Life and Challenges of Rural Living in France

I'm Jo and I am a yoga teacher here in 8VM. I live in the village of Darnack which is about 20 minutes from Bellack and we've been here for 20 months and we opened the studio in July. 20, 22. I have about three types of yoga that I do. I do about 16 classes a week. So we have chair yoga, we have one-to-one, we have restorative yoga, how Hatha Yoga, and it's been really successful, yeah. I love France. I've always loved France. And I brought Hubby to an area other than Paris, and he really liked it. We were looking at Spain. And we decided we loved the greenery and the countryside. And we lost Dean's mum, and I had a couple of health scares. I was in a very pressured job as a child protection manager in Portsmouth and we were going to do it about 10 years later and decided to do it when Dean's youngest had finished her exams so she gave us her blessing that we could go a little bit earlier so we did. The house found us. We didn't find the house. We had about 12 to look at when we came over for two weeks in September 21 in a hired, very large motorhome. And we looked at several. This was one of our top three and then we were told that it was sold and then our estate agent at Immobile showed us this one and said it might be of use to us and we didn't want to look. So we came and had a look but it was all closed up. and Dean went round the back and had a moment and decided we were buying it so I said no we're not and then I looked on the Avange sign, the For Sale sign and it was one of our top three so yeah we went back finished a few jobs in a house in the UK in Portsmouth and put our house in the market a week later and it sold in 23 hours so yeah so that was that really It was really complicated, I'll be honest. We needed a micro-entrepreneur visa because we knew we would have to work because we're not at retirement age yet. And so I'd done my training to be a yoga teacher. and the appointments were delayed because of Covid at what they call the TLS contact centre in London. There's one in Manchester, Edinburgh and London in order to have the visa processed at the embassy. So we went for that appointment. after we'd sold our house and after Dean's mum had passed away. So we were living with his dad. And we had already had our offer accepted on this house because we'd done that from the UK after seeing it. And had the appointment, I think it was 26th of January, not even knowing if they were going to accept us or anything, but no place to live. Obviously, money in the bank from the sale of the house. And it did work out quite well because... Dean's dad, didn't need looking after, but it was good to be there for him. And we, I think it was a night, we hadn't heard anything. And they kept coming back saying they needed more information from the TLS, from the embassy, basically. And then they said, it's ready. I'd looked at my emails about five times on Monday the 19th and, oh, it's 21st of February, 2022. And suddenly there was a... email saying your passports are ready, not your visas are ready, your passports are ready. So we were on a train to London within half an hour. And I remember putting on Facebook the video of us opening my passport and then my visa was in there. And then we sat and had lunch and I said to Dean, I've just put my visa on Facebook, on social media. So it's everywhere with all my personal details. So we had to delete that, but we were very excited. But Dean may have not had it. had his visa as well. So there was no intimation at all if we had been successful until you arrive at the contact centre and open your passport, which is a rather bizarre process when you've sold your house, bought another house that you may not be able to live in because of the Brexit rule of 90 days. So we owned a house that was more than our dream and, you know, somewhere to build a studio and land in the countryside. in rural France and yeah that was how we found out which is quite a bizarre way of finding out. So in all we had a lot of furniture but the move was twelve and a half thousand pounds. We had two big trucks and then a smaller one but because of Brexit everything had to be itemized and doing spent hours and hours and hours doing it and it wasn't you couldn't put kitchenware to the value of it they wanted a list of what was in there one frying pan three sauce exactly and how much they were worth. That's what had to be in the truck. So that was a lot to pack up, we had a lot of stuff. So that was in storage for two months. He also has coicarp, Dean. So they went into a fish hotel for six months. And there were rules about how many you could bring over if they were pets. There was the two dogs, we had two dogs to consider as well. They had the animal health certificate. And they were all very good. which was about 65 pounds each so they had to be done as well they obviously were already microchipped the visa process I mean we had a folder like a tree trees were probably five trees worth of paperwork to prove business plan and Virginia this was going to be a restaurant actually it was going to be a restaurant and business plans was both CRB checks, police checks. That was a little bit more complicated. I had one from my job, but Dean's was more complicated. Money in your bank, they wanted to see private health insurance. Our private health insurance was £550 a month until we got our carpet hours and our mutuals. So that's something to consider as well, so the cost of the move. And the visa process was about, I think it was about £500. each and then the cost of your any animals and how much you have to have in the bank to prove it can live there plus your private health insurance so until you had your private health insurance they wouldn't let you they wouldn't process the visa so yeah it's quite complicated you we bought this house with about an acre and a half of land up a bank which was perfect for four roulottes or wooden gypsy caravans. We put in the planning for the yoga studio exterior. We put in planning for above-ground pool and the roulottes, and we were flatly declined for the roulottes because there's no urban plan in Darnack that can tell you that you can because it's agricultural land. One of the other things as well... when you buy a house with land is that they have to offer it to the farmers first because I think it was obviously a field at some point. And that's bizarre because you're buying a house that suddenly land can be taken off of you. So that's quite bizarre as well. So the Rulots were turned down. The mayor was extremely supportive and frustrated with Limoge, the prefector. But then we got, so the yoga studio started July the 10th, 2012. 