticians and scientists as a whole usually it finder harder to pick up languages. But at the end of the day, if she's a bright girl and motivated to make a go of it, and the lycée is supportive, she'll get there. Kids are very adaptable when they want to be

As mentioned in the New Thread which I've just posted, ALL subjects are taken in the Bac, whatever a pupil's leanings are.

The Bac would be beyond most pupils from schools in the UK.

Oi! Cut the bullshit if you'd be so kind.

Do I take it you're a left-brainer then ?

Yes but they're weighted differently.

True, but my younger daughter who took Bac L was hopeless in Maths and even with a lower coefficient, her mark in Maths brought her average down.
This has reminded me of another point to add to the other thread!

Ambidextrous

our son is ambidextrous - it was fascinating watching him develop - he now does most things right handedly but still often eats left handedly and doesnt bother with a backhand in tennis

ps for what it is worth I think is it insane to bring a 16year old to France - leave it for 2 years and then come out alone - she will probably return to the uk for uni anyway! My daughter found the BAC hugely challenging and she had been n France for 8years !