lynntolmon

hello. me and my best mate are sick of liverpool (he grew up here, i have no excuse!) and we want to move to the loire valley. we have english friends there, but it's very daunting.

where do we start?

have an awesome day!

Chatter Static

Welcome to the forum....

Find a house ask questions lots of question then buy house and move.

EuroTrash

Learning French is a cool place to start too

Chatter Static

cyrian

Hi Lynn

We adore Saumur but in the end we thought that it was a bit too far from the transport links to get back to the UK.
We chose to live just outside Tours because of the aforementioned transport links - autoroute; airport and TGV.
Also, France closes down on Sundays. You have boulangers; florists and a few restaurants =- nothing else.
I have also been in Saumur in winter and it is a bit grey and miserable.
It is really nothing like Saumur in the summer.
We are going to a double 60th birthday party in Liverpool in April.
It is Brenda from West Derby - you probably know her - everybody in Liverpool knows her
Saumur is nothing like Liverpool - direct opposites in fact.
Why don't you rent somewhere initially and explore the area and see what you really like.
There is a member of BE called Le Chant who I am sure would be delighted to rent you accommodation and offer you advice. You can get his details from a sticky at the top of the France page.
Good luck

Fergusondeere

Hello there!
Saumur is a rather nice area to live, but like the previous posts it is a bit far out of the way, have you considered anywhere south of Nantes like La Vendée?
In all fairness I like it because it's where I grew up (My parents moved from Norfolk when I was 7 months old) And I miss it every day having moved back 5 years ago.

Places to start from my opinion would be to go and spend some extended time out there get to actually experience the every day life and not the summer holiday atmosphere. Also it would defienetly be worth thinking about what you're both going to do for money out there, the French way of life is quite expensive now with things such as shopping and bills being more than england, this is balanced out by cheap housing though.

Also be aware that finding a job is no easier than getting one over here, with a lot of smaller companies preferring to keep it in the local community, and not giving it to "Les anglais" as we found out there.

Anyway all I can say is I wish you the best of luck! Bonne chance et bon courage!

EuroTrash

You've probably thought of this but if you're sick of Liverpool, there's other places in the UK you can move to with a lot less stress and hassle and a lot less risk of it all going belly-up. You don't have to move to the Loire valley to get away from L'pool.

Just a though

(although you'd still have to learn the local lingo, getting by on Scouse might be tricky if you move south )

Tweedpipe

If you want to believe a comment in this BBC radio broadcast, perhaps anyone from Liverpool doesn't need to 're-learn' French, it comes naturally with their accent..........

cyrian

A bit patronising guys considering that you have no idea how the OP speaks.
Nicky Campbell is from Edinburgh where the local accent can be tricky and he went to University of Aberdeen where the accent can be impossible - even for a Scot.

EuroTrash

The smiley was a clue that it was a JOKE. Just tryin' a bit of banter to make a rather quiet forum into a more convivial place to hang out on a grey day, no offence meant.
Most Scousers I have ever met would have laughed at it, anyways. Scousers usually have a cracking sense of humour and anyone who starts of 'me and my best mate' doesn't sound like they're going stand on their dignity too much, plus in any case the OP seems to have vanished never to return, but apologies lyntolmon if you are still with us and I hurt your feelings.

Who's Nicky Campbell? Should I have heard of him/her? What's he/she to do with this thread - is he/she thinking of moving to the Loire valley?

cyrian

He is a radio & tv presenter who is featured in TP's BBC link that took the scouse vs French link just a bit ott.

EuroTrash

Ah, OK, thanks, I understand now. sorry to be dim, I haven't listened to BBC radio since they took Terry Wogan off the morning show on R2, and it's even longer since I saw any UK TV.