2022, which was fairly quick. So this was a workman's studio, workshop basically, concrete floor, OSB walls, and there's an upstairs, there were stairs, and there's an upstairs. And then we thought we'd better change our plans because we have an income to manage. Dean had finished his business. He was a transitional change project manager, and he started as a bricolage, they call it in France. He's also a DJ and a karaoke, which he's done quite well with actually. He also sells candles, but they're less successful as a main income. So we managed on my money, if I'm honest, at the studio, which was a real success. I'm so grateful to all of my clients, French as well. I have French clients, or yogis. And then we put in new planning. for Shambha Dots above the studio to consider for yoga retreats. So we have enough bedrooms that we've got another Shambha Dot and then upstairs there'd be enough for eight people in all. So they're in the process of being built. Building materials are quite dear here and all the time you're working it's quite hard to do build on your own projects as well. So yeah, there's an entity here. The entertainment area is planned on the land. There's an above ground swimming pool that's been dug out, but that's as far as we've got. So I had a five year plan, Dean had a six month plan, so I had to slow him down quite a bit. of it yes because uh because it just when we came here we didn't even know where the shop was and we were in bellac every day in our leisure outfits buying stuff at the diy shop b and q bricolage um and we didn't know anything else. Where wood was, how to sort out the electric, you know, all these things that nobody tells you. We were very isolated as well. It was just us two. And there was a look between us the first night of what on earth have we done? But we never said it out loud. So, yeah, we've made some amazing friends who've been really supportive. So, yeah, but even the heating system, we have an air source pump. Which is fabulous, but a technical minefield, it really is. We have no idea what to do with it, so we have to call somebody out to do that. Yeah. MUSIC I started a journal as I finished my last day as a social work manager with a very large glass of wine. That's how it starts. And I did it because I wanted to document our story, but I did have it in mind that... I couldn't find a post-Brexit Brits moving to France book at all. I looked very hard. And so I thought I'd document it. So, I mean, we did the tunnel. We came over on the tunnel and and I had a chest infection and I was really, really poorly and we got a cleaner in because the house had been locked up for nearly three years. We didn't know anything about the heating system. There was no hot water. There was a little bit of wood. There was no heating. The house was fine in itself. All of our stuff was in here and it was just us two. And when we moved from our house in Portsmouth, we had about eight people helping us because Dean's mum was dying and we had to do lots of things at the same time. So we had loads of help and then we literally had no one. And I was really quite poorly. So Dean had to do all of the driving and most of the unpacking. So we came across that. We made friends with the lady who came to clean, who introduced us to Bellac and Bocomarche and where there was a shop up the road in Boussier. And we became friends with them. and her husband came and translated with the heating engineer, those kind of things started to... But we didn't know anything, really didn't. We had a lot of money in the bank. That goes quicker than you think. That's just life if you lived in the UK or France. But when you've got projects and a new house, there's always different things that you've got to pay for, isn't there? So completely isolated in the middle of winter. We arrived and there was, you know, kind of icy fields. It didn't look quite the same. I remember going up to the top bedroom and going and saying, there's a slope in our garden. there wasn't when we bought the house there wasn't one here and doing saying there was a slope there i don't like a slope in a garden i don't like it so um yeah although the land is huge it's at angle and um yeah there's more so that took a while we found wood we found the supermarket in ladora our friends started to help us out a bit i wasn't working for a while which was very strange so i lost my identity I didn't really know what I was doing. Dean was winding down his business and popping back to the UK to do that. So one thing I do remember is feeling really safe at being on my own here, even though I had... two little dogs they wouldn't have done much and I felt completely safe being here compared to the UK so that was really nice we made more friends and there was things like it took 22 minutes to get to Ballack and we were like we were living in the wrong place because that if we need anything we it's 22 minutes away before we realized Ladora had a things yeah not much but things and and so we you know those kind of things were a trial. Getting electric was a trial. So we had electric and then there was some issue with the electric as in the previous owner had decided to say there was nobody living in the house and so we had no electric and trying to negotiate with French speaking companies it took eight days for us to get electric. which was extremely stressful I have to say that was very stressful yeah and gardening is unbelievable here and because it's nothing compared to the UK you know you lots of my yogis as I refer to them have back problems from in the summer from gardening quite a lot but it's it's so much work you've got to be a hard grafter it's so much work the garden and we do own land as such and but most Most people's gardens are hard work when they have one over here. The flies, the flies, I think my record was I killed 18 in one day on a mission. Fly nets are essential, whether you get the posh ones on the windows or just sticky ones, fly nets are essential in summer. because they really like kitchens and your dinner. So, yeah, the language, less so. So I was okay speaking basic French. As part of our visa, we had to have a medical for TB and a general medical questionnaire in Limoges. We also had to take a compulsory French test, and then they give you three hours. We were in with... basically the immigrants. So we were told we were third-class citizens because you're not part of Brexit anymore, which was a bit of a shock. There's an eliteness to being British, unfortunately, whether we like it or not. And there were people from Sudan and Afghanistan, and that was quite testing and challenging. Dean really struggled with that, and he didn't continue to go to those and have private lessons, and still does. I did my test and luckily passed and didn't have to go anymore. But the expectation was you'd go for a day every week to Les Souterrains, which is about 50 minutes away, and you will go to these end of. There was no negotiation at all. So that was quite interesting. We didn't even know we were going to do our test. I remember Dean saying, it's okay because my wife just speaks the French. And the lady saying... No, that's not how it works, which we agree to. We concur with that. We do. We think that if you live here, you should try it and speak the language. Although there's a very large Brit community and we don't actually get much opportunity to speak French, you will get lots of bills, letters, emails, spam emails, quite common here, actually. And you need to know enough. And I think it's right. They've adopted us. us into their country and you should be respectful enough to speak their language and so we both do okay to be honest yeah we both do okay better than probably Dean thought he would if I'm honest so the language is a barrier and there was lots of