artemis

Hello Cup of Tea and thanks for the welcome from VAL50. Cup of Tea I am intrigued by your posting and would love to know more about how you have settled in France. Please tell me more! Whereabouts in the mountains do you live, what is living there like and what job did you manage to get? Sorry don't mean to be nosy but it is good to read a post from someone who is happy with their lives in France! We are not scared of change having moved once to another region in the UK and all that entails. All the best, Nicky

cupoftea

Hi - I have posted a couple of times before on the same lines - to try and balance some of the negative things people say about life and work in France. We are high up in the mountains of the Pyrenees in a very small village. I found work (by word of mouth) within two months of arriving, in fact rather more quickly than I had planned! I am a qualified nurse and my career in the UK had left me exhausted and frustrated by all the responsbility and workload. The job I found here was working with one woman in her own home (in the next village)- a team of five of us cared for her round the clock until she died at the end of last year - I had been looking after her for two years by then. I cycled there and back alongside the river every day, and found a lot of pleasure in giving high quality care to just one person. I have since been offered a post in the local Old Peoples Home, something which at the moment I am unable to do because of my health problems. We have found a richness in our life here which is beyond our wildest expectations. We bought a small village house, with a very small garden, but have been given land to use in the village by older people who can no longer work it, and now have two thriving veg gardens - growing enough for ourselves and some left over to sell. Three weeks ago a 90 year old woman from the village gave me all her hens, including the land and hen house, as she is too tired to care for them. She is so happy about the arrangement because she can still see them everyday - so now I sell eggs along with veg! Our teenage son who has special needs (he is autistic) has thrived in this quiet environment and has been welcomed and supported by everyone and now attends a special school two afternoons a week. As I said before, so much depends on a positive attitude and knowing what one's priorities are in life. I know I will never return to England, I don't even want to leave my village for a holiday. When I arrived here I felt I had come home - and I had never visited the area or seen the house before we moved.

L'Acajou

This making a living theme has been much discussed here recently, with the influx of UK visitors locally. We have been here for 3 years, but in that time there has been an influx of Poles, etc into the UK. We know people who happily employ these imigrants in the UK and all is well, but it not the same here. Just yesterday my husband was talking to a couple who are thinking of coming over for a year to have a baby, presumably to stay rent-free in a relatives house etc, with the usual - I'll do a bit of building work on the black, etc etc. Our french friends were positively bristling at the notion, as were we!
They pointed out that we seem to make a good living from the farm, sure we do but we have invested everything we have accrued (very, very hard earned) in the UK and borrowed from the very amenable bank, at a good rate. And we pay heavy social contributions. We took over a thriving business, so there is no comparison. Ours is one of the only easily -transferable skills so language wasn't a problem once we had taught the cows english!.

Also here employers are not keen to take on employees because the employers contributions are two or three times the amount of wages, I kid you not, because unfortunately there is a system where (please correct me if I am wrong) if you go off sick you get I think 90% pay for up to 2 years, so people take a job, work for a short time then make a concious decision to stop work and still get paid almost as much if they worked. This is a big reason why employers don't want to employ even french-speakers. This is likely to change with the new administration, so we shall see.

I'm sorry to sound so negative about living here, we are extremely happy here, our lives have improved a hundred-fold and the future is looking very bright for us and our children but we are not in the average Brits situation. We came to farm and the improved quality of life has come as a very pleasant surprise. Sorry if I sound smug, but we know Brits and French here in various situations. It is the reality of society here. It is different.

cupoftea

I agree that it is not all easy. Like you, I have worked very hard to make a success of life here. I have invested money, time and energy into everything I have done, and don't agree at all with working 'on the black' and taking advantage of the system. On the other hand, I have no problem with the high social charges as I believe in a system which supports those who fall on hard times. There will always be abuses of this which can make people resentful - but I think the changes which are undoubtedly on their way with the pressure to function in a global market, will mean many losses to important values in life and to french culture. There is always a compromise to be had I guess.

L'Acajou

I think our accountant, for example, is in for a shock, he is employed and takes the whole of August off! This is not uncommon, french people have enjoyed these perks for years but it is inevitable that these things change, as you say, globalisation affects everything. Certainly the social structure is impressive but has become incredibly expensive and is abused. Maybe because people know that this is their last chance for a free ride!

It is lovely to hear a story like yours, it is the simple things in life which make this country sublime at times, we have times which are pure bliss! Our four children are aged 4,6,8 & 10 and are bi-lingual and have a fantastic life and future here, which in itself is enough. Just picking cherries and apples in the orchard, fishing in the river bordering our land, collecting walnuts in autumn, catching lizards, picnicking. Sure, there are times when it is difficult to communicate, we have to deal with a lot of technical problems/admin, etc but in spite of this, this life is beyond our dreams.

cupoftea

It seems to me that some of the things that cause people to complain about the french and life in France, could in fact be the same things that give us all the things we treasure. Yes, people take long holidays, long lunch breaks, don't always keep to time scales - but on the other hand, people spend time with their families, enjoy eating together, and don't get worked up and stressed about things in the same way that we do. It would be all too easy to lose the country to the likes of MacDonalds and Wallmart in the pursuit of the American dream.

