Hoggle

We're a young family thinking of relocating to France from rural England. We have two children - 7 & 9 - and our main concern is their education. We've heard about international schools, but we don't know a lot about them.

Without knowing a lot about the various regions of France we struggling on where to start looking. We have no restrictions on work - I work from home and my job will move with me.

Coming from rural England where there's very little happening we would ideally like somewhere with a bit more happening, but probably not one of the major cities. Close to a medium sized town would be ideal - somewhere with nice cafes, restaurants and a bit of entertainment. It would be nice to get back to the UK fairly easily so being close to a decent train or airport would be nice as well, although ideally my wife would like to be able to drive back to the UK by herself or with the children. Being able to get to London/Oxford would be good for me as well.

Money isn't really an issue - we'd be looking to buy outright for cash.

We really just want some ideas on where to look!

Ems_8674

My suggestion based on personal experience (admittedly limited to the East and centre of France) would be somewhere near Annecy. The town itself is beautiful all year round (huge lake, near the skiing in the winter, 30 degrees in summer), lots going on (theatre, sports, lovely restaurants in the old town)and it's great for families. There are a lot of smaller towns and villages nearby and by the end of this year Geneva airport will be only 20 mins away by car. I worked there as a teaching assistant as did many of the friends I made there and to me the education seemed excellent. I'm sure others will suggest other parts of the country but it seemed to fit your criteria so I just thought I'd recommend it!

Ka Ora!

Take some holidays to France. What's good for us may not suit you at all the users in this forum are spread very widely across France and regularly comment on the differences of each region. It's like the Great British north south divide and differences. Here in Ariege its Rural, Backwards hot in the summer very cold and wet in the winter very low population per Sqr mile and close ish to one of Frances big industry Cities Toulouse. It's a bit like the the Rockies, Wales, and NZ rolled into one with French people in it and Spain and Andorra are 25 Mins away.

val50

Where we are in Normandy might be a good area to consider, although I agree with Ka Ora! that it would be a good idea to visit France a bit more and get a feel for the different areas. I also love the Loire, especially around Saumur. In Normandy we have good ferry, rail links back to UK. It's a easy drive from Portsmouth to Oxford by road and train from Portsmouth to London if you didn't want to drive. Ferries go from St Malo, Cherbourg and Caen.
You will find information about international schools in France if you do a search on Google, main one's are in Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon and Nice
This link might also help
http://www.france.english-schools.org/
It is also worth considering sous-contrat schools - again if you do a search on Google you will find more information. It's also been covered a few times on here, so if you do a search of the site you should find more information.

orange blossom

Hi Kia Ora,
I live in beautiful Charente but we have the opportunity to move somewhere else in France. Charente is lovely but we find the winter rather wet and although the summer has been beautiful this year last year it was very very wet. We were wondering if the winter would be better in Languedoc. Where you are is perhaps too cold, but do you know, as you live in that general region, if some regions are better? Are you in the mountainous area?? If so how high above sea level. Oh by the way employment is not a consideration as we are retired.

dmu

I live in the Haut Languedoc (at 350 m) and the winters can be perishing cold (-8°) but with hardly any snow. All seasons can be very wet (we've had rain almost every day for the last 5 days) and the Tramontane wind blows almost continuously. I'm not complaining, I just wanted to warn you that Languedoc doesn't necessarily mean mild/fine weather.

stanage2

Are the winters in all Dept. of France that good, i think not and as we get older we feel the cold more,take the last few days parts of the country have gone from 35 down to 17 think the Charente has had that.

Hoggle

Thanks for that - we'll have a look at Annecy.

We have, and we'll be taking more. However all our holidays so have been just that - holidays. Choosing to live somewhere is a different proposition.

Again, thanks for that. We'll have a look.

That's been very helpful - I've now looked on here and Google and have more information. We're still swayed toward the international schools, but the sous-contrat ones look interesting.

Thank you everyone for your responses so far. I'm sure we'll be back with more questions.

Ka Ora!

Ok cut out the Kia bit my user name is not a drink or a NZ greeting or a car but it is in the Haka as I have spelt it.

That aside we are at about 750 Mtrs, foot hills of the mountains most of our weather does push off the Pyrenees and the quanity and strength of the storms we have is increased. You can say that from the mountains pushing to about 150 kms away the wearther can be very random and very localised although on the plain that Toulouse sits on is prone to good weather but increased cloud/smog. Shift towards the Med and wind becomes the issue this is why there are so many wind turbines there same on the Atlantic side but colder. Out towards Tarbes and behond is not my cup of tea. For me Ariege( As a rule of thumb in Ariege dont live above 500Mtrs), Aude(More expensive as is closer to Carcasonne and flater), Pyrenees Orientals(which includes the Cheaper Med Zoneand also borders Spain) Haute Garonne(In the Areas away from Toulouse towards Ariege)

le plumber

I would certainly look at Annecy - I quite like it down there. I live in Dijon which also ticks most of the boxes for what you are looking for. However we are a bit further away from Geneva airport. There is an airport at Dijon, but it doesn't have any low cost airlines flying in (Although Ryan Air did, they don't seem to anymore.....) Otherwise you can get the TGV train which goes to Paris. On the way it stops at Marne le Valley (Disneyland) and Charles de Gaule (The airport).

You wont find an international school in Dijon though, but the state school education (I think) is very good

orange blossom

Thankyou Ka ora for the information,
Sorry about the spelling. Does your name have the same meaning as the haka,
it is life, or something else.

sdale100

Hi Hoggle,

If it's really proximity you want, stay north! Seriously, I live 20 minutes from Lille (a major city), and 20 minutes from Lens (a medium-sized town), in a rural area. From Lille the TGV takes you to Paris in 1 hour, and the Eurostar takes you to London in 1 hr 20 mins, or to Brussels in 30 minutes. Failing that, Lille has an ever-expanding international airport.
I drove to Cambridge for the weekend, taking the ferry, and the whole trip took me just 5 hours, with a decent break in the middle, but of course it's much quicker on Eurotunnel. Admittedly the weather's not so great, but it's a region tourists tend to neglect, and how wrong they are!

As it's already been said, it's worth taking a BIG tour round France to see what you might like.