going into we have a local hardware store here which we've they they know us by first names and there's lots of and pictures and things like that but it's a we feel much more confident so it was completely over overwhelming for the first six months. Then the yoga studio was built and we had a big open day and I didn't know if it would work. I had no idea. And it did. It's funny because in winter, because people prefer the sun, they disappear for about three months to Spain and Portugal or the south of France, but mainly Spain and Portugal. I lose, I would say, 40% of my clients. which nobody told me at all that that happens here. They didn't tell us about the flies. They didn't tell us how important it is to have a wood store that's full. And if you cut down trees, you must season them for at least two years. And that people disappear in winter because they want some sun. MUSIC It's incredible. I mean, we have two Acer trees at the moment that have changed to a beautiful red colour. I've been putting it on Facebook. It's just stunning. The wildlife here is just amazing. We have deer in our garden. I've never lived in the countryside, so I didn't even know you had to clean a wood burner glass front. until my friend told me. But we've adapted really, really well. I love the garden. I absolutely love it. The dogs love it. And it's incredible. I love the people. I mean, I think I've had one episode of a rude French person, if I'm honest, apart from at the Perfection of Limoges. And I actually sometimes get a bit sad that there's so many Brits because I would like to imagine myself more actually and I love their traditions I love I love how the right word not rigid how passionate they are about some of their Saints days I think they're their history and their culture they hold on to that and that the architect is fantastic you know some of these buildings look like they should be standing, Montmorillon is a beautiful, beautiful place to go. The rivers are beautiful, the weather, you know, I mean I don't mind seasonal weather, but the wildlife and the countryside is amazing, it really is. And it, you know, there will be stressors, but it feels different out here, the stressors, because you just live in such a beautiful place. I guess the French paperwork, quite often people don't know what the bill is they're paying for. It goes around on Facebook saying, what's this bill for? And we just pay it because it needs paying. There's I guess there's quite a large here expat community of Brits and sometimes it can be a little bit clicky, it can. I think I'm quite lucky I don't mind being here and doing the classes through the day and I am always busy. So I don't tend to have the time to go and meet with people. I'm not retired, I'm still working, so it doesn't impact on me as much. But there are some clicks that are less positive. I mean, our Mary is extremely supportive, but the perfecto limoges is really challenging. When you go and reapply for your visa, the lady refuses to sign. speak English to you at all. We try and speak French and she gets very cross with us. She's known as Dragon Lady. That's quite hard because it adds to the stress and you have to physically go and do it, get all your paperwork ready, pay 225 euros per person every year. And that is a bit frustrating. But we have to prove that we're not living off the state and that we're earning our living. So I accept that. I don't know why we can't build four roulettes on our land. That doesn't make any sense to me at all. But at the end of the day they have their rules and we're allowed to live here. So you have to go with that really. I remember one lady complaining that it rained so much here and I thought to myself, it was with my French teacher, and my French teacher said, did you not know why it's so lush and green here? Because it rains, it's not Spain or Cyprus. You need to be clear about that you like seasons in Limousin. You do, and you need to be clear about that because they are seasons, and we've had rain for days, and we've got a stunning day today with autumn leaves and stunning out there today. It can rain for days and days on end, and unless you're occupied and perhaps working or you know, got hobbies and interests, that's, they're long days. You know, that is quite a challenge really. I would recommend considering probably bringing a pot of money more than you think you need. We had a Chambordote guest and they asked actually, and he said, I won't be rude enough to ask a figure, but would you say more? and I said always more because building work costs a lot of money but it does depend on your project if you're going to live in a lovely two-bedroom uh terraced house in a village where you can walk places and you know walk to the local shops then there's less need if you're not doing projects. We have a lot of projects going on here. So I would say be clear about how much money you're bringing over. Your business plan, you need to be clear about your business plan. And one thing they don't tell you with the visa is what you need. It's quite last minute, so it's good to talk to people who've been through the process as well. What else? You need private health insurance, you have to have that, so don't think you can come without that because you won't get your visa, is what happens. happened to other people. And there's such a balance between selling your house and selling everything in the UK and coming here. And the risk is, with the working visa particularly, you may not get your visa. So they reduced it apparently from 4,000 working visas to 400 the year we came. So that is a bit of a challenge. That is a bit of a challenge. And also you've got to be really careful if you run a business in the UK and you think you can work here it doesn't work like that. You have to have a serial number that's the first thing and then you have to register for your tax as well. You pay your ESF cotisations which is your national insurance and you can do that quarterly, monthly so that eases the situation. online in that regard so in some respects although some things are quite outdated some things are actually quite modern so you can't or you shouldn't work without having a Sire number okay and you will need a business plan in in order to declare your business for your working visa and you will need to consider advertising in French as well as English so my main client base is in English ladies But I always do things in French as well and I have a whole French class on a Thursday and that was word of mouth. They popped by one day, saw the flag and I now have up to seven on a Thursday night in class. And I did make specifically a class at 7.30 after they finished work because they finished at 7. So advertising is definitely the key of your new business. I would say that there's a funny thing that happens. So there are several yoga teachers around here, for example. There are many handyman hairdressers, hairstylists, whatever you want to call them. There can be some competition with that. So you've just got to bear in mind and try and research if your business, for example, or is like mine from home and there was a yoga studio down the road, that would be a really silly thing to do because actually that would be perhaps an