Sarah Clarke

Hi Clare,

Welcome to the forum!! Yes, we are fairly near Bagni di Lucca. We live about 10 mins from Lucca on the north east side. We almost moved to Bagni ourselves but decided we needed to be nearer Lucca and most importantly, Pisa airport! Our children were also enrolled at the local school in Bagni di Lucca and our bank is there so we visit often! What brings you out here? It is certainly a lovely part of the world. We have been here for a year now which seems amazing. We have 4 children aged between 3 months and 10 years - 2 boys and 2 girls. The children have adapted amazingly well - our 10 year old is currently on a weeks football camp up in the mountains and completely cool about it - he is a lot braver than me. We are not fluent by any means but we are all learning slowly and my 5 year old daughter definitely has the best accent! I can put you in touch with a really good teacher but I expect you can find one nearer to you. There are quite a few English families in Bagni and I believe they do free lessons (for adults) but not sure where. If you wanted to meet up whilst you are over in October, give me a shout as it's always nice to meet new people. I spent the first 6 months here feeling very lonely and my social life was this forum which is very sad but true! Anyway, good luck with the move - hear from you soon!

Regards, Sarah

Sarah Clarke

Hi again,

I can't help you on removals companies as most of our stuff is still in storage! We did a 'part load' with someone else and it was about £3000 for 104 boxes! Not sure if that is reasonable or not! Regarding schools, I think the syllabus is pretty much the same throughout Italy so we went with our gut feeling on the school. The school that our children are at could not have been more helpful. It is a small village school with 10 - 12 in a class so really small. We thought that would be best to help with the language and also to help the children to settle in. The teachers were really positive about them starting. Ask if there are any other English children there, school hours (some go for mornings only plus Saturday), English speaking teachers - if there are any, books needed (text books are free but we have to buy all the exercise books and certain types for certain subjects), what is needed in the way of uniform (usually an overshirt worn over normal clothes), school holidays (no half terms or Easter hols as such, just the Easter weekend)... whether your daughter can have Italian lessons at school (ours hired a guy to come in and work with my 2 sons - I think the schools get extra money for foreigners!)... I can't think of anything else but hope that helps!

Sarah

TestaRossa

Can only offer advice about the moving. Get as many quotes as you can through the Yellow pages, and get everyone in from big to little. We ended up with around 10 coming in and 6 quotes from which the cheapest for us was Pickfords. However I am not recommending them. Nearly 12months down the line we are getting all sorts of extra charges, which we have been debating with them for 6 months, consequently our stuff isn't here and there is a chance we will take them to court and vice versa! Caveat emptor! Make sure you get every single charge in writing and explained plus read and query the terms and conditions - it may well turn out the cheapest isn't what it seems!

My daughter is 3 and starts school on Monday!!!! I'm going to set up a blog about it, when I have I will post the name on here.

clare-h

Hi Sarah /Testa Rosa,

Thanks so much for all the advice - we're moving out to fulfill a life time wish really - we had a small windfall which allowed us the deposits etc. so as soon as we knew about that we started trawling the web for the right area/property Bagni won hands down on both fronts. To be honest it's all happening so quickly our feet haven't touched the ground - process started in August - UK house under offer in 3 days - Exchange contracts next month and moving just after xmas.

Sarah - I'd love to meet up and will let you know timings once we arrange it with the school next week. It'll be great to pick your brains - Amy our daughter is nearly 7 she'd love to get to know your kid's. I've been really concerned about her settling in etc. but all your info and advice is really calming me down.

Will keep everyone posted Thanks again LOL fellow trail blaisers.

Clare x

ardua

Hello everybody..I was in Lucca this time last year and I,m looking forward to visiting a lot more next year with my new daughter.How are things going for everyone with the onset of autumn..is it a nice seaon?...Anh.

LizElson

Hi, I've just joined this site & would appreciate a bit of advice from some friendly souls! We are planning on moving to tuscany in a few months (sorry to sound vague but we're not 100 % sure on areas yet) I lived in Florence for 4 yrs before i was married so would like to try a new area & am thinking around Lucca. Firstly can anyone recommend any good rental agencies - i've searched the internet but most of the ones i find only deal with holiday lets, we're looking for something for at least 6-12 months while we sort ourselves out. Also, we have a 2yr old, are there any good baby/toddler groups/ pre-schools in the area? All my experience of italy has been pre-motherhood, so i can tell you where the good bars are (or used to be) but that's about it! Thanks

TestaRossa

Try casa.it for agencies and have a look at the online yellow pages for rental agencies. They are listed with the estate agents as many do both sale and retal. HTH.

clare-h

Hi Sarah c

I just thought I'd let you know we are out looking at the school in Bagni di Lucca this week and if we are keen will be enrolling Amy in to year 2. we are exchanging on the house too so will be v busy - Sorry no time to meet this time, but once this is all done we are planning on bringing Amy over end Nov/early Dec to see the school for herself. Hopefully we can meet up then - is it better for you if we cover some weekend time so the kids can meet too?

Fingers crossed all goes well. Will let you all know what the school is like and compare notes. LOL Clare

clare-h

Anyone for Tennis?
Just thought I'd ask if anyone on this thread is into tennis - we are all having lessons (that's my husband and my daughter -7 and I) so are just getting into the game. We thought it might be a good way to get to know people - it's certainly very sociable over here. If any of you guys are into it maybe we can start a regular tennis get together.

Let me know your thoughts Clare x

DORI DOE

Hi Liz

If you look back through some threads in July or August you'll find one from Emma. She has found a room somewhere in Lucca and will be starting a playgroup. As for where to live there are so many lovely areas between Pistoia and Pisa. Once you're here you'll be able to have a good look around. In Lucca there are many agencies, best way to find them is through the yellow pages as Testa rossa mentioned. www.paginegialle.it

Bye

DORI DOE

Hi Anh

At the moment it's neither autumn nor summer really, never know what to put on as the mornings are cold but days are hot. Apart from that things are ok. How's your baby?

Sarah Clarke

Hi Clare,

No probs - hadn't cottoned on it was October even!! We are in the process of moving from our upstairs appt to the downstairs one with too much stuff so we are in chaos for the next month as I can only sort things when the baby is asleep!! Weekends would be slightly better but only slightly as the boys have football matches every weekend and go to school on Saturday. On Mon, Wed, Fri thay finish school for the day at 12.40. Hear from you soon, hope you like the school.

Sarah

LizElson

Hi guys, thanks for the advise re estate agents - getting a bit fed up of looking for houses on the net now - going cross eyed! we've narrowed the search down to a couple that we're coming over to see next week, one in Ponte a moriano & the other in Cellai. (we wanted something rural!) Does anyone know anything about these places - good or bad? Thanks again

DORI DOE

Hi Liz

I've not heard of either of these two place so they might be up a hill in the middle of nowhere? If you drive then it shouldn't be a problem. What sort of place are you looking for? And where? By the way my house is for sale have a look at the picture on the classified page on this site.

LizElson

Hi, yes i saw your house, looks wonderful! Why are you selling? We're just looking to rent at the moment as we're not sure how things will work out yet, giving ourselves time to settle in etc. Don't want to rent out your house do u!? Yep we'll have a car & i think you're right they are up a hill somewhere but that's what we were after (i think!) Where are you based?