Don’t Move to France ... until you’ve done your homework.

The Holiday Season Effect, Isolated Rural Houses and Dying Villages:

Villages that are busy during the holiday season and then empty during the winter suffer from the holiday season effect. 

It can be very lonely living in a village that is empty for nine months of the year, especially if your French isn’t very good. It also means that your local school, shops and other facilities may be in danger of closing down.

Similarly, isolated rural houses may suffer from similar problems. That rural idyll that you saw in its glory in mid-summer, could turn into a lonely isolated prison in winter.  Especially if your French isn’t very good and you live miles from the nearest village.

It is harder to improve your French if you are isolated from French speaking people.

Getting snowed-in in a village could be fun.  Getting snowed-in in an isolated rural house could mean complete separation for days, or even longer, from people, shops, fresh food and healthcare.  

There has been a long term trend of people moving away from the countryside into towns and cities. This is especially true of younger people, who see the bright lights of urban life as a way to escape the drudgery of rural poverty.

In spite of France’s exceptional (state sponsored) economic successes in some areas, there remains a high level of rural poverty. A sobering note is that the suicide rate among rural people is proportionally greater than urban dwellers.

Cheaper properties may often be found in French villages that are dying. Given the movement away from the country into towns and cities, many rural villages have a declining population, an older population (implications for schools), no markets or shops, or if they do then they are teetering on closing down. Dying villages often have a shabby appearance about them as opposed to some villages that seem to be bustling with activity and life, and are well kempt.

Note: in addition to rural poverty there are many people living in 21^st century urban slums facing considerable deprivation, particularly Islamic north African minorities. Of course Britain has a similar problem.

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