established business and you've got to consider how much business you would get. So I spoke to the two yoga teachers that were, I wouldn't even call them local, I would say Royal France local ones. about 25 minutes away, one's about half an hour away. And I just messaged them and said, this is what I'm doing. I don't want to tread on your toes. I just thought that was the right thing to do, really. But I think in many aspects, there's enough to go around. There is, you know, healthy competition at the end of the day. But, yeah, you know, advertising, making sure that you sign up for everything that you need to. The mayor doesn't have to agree anything, as far as I can remember, unless it's a building, you know. He was invited to the open day but couldn't make it. He hasn't popped by or anything. But he knows that French, I told him, I emailed him and said that the French... French community is starting to come because it's become quite a community hub, but more so for the Brits, I would say, here. Yeah. So, yeah. Well, technically, it's a year-by-year kind of plan as far as the government's concerned because we have to reapply every year for five years. So we've started to build two chambre d'hote studios upstairs, no kitchen. they have a wooden bridge coming from the land across which was approved, which I was very shocked at but that was approved, no roulottes but a wooden bridge that comes from that side of the house and that's enough for eight people to sleep for yoga retreats There's a pool to finish building, a nice hole. There's a pond for the koi carp because they're in the garage in a temporary pond. And there is an entertainment area. So we have a wedding here in June. So we have to do the entertainment area and the pool, I think, for then. This space has also been used for, not as a bar with free alcohol, but for events. And then people book it for parties. and they buy the alcohol and they don't sell it here. I have my Tabldote course, which allows me to serve alcohol with meals in December. and we are hoping to get a license for here eventually. So there are lots of plans. We will have three chambre d'hôtes, potentially an event bar area as well as the yoga studio and then a venue for events, weddings, yoga retreats, etc. So yes, that's the plan. I mean, my brother-in-law, he came, he thought it was lovely, but not for him at all. couldn't bear going 22 minutes to the local shop, and that was before we knew there was a local shop closer. Things like the bars, some of the bars, unless you're in Ballack or Main Town, they can close at 8 o'clock in the evening, literally get chucked out of a local tobacco. It's o'clock when you're just relaxing with your drink and going to have maybe a second or third. That's quite ironic. We've got really used to it. I guess, I tell you what, I wasn't born in the 50s, but my father-in-law comes back. back here comes here quite a lot and he feels like it's gone back in time and it and it has and it won't suit everybody um our kids um are like why can't we walk to the shop but then even though i've I've never lived in the country and there will always be a Tesco Express or a Sainsbury's Express. You just have to manage it. You have to manage them closing, which I love. I love the fact that they close for lunch. I love it. I think it's fab. You know, having come from a job 60 hours a week, majorly stressful, eating at my desk, you know, every day. I think it's fabulous that they take a long lunch break. I really do. And I mean, there is a takeaway. We had one. The other week we had a takeaway, but there's not takeaways ordinarily. Sometimes the restaurants, I think people have a misconception of, you know, kind of haute cuisine food. There's not a lot of that around here in rural France. I'm an ex-chef as well, and I was quite surprised by that. But, you know, you can do that in your own kitchen if you're that way inclined. So you have to be prepared for the shops to be shocked. The soup. Supermarkets don't, so it has changed quite a lot in the main towns. It will rain. You may have a foss. That foss will need to be emptied. There's things you can't put down your sink, for example. You should speak some French. It's polite to speak some French, even if you don't want to learn any more than the very basics. The red tape, the bills that turn up that you have no idea what they are and you just need to pay. And never not pay something. Always pay it and then quibble if you're not sure about it because otherwise you'll be fined and the fines increase, apparently, quite significantly. You'll miss people at home. You know, we miss the kids. But actually, you know, this is what we wanted to do. And when I had my cancer scare, I just thought, you know, actually, what are we waiting for? You know, my job is rubbish. And ridiculous and I've put my life into that job and I think I deserve something for me now so you have to let go of it being a selfish decision because it is a selfish decision but not all selfish decisions mean that they're negative they're a decision for you to make you know you and your partner you know wife whatever so um but I mean there's massive storms here that's that can be quite scary when you live around trees I don't think I ever feel completely isolated I don't have a car in the day, Dean has the car I do anything from two to four classes every day except for Sundays I have friends that pop in for coffee and tea there is almost always so much to do for me because I'm that kind of person so it's not really lively it's not the same as the UK think there isn't a Tesco Express. You know, if you're going, one of the rules we had when we moved here, Dean, if you're going to the shop, you must get milk and bread. Always get milk and bread. Even if you think we might have it, just get it anyway, because it's no milkman. And if you don't, if you like fresh milk, we only like fresh milk. Otherwise, you can have UHT and it lasts for quite a while. Yeah, so you just need to bear that in mind when you're going shopping. I tell you what you need to be, more organized. organised. You need to be more organised. So you have to think they close at 12, I need to go to Monnier's before 12, you know, I need to get up a bit earlier or whatever it may be. You just have to be a bit organised and that doesn't faze me at all. So we didn't go out for about six months, seriously. And then when we were both working, we didn't go out either. So I love Montmorillon. I don't know why I'm less keen on Belac. I honestly don't know. I don't. Montmorillon is easier to drive to, it's a very pretty town. So I really like it there, I like Leclerc. Belak has everything you need, if I'm honest with you. And apart from a lovely bar down by the river, I don't... I don't think I've seen that much of Balak and the library I've been to. We've been to Angoulême for a beautiful weekend. And then I think that's about it. Chateauroux we've been to. So we need to explore France more. But literally, when Dean's dad comes over to help with the building, they're at it seven days a week, you know, from eight in the morning till seven at night. So it's hard graft here. If we were retired, we could easily have just such an array of places to go that are just so beautiful.

