Hi yourself - and welcome. (Merry Christmas, while we're at it!)

If you've never been to France, what made you choose it? I ask only because I've been up, down and all around with France since my arrival 13 years ago. Sounds like it may be time for a visit and to start scoping out your options.

The regions in France vary tremendously. I live in Ile de France (which is the Paris region). It can be maddening here at times (usually when the public transit goes out on strike), but we're in a rather "countrified" corner where you can often ignore all the big city stuff in Paris. (I'm married to a Frenchman, so I didn't really have much of a choice where to move to.)

First serious piece of advice: learn French, if you don't already know it. Out in the countryside lots of the locals grumble about the Brits, allegedly because they "refuse to learn the language and expect us all to speak English." Best way to be accepted wholeheartedly into a French town is to speak French when you arrive.