Jorgi

I moved to France -learnt french-and ran a successsful farm for nearly 7 years. We moved back to UK when I retired. I cannot believe how UK has changed. As soon as our property here is sold we will be moving back to France.
In my last post I said that no where is absolutely perfect but the french life style suits us. Where we live in Wales good jobs are very thin on the ground and well paid jobs almost non existant. The cost of living here is sky high and getting worse. Having experience(recent)of living in UK and France as far as I am concerned there is no contest. France wins on hands down.

val50

Couldn't agree with you more. The quality of our family life increased 100% when we moved to France. It is something they value and respect. I think it's great that people are expected to take long holidays and spend time with their families. The long lunch hours means my husband can come home for his break or we can meet up in town and spend time together during the day.
He never has to bring work home with him and is much more relaxed.
Surely the whole thing about moving to another country (not just France) is to experience a different culture, way of life etc.
We have lived in 8 countries over the last 30 years and despite the language difficulties when we first moved here, can honestly say we have never been happier than we have been here in Normandy. You can look for problems wherever you go. Officialdom rears it's ugly head all over the place. Often the people who moan the most are those trying to be clever and beat the system and then get caught. You may pay higher social contributions but look what you get back in return. Health and education are really very good. In even the smallest village by us there are retirement homes for the elderly, who are well looked after.
One of the reasons we have so many friends come visit us here is that they love the way of life, the fact that people still have some respect for each other, children still have respect for the elders etc. What if it does take weeks to get a "devi" We have found that workmen here still have pride in what they do and have never had to call someone back to make right a bad job. Are we just lucky? I don't think so. We know many people who feel the same way. It's good to have a balance perspective on things,to hear about bad experiences some have had so hopefully others can learn from them and not make the same mistakes. Life is not all milk and honey here, but it is not all doom and gloom either.

L'Acajou

You are absolutely right about the different values here, we often liken it to 30 years or so ago when we were kids, people were generally more respectful and as kids being brought up in a semi-rural environment meant we could play out etc, something few modern kids in the UK get the chance to do. We now are able to spend time together as a family, my husband used to work 90 hours a week and I never saw him in daylight for years!

We are also in awe of the health system here, six months after we arrived my husband had to suddenly go to hospital, briefly, it was found that he had a tiny malignant tumour on a kidney, so the kidney was removed. It was due to the (what seemed at the time) overly thorough scans and tests that this was found, and by coincidence as the initial problem was unrelated and relatively minor, miraculously really. Had we been in the UK I am certain that this would have been found 10-15 years down the line when it would have been too late. So thumbs up for France.

If you want to come to live here, you absolutely must be sure you can make it work, do a business plan, have a contingency and make sure the sums add up. That is the bit where you can't dream! Sorry if I sound cynical, but we have met Brits over here who have invested more money than us and when I mentioned business plan and contingency, I was astonished when they looked completely blank. Needless to say they have lost a valuable opportunity and have a 'for sale' sign up. Too much time spent drinking wine is a common downfall!

cheekyfarkinmonkey

yes actually, its you work 6 months, then you get a 7O percent of take home wage for a year, it goes down to the strict minimum after 1 year, then its the rmi- been down that road

MollyG

This is almost a copy of a post I made to another thread this morning - I hope the moderators don't mind, butI think it's relevant to this thread too.


Yes, it's daunting, thinking of moving to another country, and changing careers at the same time.

But you've got this far, isn't it better to have been and done it than to regret not doing it?

France has a far better education system, an excellent health service and a great sense of community which seems to have been lost in the UK. Yes, the social charges are high, but we've had TAX REFUNDS for each year we've traded in France. We have English speaking doctor, dentist, vet, insurance agent and accountant. We even managed to get a mortgage (and pay it), something which is quite hard here in France unless you've got work. Think of the UK around 15 years ago if you want to imagine the banking system.

But look at all angles! We have a thriving B&B - on a main road (great for passing trade & easy to find), it is viable and profitable, we have almost no competition - we get OVER BOOKED - unlike in the typical tourist areas, where there are 5 rooms for every booking. BUT, there is PLENTY to see here - our clients can go for 100 miles in any direction and see such wonders! We target bikers - a niche market, but most touring bikers are 'born again' - those with kids that have flown the nest, and with plenty of disposable income - they often spend more on their bike than a car!! And i would say that 90% of our clients are English spoken.



Good luck with your search.