I love France. I've always loved France. And I brought Hubby to an area other than Paris, and he really liked it. We were looking at Spain. And we decided we loved the greenery and the countryside.

And we lost Dean's mum, and I had a couple of health scares. I was in a very pressured job as a child protection manager in Portsmouth and we were going to do it about 10 years later and decided to do it when Dean's youngest had finished her exams so she gave us her blessing that we could go a little bit earlier so we did. The house found us. We didn't find the house.

We had about 12 to look at when we came over for two weeks in September 21 in a hired, very large motorhome. And we looked at several. This was one of our top three and then we were told that it was sold and then our estate agent at Immobile showed us this one and said it might be of use to us and we didn't want to look. So we came and had a look but it was all closed up.

and Dean went round the back and had a moment and decided we were buying it so I said no we're not and then I looked on the Avange sign, the For Sale sign and it was one of our top three so yeah we went back finished a few jobs in a house in the UK in Portsmouth and put our house in the market a week later and it sold in 23 hours so yeah so that was that really It was really complicated, I'll be honest. We needed a micro-entrepreneur visa because we knew we would have to work because we're not at retirement age yet. And so I'd done my training to be a yoga teacher.

and the appointments were delayed because of Covid at what they call the TLS contact centre in London. There's one in Manchester, Edinburgh and London in order to have the visa processed at the embassy. So we went for that appointment. after we'd sold our house and after Dean's mum had passed away. So we were living with his dad.

And we had already had our offer accepted on this house because we'd done that from the UK after seeing it. And had the appointment, I think it was 26th of January, not even knowing if they were going to accept us or anything, but no place to live. Obviously, money in the bank from the sale of the house. And it did work out quite well because... Dean's dad, didn't need looking after, but it was good to be there for him.

And we, I think it was a night, we hadn't heard anything. And they kept coming back saying they needed more information from the TLS, from the embassy, basically. And then they said, it's ready.

I'd looked at my emails about five times on Monday the 19th and, oh, it's 21st of February, 2022. And suddenly there was a... email saying your passports are ready, not your visas are ready, your passports are ready. So we were on a train to London within half an hour. And I remember putting on Facebook the video of us opening my passport and then my visa was in there. And then we sat and had lunch and I said to Dean, I've just put my visa on Facebook, on social media.

So it's everywhere with all my personal details. So we had to delete that, but we were very excited. But Dean may have not had it. had his visa as well.

So there was no intimation at all if we had been successful until you arrive at the contact centre and open your passport, which is a rather bizarre process when you've sold your house, bought another house that you may not be able to live in because of the Brexit rule of 90 days. So we owned a house that was more than our dream and, you know, somewhere to build a studio and land in the countryside. in rural France and yeah that was how we found out which is quite a bizarre way of finding out. So in all we had a lot of furniture but the move was twelve and a half thousand pounds.

We had two big trucks and then a smaller one but because of Brexit everything had to be itemized and doing spent hours and hours and hours doing it and it wasn't you couldn't put kitchenware to the value of it they wanted a list of what was in there one frying pan three sauce exactly and how much they were worth. That's what had to be in the truck. So that was a lot to pack up, we had a lot of stuff. So that was in storage for two months.

He also has coicarp, Dean. So they went into a fish hotel for six months. And there were rules about how many you could bring over if they were pets.

