hi...I am new!!

[vicandpen]

Hi guys...
I am after ANY help you can give me!!
We (me, hubby, 2 kids aged 3 and 7! and the dog aged 6!) are thinking of moving to France!! At the moment we are in limbo!! both my husband (aged 37) and I (aged 31) both work for British Airways, although I start my new job with London Ambulance next week as a trainee Ambulance Technician.
What we really want to do is buy a small farm (3bed min) with some land (enough for a couple of horses, goats, chickens etc) with 1 or 2 gites to let out as we are fairly confident with all our contacts, after a combined 23 years with the airline, that we will have some guests!! Anywhere within a 1 hour commute from an airport that flys BA to LHR. The idea being that husband commutes and still works at LHR where he is on good money, every week.
I need help with education for my kids (of course wanting the best!!!) healthcare advice....cost of living.....don't laugh but I am going to try and grow SOME!! veg etc do any of you know about insurance etc for horses??? I also LOVE my volunteer work with the South East Coast Ambulance and ST John Ambulance...do France have something similar if I go to French lessons to brush up on my school girl french???? DO WE MOVE???? what do you guys HATE/LOVE please if you can let me know!!! My husband is originally from Portugal so we are fairly used to the med way of life....any help/advice will truely be greatfully recieved!!! THANK YOU!!

[Bevdeforges]

Wow - alot of plans there. First of all, welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you're in the best position to have a list of the French airports where BA flies to LHR. (Can't be all that many - I know Air France mostly makes you fly in to Roissy CDG or Orly to get most places with airports in France... but for trips within France I mostly stick to the TGV.)

France is definitely an experience - or maybe I should say a "way of life." It took me a good 7 years to get used to things here - then again, I had major immigration problems, so that definitely set me back.

Have you spent much time in France recently? Tried using your school girl French? Looked into property prices and life outside the big cities? It's worth making a couple of vacation runs with a view toward longer-term arrangements. Living here is different from being a tourist, and can be rather frustrating at times if you don't know what you're getting yourselves into. Check out the areas you think you might be interested in.
Cheers,
Bev

Hi

I've been an "expat" for 20 years and what you describe is pretty common, particularly for long haul crew working x weeks on / x weeks off. There can also be significant tax advantages since you are not resident in any one country for 183+ days per year. Obviously, you need to get advice on that aspect.

Assuming you are EU citizens, you can relocate to France with no problem.

If your farm + gites idea only breaks even and feeds the family, it is still probably better than living in UK.

Your options in France have reduced since Air GB were bought by Easyjet. However I know people who live in the lower Cevennes, work out of Heathrow, and commute from Marseille. The advantage is that the Cevennes is very rural, quite cheap, and has decent weather. No point in moving to somewhere with the same grey mist ?

I'd research the area from Ales to Anduze, with more expensive property further South towards Sommieres (Property is more expensive in "Provence" which is closer to Marseille - prices start to rise from Uzes East).

Assorted photos :










Peter

[DanT99]

Originally Posted by vicandpen

Hi guys...
I am after ANY help you can give me!!
We (me, hubby, 2 kids aged 3 and 7! and the dog aged 6!) are thinking of moving to France!! At the moment we are in limbo!! both my husband (aged 37) and I (aged 31) both work for British Airways, although I start my new job with London Ambulance next week as a trainee Ambulance Technician.
What we really want to do is buy a small farm (3bed min) with some land (enough for a couple of horses, goats, chickens etc) with 1 or 2 gites to let out as we are fairly confident with all our contacts, after a combined 23 years with the airline, that we will have some guests!! Anywhere within a 1 hour commute from an airport that flys BA to LHR. The idea being that husband commutes and still works at LHR where he is on good money, every week.
I need help with education for my kids (of course wanting the best!!!) healthcare advice....cost of living.....don't laugh but I am going to try and grow SOME!! veg etc do any of you know about insurance etc for horses??? I also LOVE my volunteer work with the South East Coast Ambulance and ST John Ambulance...do France have something similar if I go to French lessons to brush up on my school girl french???? DO WE MOVE???? what do you guys HATE/LOVE please if you can let me know!!! My husband is originally from Portugal so we are fairly used to the med way of life....any help/advice will truely be greatfully recieved!!! THANK YOU!!

I loved reading the post. I think that you are doing all the things many of us dream about doing but never quite have the courage to do. I wish you luck anyway and make sure you go ahead with what you write about (and then let us know here hows its going...) My only advice, rentals are tricky but as you say, you should be ok and there are plenty of ways to market if you are savvy enough. If you can though, keep another trick up your sleeve if the rentals dont work (professional veg seller?!)

[coloma gold]

Originally Posted by vicandpen

Hi guys...
I am after ANY help you can give me!!
We (me, hubby, 2 kids aged 3 and 7! and the dog aged 6!) are thinking of moving to France!! At the moment we are in limbo!! both my husband (aged 37) and I (aged 31) both work for British Airways, although I start my new job with London Ambulance next week as a trainee Ambulance Technician.
What we really want to do is buy a small farm (3bed min) with some land (enough for a couple of horses, goats, chickens etc) with 1 or 2 gites to let out as we are fairly confident with all our contacts, after a combined 23 years with the airline, that we will have some guests!! Anywhere within a 1 hour commute from an airport that flys BA to LHR. The idea being that husband commutes and still works at LHR where he is on good money, every week.
I need help with education for my kids (of course wanting the best!!!) healthcare advice....cost of living.....don't laugh but I am going to try and grow SOME!! veg etc do any of you know about insurance etc for horses??? I also LOVE my volunteer work with the South East Coast Ambulance and ST John Ambulance...do France have something similar if I go to French lessons to brush up on my school girl french???? DO WE MOVE???? what do you guys HATE/LOVE please if you can let me know!!! My husband is originally from Portugal so we are fairly used to the med way of life....any help/advice will truely be greatfully recieved!!! THANK YOU!!

Please clarify your question about insurance for horses... Are you asking about liability insurance or mortality insurance? In the US, the liability is normally part of the homeowners policy or farm policies. However, as a safe guard, I normally bought an personal umbrella in addition as it did not cost that much and it gave broader coverage that extended to auto coverage,etc.