Who said “Life should be easy” – no one I know and anyone who did is stupid the whole purpose abour life is that – ummm- it is about life.
I write about living in France and get mail asking me things – here is an intelligent mail making some pertinent observations and my response
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Hi Tony, Glad to see you back. I am a teacher in Ireland and hope to take early retirement in possibly two years. Over three years ago we bought a house about 8 km north of Limoux. We use it at all the mid terms and holiday periods.
I have book marked your house for passing on to people that ask me about holiday accommodation. It looks really nice and the website is very good to look at. Two things struck me, if I had two single friends who were willing to share a room, do you have single beds as your rooms look to be all doubles? The other was a table showing the rates.
When we retire we would hope to spend periods of time of up to 4 months in Belveze. We have met many English and Irish people in the last number of years, that frankly, scare me. They have sold up all and bought a property and just moved out. Then they have discovered that with little or no french they cannot cope and find they cannot sell up as they are not getting the price they paid.
Anyway , best of luck with the new sites and I will keep checking in.
Dave
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Hi Dave
Carole will reply to you about bookings – we can supply two single beds instead of the King Size in out suite “Sunflower” – I am working on many other pages and the price listings etc – hope this will all be online in a few days.
You bring up a very important point about families moving to France and finding life here can be a lot harder than they anticipated – then having problems selling and moving back – this is one reason I write about life here and why I had great difficulty working in the real-estate business which is based (more than most businesses) on lies, fear and greed.
Carole and I are just one example of a family who moved to France from the UK to seek a better life – we found it and do not regret one second of the last 20 years- I think I would be even more inclined to leave the UK now from what I see.
However, the differences in quality of life are relative, subtle and differ for every person – France is not Utopia/Shangri-La – it is a modern, sophisticated, European country with a bureaucracy you could skin a rabbit with and a recent history of turmoil – it is a very big country and every region has differing social climates, so it is impossible and unfair to generalise (but I will) – the French people are very private – the French can seem to be unfriendly, even rude – but on an individual level we have some of the warmest and best friends we have ever met and this proves to me that in essence all people of the world are equal and one family, it is just the froth (scum) which floats to the top which gives any nation their “national characteristic” .
So a move to France is harder than moving to the next town in a country you are already familiar with – this should not be a surprise, but every day I get mail from people complaining about this, many ask why the French don’t speak English properly, or why the shops shut two hours for lunch.
It is really stating the obvious that to live in France you need to speak French – you do not have to be a talented linguist, I am a good example, after 20 years my French is atrocious, I find writing French very hard – my reading is OK and I am understood, but to see the pain on my friends faces when we have a conversion and I (unintentionally) totally destroy their cultural heritage can be very amusing – it gets worse after a few jugs of wine.
Another problem of relocating to France is where people move to – France is big – which means places are much further from other places than in the UK or Ireland. Many people buy property in remote rural communities because the prices are lower – this is great for a holiday home where peace and isolation from the hurly burly of life is a sanctuary – but crap if you want any interesting social life or activity near your home (especially if you neighbours speak another language, expect you to leave in few years anyway and have a grudge about Wellington/Churchill/Lloyd George/Whoever (remember Cromwell). Isolation and privacy are one thing, but,  there is no point in having a great boulangerie in the village if you have to drive to it and to get to the equivalent of Tescos is an expedition.
We have always chosen to live in the center of a village, very close to a big town and near a big city and International airport – property costs more, but that is why. Any property in a good location is easy to sell, a palace in the middle of nowhere is worth nothing.
Hope these ramblings help a little – let me know if you have specific needs or questions.
Bonne Chance
Tony
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About tony
Blogging about life in France since 1997 and running vacation apartments and BandB in the south of France keeps me busy (and poor)
I agree with every word! I’ve been here (Carcassonne) for over five years now and the English who move over here without a word of French annoy the hell out of me. It’s not just incredibly hard for them to negotiate the beaurocracy that practically chokes French life – but it’s plain rude to arrive in a country as a foreigner and expect everyone to jump through hoops to accommodate them.
I also agree that the French can appear unfriendly but I have to say that in this part of France everyone from shop assistants to estate agents and government employees are charming and helpful (though my French is pretty good and I walways make a big effort to research difficult conversations I know I’m going to have ahead of time) My neighbours in both houses I have bought have also been an incredible help to me.
I think people watch ‘A Place in the Sun’ and think no further than how great it would be drinking wine next to their own pool…
Good luck with your new venture – the house looks just lovely!
Jane