There was the two dogs, we had two dogs to consider as well. They had the animal health certificate. And they were all very good. which was about 65 pounds each so they had to be done as well they obviously were already microchipped the visa process I mean we had a folder like a tree trees were probably five trees worth of paperwork to prove business plan and Virginia this was going to be a restaurant actually it was going to be a restaurant and business plans was both CRB checks, police checks. That was a little bit more complicated.

I had one from my job, but Dean's was more complicated. Money in your bank, they wanted to see private health insurance. Our private health insurance was £550 a month until we got our carpet hours and our mutuals.

So that's something to consider as well, so the cost of the move. And the visa process was about, I think it was about £500. each and then the cost of your any animals and how much you have to have in the bank to prove it can live there plus your private health insurance so until you had your private health insurance they wouldn't let you they wouldn't process the visa so yeah it's quite complicated you we bought this house with about an acre and a half of land up a bank which was perfect for four roulottes or wooden gypsy caravans.

We put in the planning for the yoga studio exterior. We put in planning for above-ground pool and the roulottes, and we were flatly declined for the roulottes because there's no urban plan in Darnack that can tell you that you can because it's agricultural land. One of the other things as well...

when you buy a house with land is that they have to offer it to the farmers first because I think it was obviously a field at some point. And that's bizarre because you're buying a house that suddenly land can be taken off of you. So that's quite bizarre as well.

So the Rulots were turned down. The mayor was extremely supportive and frustrated with Limoge, the prefector. But then we got, so the yoga studio started July the 10th, 2012. 2022, which was fairly quick. So this was a workman's studio, workshop basically, concrete floor, OSB walls, and there's an upstairs, there were stairs, and there's an upstairs.

And then we thought we'd better change our plans because we have an income to manage. Dean had finished his business. He was a transitional change project manager, and he started as a bricolage, they call it in France.

He's also a DJ and a karaoke, which he's done quite well with actually. He also sells candles, but they're less successful as a main income. So we managed on my money, if I'm honest, at the studio, which was a real success.

I'm so grateful to all of my clients, French as well. I have French clients, or yogis. And then we put in new planning. for Shambha Dots above the studio to consider for yoga retreats.

So we have enough bedrooms that we've got another Shambha Dot and then upstairs there'd be enough for eight people in all. So they're in the process of being built. Building materials are quite dear here and all the time you're working it's quite hard to do build on your own projects as well.

So yeah, there's an entity here. The entertainment area is planned on the land. There's an above ground swimming pool that's been dug out, but that's as far as we've got.

So I had a five year plan, Dean had a six month plan, so I had to slow him down quite a bit. of it yes because uh because it just when we came here we didn't even know where the shop was and we were in bellac every day in our leisure outfits buying stuff at the diy shop b and q bricolage um and we didn't know anything else. Where wood was, how to sort out the electric, you know, all these things that nobody tells you. We were very isolated as well.

It was just us two. And there was a look between us the first night of what on earth have we done? But we never said it out loud. So, yeah, we've made some amazing friends who've been really supportive.

So, yeah, but even the heating system, we have an air source pump. Which is fabulous, but a technical minefield, it really is. We have no idea what to do with it, so we have to call somebody out to do that.

Yeah. MUSIC I started a journal as I finished my last day as a social work manager with a very large glass of wine. That's how it starts. And I did it because I wanted to document our story, but I did have it in mind that...

I couldn't find a post-Brexit Brits moving to France book at all. I looked very hard. And so I thought I'd document it. So, I mean, we did the tunnel.

We came over on the tunnel and and I had a chest infection and I was really, really poorly and we got a cleaner in because the house had been locked up for nearly three years. We didn't know anything about the heating system. There was no hot water.

There was a little bit of wood. There was no heating. The house was fine in itself.

All of our stuff was in here and it was just us two. And when we moved from our house in Portsmouth, we had about eight people helping us because Dean's mum was dying and we had to do lots of things at the same time. So we had loads of help and then we literally had no one.

And I was really quite poorly. So Dean had to do all of the driving and most of the unpacking. So we came across that. We made friends with the lady who came to clean, who introduced us to Bellac and Bocomarche and where there was a shop up the road in Boussier. And we became friends with them.

and her husband came and translated with the heating engineer, those kind of things started to... But we didn't know anything, really didn't. We had a lot of money in the bank. That goes quicker than you think.

That's just life if you lived in the UK or France. But when you've got projects and a new house, there's always different things that you've got to pay for, isn't there? So completely isolated in the middle of winter.

We arrived and there was, you know, kind of icy fields. It didn't look quite the same. I remember going up to the top bedroom and going and saying, there's a slope in our garden.

there wasn't when we bought the house there wasn't one here and doing saying there was a slope there i don't like a slope in a garden i don't like it so um yeah although the land is huge it's at angle and um yeah there's more so that took a while we found wood we found the supermarket in ladora our friends started to help us out a bit i wasn't working for a while which was very strange so i lost my identity I didn't really know what I was doing. Dean was winding down his business and popping back to the UK to do that. So one thing I do remember is feeling really safe at being on my own here, even though I had... two little dogs they wouldn't have done much and I felt completely safe being here compared to the UK so that was really nice we made more friends and there was things like it took 22 minutes to get to Ballack and we were like we were living in the wrong place because that if we need anything we it's 22 minutes away before we realized Ladora had a things yeah not much but things and and so we you know those kind of things were a trial.

