Hi, wondered if anyone could give me some advice? Me, my husband and 2 children aged 8 and 5 are hopefully going to relocate to Pau in Spring next year. It looks like a beautiful part of france with an excellent climate. Also the fact that there is an International school has also drawn us to the area.
My husband is a qualified mechanic and also a Landscape Gardener, can anyone give any advice as to the need for these skills in the expat or french communities.

I would love to hear from anyone who has recently moved to Pau and how they have found it. Also we will be looking to buy a property and if you can suggest good areas in and around Pau where you can still pick up a bargain property I would love to know?

Many thanks and look forward to hearing from you.

Welcome to the forum, I hope you are familiar with Pau's winter climate which can be quite cold as it's some what similar to the Ariege. Bargin properties are prone to being the more run down and very rural ones, We looked at a few around Pau when we first started looking but ended up somewhere else. The job market here is pretty to very slim at the moment unemployment figures are on the up, But jobs can be found I would not be inclined to rely on the/an expat community for income as most are feeling the pinch.

Don't let it all sound bad, over the last 8 years things have changed a lot.

Thanks for your reply, so where did you end living in the end?

We live an hour east of Pau in the Hautes-Pyrenees and as Ka Ora mentioned, the winters can be hard. We had temperatures of -15 last winter and it stayed below zero for a couple of weeks. On the plus side, the area is beautiful, the summers can be hot and there is so much to do if you enjoy the outdoor life.

There are a number of expats plying the gardening / landscaping market around this area and I think it may be tough unless you are planning to target the French market as well. How is your French, as that may be the key to getting sufficient business. Remember also that the cost of setting up and running a business in France can be prohibitive. Take plenty of advice and it may even be worth paying for a little bit of professional advice.

The same advice applies to all really - do lots of research and then research some more!!

Life can be great here, but as with moving to any new country, there will be a lot of obstacles to overcome. Good luck if you do decide to move here.

We are in the Midi Pyrenees,.

Hi, and welcome to the forum!
You didn't ask about schooling for your children, but there shouldn't be any problem. The younger will be in the last year of Maternelle and will be bilingual by the time he/she goes up to "CP" in Primaire when French children learn to read and write. The elder one will be in Primaire and will soon pick up French and adapt to the French Education System. When you've got your property, go to the Mairie and then meet the Directeur of the local School. (All Communes have a Maternelle/Primaire and there's always a good schoolbus network for outlying hamlets).
A good mechanic should always find work, but landscape gardening is a luxury nowadays. In my local free paper there are small ads. for jobbing gardeners but nothing grander.
Otherwise I'm in the Languedoc and don't know the Pau area enough to help.
Good luck!

Hi and thanks for your advice. I am assuming that you have children who have entered the French educational system. If so, how have you found supporting them with homework the richer that their french grows? I do intend to learn french but I imagine that my youngest will learn it at a quicker rate then I will.

Hi, my two were born here (with a French Papa), so we had no problem!
On the other hand, I couldn't help them with French Literature or Philosophy!

I did A level french and had a reasonable level still on arrival; I have found that homework up to college; even second year of college is fine(except literature!). My level/ knowledge of grammar is still higher than my kids. However orally they are far in advance of me!

Thanks for that. Do they tend to speak more french or english at home? Do you live within an expat community or more involved with french life? Sorry for all the questions, I will probably send my youngest who is 5 to french school, I think this is a perfect age and I understand they absorb it very quickly. However my eldest who is 8, struggles at school in the UK and I think would find it extremely difficult to settle in french school so would probably enrol in an International school. I fully intend to learn French myself and remember little bits from school and have begun studying again now, but I suppose I would be learning the language alongside my 5 year old.

Hi, it was an uphill struggle speaking English with them, since they were in an entirely French environment (OH and inlaws, their carer, Maternelle, Primaire, friends...) It was only when they went to Collège (secondary school) that they realized that they shouldn't reject their Mum's mother tongue and now, as adults and away from the nest, they are bilingual.
My "expat community" consists of my elderly neighbour and we regularly have a good chat, otherwise I tend to avoid too much contact with the few expats that are in our area.

Interesting comment!
We've been located here a few years now, and I still have no idea if there are any other Expats in the village (or neighbouring town), I guess there are because in the large LeClerc store there is a shelf stocked with English products.
It's certainly not that I'm anti-social - in fact the OH says as far as mixing goes I'd put a Kenwood Chef to shame.
I think it's simply that having decided to live here we enjoy the authentic French way of life, seeing/hearing the locals talk, getting to know them and becoming part of the community.
Just to get some practice in I've even been thumping this out on an AZERTY Keyboard. That proves it, I must be going é*!çà èç* nuts...

My 2 generally speak english at home to each other and to me; to their friends it is french, although my daughter attends the english section of a french college, so has some english speaking friends.
I always speak in french when discussing homework with them,, both to reinforce vocab and to try and reinforce their and my french.

We live in a very french village and choose not to have a lot of english friends, although one or two have crept in!

Hi, I lived 2 years in Pyrenees, near Lourdes and then near Pau. Beautiful region, a lot of British families in villages surrounding Pau.
My advice: keep your children away from this International school of Bearn and send them to local schools. Keep you money for extra French lessons. I know what I' m talking about, my kids were in that school for 2 years and honestly the headmistress who is also the owner has got her mind in business only!
If you want to know more about it, try to contact the British association of Bearn or Pau. I'm not sure about the name but for sure they've heard about how this school has been run for years!
Take as much advice as you can as I've met many British familes who had come to France or Spain thinking that they were 'rich' because of the change (pound-euro)but after 2-3 years they've realised that it was too easy to spend their saving!
All the best.

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