We moved to France
The beginning of our journey
We sold our East Sussex house in England in December 2022, way above the asking price too, which was nice! The price agreed was the final piece in our life jigsaw to be able to follow our dream and move to France. We put all our furniture into storage with Britannia Removals, in a warehouse close to Newhaven port and found a place to rent close to both our places of work on Air BnB for six months. We spent the next couple of months on various French property websites like Leggett, Beaux Villages and Green Acres trying to find a property to suit our needs and within budget. We had an idea of the Dordogne, but looked in the Charente and further South too.
We got the Portsmouth ferry across to St. Malo in February 2023 and drove South, having the advantage of the use of our Aunties recently bought property in Ruffec, which we used as our base of operations to go searching for a house of our own. We viewed about a dozen houses that week. Some were just not suitable, when seen ‘in the flesh’ so to speak. One, though, ticked pretty much all the boxes. We were able to secure a second viewing of this property, situated in Neuvic sur L’Isle (A beautiful little village close to Perigueux). Another good look round and we were convinced this was the one. We put an offer on it at the end of the week. The offer was accepted. We were on our way. Just the legal shenanigans….
The Visa process went quite smoothly, which means it is something that needs to be carefully considered, post Brexit, as there are one or two hurdles to clear. You have to fill in online forms till your hands bleed and then attend an out sourced business centre in person at an address in Wandsworth, South London. But if you are patient and have all the paperwork correctly filled in, with copies (about 4-6 copies) of everything, then you may return in about ten days to collect your completed Visa. A visitor visa for moi and Paula went for an Entrepreneurial one, as she was going to keep working. With 12-month Visas now pasted into our passports we had a completion of the sale confirmed and a moving date of 4th July 2023. Cars loaded with our possessions of the past six months, we once again took the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St. Malo. Paula in one normally aspirated car and me in the electric Tesla.
Everything went smoothly until we split up. As I charged the electric car at a bank of chargers at the rear of a hotel in Angouleme, Paula went on ahead to the house. As I resumed my drive the Tesla suffered a catastrophic and total battery failure and I was just about able to get it on to the side of the road. By now Paula was at the new house to be faced with the fact that while it had been empty, waiting for our arrival, it had been broken into and the front door was damaged.
My wonderful wife was able to establish that the door was still secure and just about lockable. She was also able to get the Notaires to hold back €5,000 from the seller until the front door was replaced. She also managed, with the estate agents help with the language, to organise a removal for me in the Tesla to Bordeaux (their nearest service centre). After two hours a truck appeared next to me. I removed one or two items of value (my computer and some whisky) from the car, before I watched it disappear off to Bordeaux. The removal chap basically left me at the side of the road sitting on a couple of packing boxes awaiting rescue by Paula.
Another hour and Paula appeared, slightly ruffled, but the proud possessor of the keys to our new house. We elected to head to Bordeaux and stay in a hotel near to the Tesla service centre (close to the airport). Let’s just say that we felt we deserved the several beers consumed. The next morning at the service centre we were told the Tesla was basically ‘buggered’ and needed a new battery, which would be three weeks. Apparently, it would be coming from the USA. We emptied the dead electric car of the rest of our property into the other car and headed off to our new home.
A slightly bumpy start to life here, but things have improved somewhat since then. An interesting first few days! The Tesla was fixed by the end of October, by the way (then sold!) and the door was finally replaced about a year after we moved in!
We love it here and despite the initial challenges, we are convinced we made the right decision.
I hope you will enjoy reading our further adventures in France.