Getting electric was a trial. So we had electric and then there was some issue with the electric as in the previous owner had decided to say there was nobody living in the house and so we had no electric and trying to negotiate with French speaking companies it took eight days for us to get electric. which was extremely stressful I have to say that was very stressful yeah and gardening is unbelievable here and because it's nothing compared to the UK you know you lots of my yogis as I refer to them have back problems from in the summer from gardening quite a lot but it's it's so much work you've got to be a hard grafter it's so much work the garden and we do own land as such and but most Most people's gardens are hard work when they have one over here.

The flies, the flies, I think my record was I killed 18 in one day on a mission. Fly nets are essential, whether you get the posh ones on the windows or just sticky ones, fly nets are essential in summer. because they really like kitchens and your dinner.

So, yeah, the language, less so. So I was okay speaking basic French. As part of our visa, we had to have a medical for TB and a general medical questionnaire in Limoges.

We also had to take a compulsory French test, and then they give you three hours. We were in with... basically the immigrants. So we were told we were third-class citizens because you're not part of Brexit anymore, which was a bit of a shock.

There's an eliteness to being British, unfortunately, whether we like it or not. And there were people from Sudan and Afghanistan, and that was quite testing and challenging. Dean really struggled with that, and he didn't continue to go to those and have private lessons, and still does.

I did my test and luckily passed and didn't have to go anymore. But the expectation was you'd go for a day every week to Les Souterrains, which is about 50 minutes away, and you will go to these end of. There was no negotiation at all. So that was quite interesting. We didn't even know we were going to do our test.

I remember Dean saying, it's okay because my wife just speaks the French. And the lady saying... No, that's not how it works, which we agree to.

We concur with that. We do. We think that if you live here, you should try it and speak the language.

Although there's a very large Brit community and we don't actually get much opportunity to speak French, you will get lots of bills, letters, emails, spam emails, quite common here, actually. And you need to know enough. And I think it's right. They've adopted us. us into their country and you should be respectful enough to speak their language and so we both do okay to be honest yeah we both do okay better than probably Dean thought he would if I'm honest so the language is a barrier and there was lots of going into we have a local hardware store here which we've they they know us by first names and there's lots of and pictures and things like that but it's a we feel much more confident so it was completely over overwhelming for the first six months.

Then the yoga studio was built and we had a big open day and I didn't know if it would work. I had no idea. And it did.

It's funny because in winter, because people prefer the sun, they disappear for about three months to Spain and Portugal or the south of France, but mainly Spain and Portugal. I lose, I would say, 40% of my clients. which nobody told me at all that that happens here.

They didn't tell us about the flies. They didn't tell us how important it is to have a wood store that's full. And if you cut down trees, you must season them for at least two years. And that people disappear in winter because they want some sun. MUSIC It's incredible.

I mean, we have two Acer trees at the moment that have changed to a beautiful red colour. I've been putting it on Facebook. It's just stunning.

The wildlife here is just amazing. We have deer in our garden. I've never lived in the countryside, so I didn't even know you had to clean a wood burner glass front. until my friend told me.

But we've adapted really, really well. I love the garden. I absolutely love it. The dogs love it. And it's incredible.

I love the people. I mean, I think I've had one episode of a rude French person, if I'm honest, apart from at the Perfection of Limoges. And I actually sometimes get a bit sad that there's so many Brits because I would like to imagine myself more actually and I love their traditions I love I love how the right word not rigid how passionate they are about some of their Saints days I think they're their history and their culture they hold on to that and that the architect is fantastic you know some of these buildings look like they should be standing, Montmorillon is a beautiful, beautiful place to go. The rivers are beautiful, the weather, you know, I mean I don't mind seasonal weather, but the wildlife and the countryside is amazing, it really is.

And it, you know, there will be stressors, but it feels different out here, the stressors, because you just live in such a beautiful place. I guess the French paperwork, quite often people don't know what the bill is they're paying for. It goes around on Facebook saying, what's this bill for? And we just pay it because it needs paying. There's I guess there's quite a large here expat community of Brits and sometimes it can be a little bit clicky, it can.

I think I'm quite lucky I don't mind being here and doing the classes through the day and I am always busy. So I don't tend to have the time to go and meet with people. I'm not retired, I'm still working, so it doesn't impact on me as much.

But there are some clicks that are less positive. I mean, our Mary is extremely supportive, but the perfecto limoges is really challenging. When you go and reapply for your visa, the lady refuses to sign.

speak English to you at all. We try and speak French and she gets very cross with us. She's known as Dragon Lady. That's quite hard because it adds to the stress and you have to physically go and do it, get all your paperwork ready, pay 225 euros per person every year. And that is a bit frustrating.

