So how many of us live in France?

I do, granjura - but not in Eastern France.

It's West for me - the calm and gentle Poitou-Charentes . Some family in Burgundy and Brittany, and some 'part-time'.

We've lived in the Gers, SW, not far from the Pyrenees, since 2002.
Hanging on here in spite of old age.

Here in the Suisse Normande since 2005. Will we stay? Who knows.

Curious to know, those of you that do live in France. What made you move there.

It had always been our plan for retirement, for more than thirty years. We were very cross when A Place in the Sun started and huge numbers of people joined the party. For us it is about having the kind of house and garden that we could only dream about in the UK. We have a large veg garden and are able to grow a lot of our own produce.
The good things: Utter peace and quiet, no traffic, lovely neighbours, beautiful countryside with mountains and the Med in the same country, the whole of Europe on our doorstep with no barriers.
Bad things: bureaucracy, shopping, innate conservatism.
Good and bad: crossing the channel to see daughter and family, not crossing the channel to see son and family.

We got perilously close to it several years ago! We had a house in Brittany all lined up and our house here on the market, when health problems loomed - we decided to stay on home territory with all our family around us. I do not regret the decision - I am sure that it was the right one under the circumstances. And we love the close contact with our GC. My OH no longer travels well and visits back to UK would have been limited.

Our reasons for wanting to move there were several: we both spoke reasonable French and thought we would enjoy the challenge of improving that; we loved the area we were planning to live in (Blavet Valley); we had friends there; the cheaper properties would have freed up some capital to use to enjoy our retirement.

Speaking for a lovely friend of mine - her brother moved over there and married a Frenchwoman 30 years ago. Then her son went to work for him in the holidays - and fell for a French girl. They are her only close family members, so she decided to move there too, just over 20 years ago.

She is buying into a very green co-operative housing association with several French people, as a result, her bureaucrat-friendly french has improved immeasurably! She is an artist and potter, so her skills transferred easily, and she gives pottery lessons.

I don't think language is the problem with bureaucracy. My six years as a local councillor told me that the French suffer from it just as much as the incomers.

Having lived in Bordeaux as a teenager I always had a hankering to live in France again. Once our girls left home, DH and I moved to the Var region, lived there and thoroughly enjoyed it for 10 yrs however when DD1 became pregnant with GD2 the pull to go home outweighed staying in France and we returned home to Scotland.

As much as we enjoyed living in France amongst good friends and neighbours, whom we still visit, we are happier being a big part of our GD's lives.

The price of housing seems to be a pull for many. We have friends that are currently doing up a farm house that they bought for a song. Their intention is to move permanently when it's done. Not something I would contemplate given the husbands health problems.

They have young grandchildren living very near. Another thing that would stop me from going. Yes the tunnel makes it an easy journey, especially as we're in Kent but its still a case of having to plan a visit.

Good luck to all of you that are loving living there

If our grandchildren were in the UK we wouldn't be here, but they're scattered far and wide.
We came originally for the country lifestyle, and mountain walks nearby. Which we couldn't afford in the UK.

We have a second home in Normandy, near Coutances. Our main home is still in England but we go across to our maison secondaire all year round and spend about 2 or 3 months a year there.

Why did we buy it? Because at the time we bought it we both had very busy jobs and we lived close to a busy main road in a large town. it was nice to cut loose one long weekend a month and holidays and go somewhere where only family had the phone number and no-one from work could reach us.

Unfortunately five years after we bought it, mobile phones became ubiquitous and DH's employer issued him with a mobile phone and a laptop. The first time we went to France after he was given it he spent five of the ten days we were there working. DD was with us, she was in her first permanent job with fixed leave allowance and she was so cross that five of her precious leave days were spent hanging around the house or going out with me leaving her father at home working that she threatened to divorce him and find another father!

Interesting article about the strength of the pound here.
www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2014/jul/28/recovery-current-account-trade-sterling-strength
May be time to prepare for some belt lightening à la 2008.

