Dear Mr Bradley

I found your site very interesting, entertaining, and completely honest

My research over the last two years has taught me so much..I started early, as I knew it would be a minefield, and It is.

My husband and I, intend to retire to France next year, so I have subscribed to every mag, read every book, surfed the net till I am blind, and even more confused..........Made every effort to go over every 6 weeks to test the waters, find the location, and get a feel for life there........In the meantime, private french lessons. We just love France.

I am no crusader, but I have felt so much concern for others during my quest....the words lambs and slaughter come to mind.

The magazines sell the dream, the websites promote it, everyone wants a piece of the action......the British can afford it........all that equity in their homes, lets have some of that!

You only have to look at frenchentree.com to see how it has grown from an informative site to a commercial venture..the adverts scream at you from every angle. You are invited to ask a question and someone wants to sell you something.

The latest article by FINAM (an advertiser, and Fr. Estate Agent) last month on the property page, said the prices in France will rise by such and such per cent. When I talk on the ground there, to honest agents, the market is as flat as a pancake......nothing has moved since last summer, and I can vouch for that as I am on the web most days............I should get out more!

The prices are so inflated it is a nonsense, and as for the euro.........well.

I have seen prices quoted on a French immo site, and the English translation price has been £14.000 more..........for the same property. Excuse me, the price in the 6 other agencies are all over the place too.........you go in cold, you get taken.

I see articles written about the French being insulted by offers..........please, the French negotiate....why are the English being led in this way? Who can afford to be polite, when your spending your life's savings, or mortgaging yourself to the hilt?

In the Var. where we intend living, it is £200,000 for nothing larger than my garden shed.

The days of a barn for £4,000 are well and truly over, you may find one in a remote hamlet, sans infrastructure, next to a pig penn..in the North

Then you look at the English private sales...all I can say is, each to their own.......the prices are as high as Surrey...........everyone has been led to believe they are sitting on a gold mine.

How long are people prepared to perch on an ingot! .........2 years, 3 or more....forever?

So we come to the raison d'etre...........more for less.............but is it?

The harsh reality, soon blows those dreams away, but sadly you have to live it to realise it.

I have met those that have bought their snip, live in an ex pat society, and know after 5 years, just enough French to buy a croissant....drink themselves to death, love every new Brit they meet, but would not give them the time of day 'at home.'

I have met others trying to make a living with their gite, DIY done, and no money left to get reasonable healthcare.

Met the wealthy, that pour good money after bad, applying for retrospective permis because most of their home is illegal......bof, it's France......'don't talk to me about the builders!'

My cousin and his wife hope to move there, she is learning french, he thinks he will pick it up as he goes along........does he want to spend the rest of his life communicating in sign language, feeling an idiot, and an outcast!..........what about the bureaucracy, inheritance laws, E forms, healthcare, integration, etc.etc.etc. Oh I see, the wife will do it.......

What I keep asking myself is, are these people getting what they deserve? Not really, they are just not equipped to deal with France, as they have been led to believe in sunshine, wine, a cute culture..........and cheap homes .....what on earth can go wrong?

One can rest in bed at night feeling it is better than the UK, even though the fosse septique, which you have no idea how to maintain...........stinks.

The house what you bought has never known maintenance.........and the kids will love it when you go...shame about the steppies at 60% IHT

The garden is huge, must get that tractor, and hopefully the local farmer will not bring his cows over again, ........... you get used to the barking dogs after a while....funny didn't notice them when we were viewing, still it only took a day.........we had to get the flight back.

I am sure the Notaire was working in our interest........didn't say much..........very French.

The 40 minute drive to the supermarket is not that bad, and it would be nice if there were more than one old man and 2 cats living in the village in November. I am looking forward to the cafe/bar opening in June...it gets a bit busy then with all these bloody foreigners!

I know this sounds crazy but we have seen this first hand, talk about learning at the expense of others.

But at the end of the day it's peoples lives I am talking about......

France is a foreign jungle....... so different, incomprehensible, and at times an obstacle course.

I believe you have to use every talent you have to survive there. You must speak the language, be part of the community, learn about the system, and be prepared to work it to your advantage if you know what that is. One in six work for the government ....that's a lot of paperwork.

As for my husband and I, we will take whatever France has to throw at us. I am not the brightest button in the box, but I am a dog with a bone, and no lightweight. Plus, I have spent every available moment learning everything I can. We are in our early fifties, I have 2 children from previous marriages........so succession is a nightmare. We are fortunate enough to have to pay wealth tax, but who wants to! The UK is a great place, and has been kind to me.........the property market even more so. I am not about to throw it at the French government............. but everything has it's price, and sunshine can be expensive.

I have found the definitive Notaire and English speaking Solicitor outside Toulon, who will arrange our succession and conveyance, it will be translated into English, at no extra cost.......... It's out there you just have to find it. They liaise with Blevins Franks France......so the Estate will be managed to our advantage too...one hopes.

We are over next week to look at 2 garden sheds, just on the faint possibility that I can use my vision, and make something resembling a scout hut into something I will love to live in.

If not, we sell here next year, and go over lock stock, and render ourselves homeless for a while....daunting!

I have been building and renovating in the UK for 30 years, so I've had it with the 6 bedrooms, and all the rest. I want a simple life, with old fashioned values, fewer distractions, and a pace of life that gives you time to reflect on the quality of it.....Am I dreaming too?

I hope not.

Writing this has been a huge catharsis for me......hope you don't mind.

Are you in France now?

Best Wishes

Anne