Belt lightening? Or even tightening...
Seem to remember we heard that the pound was likely to nosedive and moved over the last chunk of money for our renovation at 1.36. A few months later it was almost at parity....

An interesting link, Mamie. As mentioned, 'trying to forecast currency movements is a mug's game.' Our policy is just to 'sit tight' and manage the rollercoaster ride as best we can.

The exchange rate is such a gamble, and none of us have a Crystal ball. We bought out house here at a very cheap price and at an excellent rate (we are in Switzerland, but 500m from France. Metres not Miles). The rate then plummeted and we did panic as we lost more than 50% of our income- it has now gone back up to a median rate, and we are OK. We always laugh that if we ever sell here, we will make a fortune due to the poor £ exchange ;) No intention of doing tha, just yet- but we might well go back to the UK at some stage. Who knows?

At the moment we are living in SW France - Dordogne/Lot and Garonne borders. We bought the house seventeen years ago and as we had both taken early retirement were able to work part time and be here for three months each summer and a few weeks at other times. Gradually we spent more time here. Then 2-3 years ago we became tired of always playing catch-up with jobs whichever house we were in and also with costs increasing faster than pensions we were not finding it so easy to finance both houses.
Initially we thought we would sell this French house but then I realised that DH was way way happier when he was here - so decided to sell in UK instead.
At the moment we have this house on the market as we are in a beautifully rural quiet spot but now finding it getting harder to manage. We think we will buy again within walking distance of a town/village with less land.
Most of our grandchildren are young adults or live in USA so staying in UK was less of a magnet - however the youngest son of DH is to become father to twins in the New year so the dynamics will be changing and our ideas of the perfect place to live may also change!
The quality of our life is much better here and we have plenty of friends and the health care is superb - we do not feel at all worried that we shall soon be deemed too old to bother with. The care of older people is extremely good - that aspect of life does cause worry for us if we decide to move back to UK - we are very perturbed by the treatment - or lack of it - handed out to DD and DGD who have both been ill with debilitating problems and they are naturally much younger than us old crocks!

Last time we managed it by restricting our expenditure here and paying for capital items and stuff like ferry crossings to England and holidays (where villas had UK based owners) in pounds from our sterling account. It is easy for us though as we are in Normandy and can pop over for DiY stuff, garden centres, clothes and household goods when we go to see the family.
The extra euros in the monthly transfer have been nice recently though.
It does mean that if we ever sell the house and go back we will have more money too.

For the whole of 2013 we had our house on the market, but took it off at the beginning of this year, our intention being to return to the UK. It was an interesting process, and we decided that the quality of life here was too good to give up too soon. We have stopped trying to predict/control how things will pan out for the future. for the time being.
Like you Bez we have family in the USA. We also have a family in London so taking the train makes for a comfortable and easy journey from here. So moving to be closer to the grandchildren is not an option.

The Government restrictions on GAD rates pre 2014 impacted upon our financial situation along with the poor exchange rate. We kept our sterling accounts. A purely emotional decision on my part.

We have had a maison secondaire in Loire for 10 years it was a dream come true and it has been a great experience .

As some of you know already, I have a shared foothold in the French Alps, in the Abondance valley of the Haute Savoie, bought 5 years ago, and we now spend at least 3 months there each year. We thought we were just going to be there for the ski-ing every year, but it turns out we love it even more in the summer, when we can walk / hike / bike / flower-spot and do various culture things. We are gradually getting to grips with dealing with tax, mairie etc in French, but there are some aspects that I am totally puzzled by - like why can't I buy double cream when there are all these lovely cows?

Do you have a proper 'laiterie/crèmerie'? The cream here is amazing- from the top of the churn and laddled into your own container or a tub.

Not that I know of - but thanks for the suggestion, I will ask around!

Lovely sunny and warm today btw- just so that you know. Feels good