But we have to prove that we're not living off the state and that we're earning our living. So I accept that. I don't know why we can't build four roulettes on our land.

That doesn't make any sense to me at all. But at the end of the day they have their rules and we're allowed to live here. So you have to go with that really. I remember one lady complaining that it rained so much here and I thought to myself, it was with my French teacher, and my French teacher said, did you not know why it's so lush and green here?

Because it rains, it's not Spain or Cyprus. You need to be clear about that you like seasons in Limousin. You do, and you need to be clear about that because they are seasons, and we've had rain for days, and we've got a stunning day today with autumn leaves and stunning out there today.

It can rain for days and days on end, and unless you're occupied and perhaps working or you know, got hobbies and interests, that's, they're long days. You know, that is quite a challenge really. I would recommend considering probably bringing a pot of money more than you think you need.

We had a Chambordote guest and they asked actually, and he said, I won't be rude enough to ask a figure, but would you say more? and I said always more because building work costs a lot of money but it does depend on your project if you're going to live in a lovely two-bedroom uh terraced house in a village where you can walk places and you know walk to the local shops then there's less need if you're not doing projects. We have a lot of projects going on here.

So I would say be clear about how much money you're bringing over. Your business plan, you need to be clear about your business plan. And one thing they don't tell you with the visa is what you need. It's quite last minute, so it's good to talk to people who've been through the process as well. What else?

You need private health insurance, you have to have that, so don't think you can come without that because you won't get your visa, is what happens. happened to other people. And there's such a balance between selling your house and selling everything in the UK and coming here.

And the risk is, with the working visa particularly, you may not get your visa. So they reduced it apparently from 4,000 working visas to 400 the year we came. So that is a bit of a challenge.

That is a bit of a challenge. And also you've got to be really careful if you run a business in the UK and you think you can work here it doesn't work like that. You have to have a serial number that's the first thing and then you have to register for your tax as well. You pay your ESF cotisations which is your national insurance and you can do that quarterly, monthly so that eases the situation.

online in that regard so in some respects although some things are quite outdated some things are actually quite modern so you can't or you shouldn't work without having a Sire number okay and you will need a business plan in in order to declare your business for your working visa and you will need to consider advertising in French as well as English so my main client base is in English ladies But I always do things in French as well and I have a whole French class on a Thursday and that was word of mouth. They popped by one day, saw the flag and I now have up to seven on a Thursday night in class. And I did make specifically a class at 7.30 after they finished work because they finished at 7. So advertising is definitely the key of your new business. I would say that there's a funny thing that happens. So there are several yoga teachers around here, for example.

There are many handyman hairdressers, hairstylists, whatever you want to call them. There can be some competition with that. So you've just got to bear in mind and try and research if your business, for example, or is like mine from home and there was a yoga studio down the road, that would be a really silly thing to do because actually that would be perhaps an established business and you've got to consider how much business you would get. So I spoke to the two yoga teachers that were, I wouldn't even call them local, I would say Royal France local ones. about 25 minutes away, one's about half an hour away.

And I just messaged them and said, this is what I'm doing. I don't want to tread on your toes. I just thought that was the right thing to do, really. But I think in many aspects, there's enough to go around.

There is, you know, healthy competition at the end of the day. But, yeah, you know, advertising, making sure that you sign up for everything that you need to. The mayor doesn't have to agree anything, as far as I can remember, unless it's a building, you know. He was invited to the open day but couldn't make it.

He hasn't popped by or anything. But he knows that French, I told him, I emailed him and said that the French... French community is starting to come because it's become quite a community hub, but more so for the Brits, I would say, here.

Yeah. So, yeah. Well, technically, it's a year-by-year kind of plan as far as the government's concerned because we have to reapply every year for five years. So we've started to build two chambre d'hote studios upstairs, no kitchen.

they have a wooden bridge coming from the land across which was approved, which I was very shocked at but that was approved, no roulottes but a wooden bridge that comes from that side of the house and that's enough for eight people to sleep for yoga retreats There's a pool to finish building, a nice hole. There's a pond for the koi carp because they're in the garage in a temporary pond. And there is an entertainment area. So we have a wedding here in June.

So we have to do the entertainment area and the pool, I think, for then. This space has also been used for, not as a bar with free alcohol, but for events. And then people book it for parties.

and they buy the alcohol and they don't sell it here. I have my Tabldote course, which allows me to serve alcohol with meals in December. and we are hoping to get a license for here eventually. So there are lots of plans. We will have three chambre d'hôtes, potentially an event bar area as well as the yoga studio and then a venue for events, weddings, yoga retreats, etc.

So yes, that's the plan. I mean, my brother-in-law, he came, he thought it was lovely, but not for him at all. couldn't bear going 22 minutes to the local shop, and that was before we knew there was a local shop closer.

Things like the bars, some of the bars, unless you're in Ballack or Main Town, they can close at 8 o'clock in the evening, literally get chucked out of a local tobacco. It's o'clock when you're just relaxing with your drink and going to have maybe a second or third. That's quite ironic.

We've got really used to it. I guess, I tell you what, I wasn't born in the 50s, but my father-in-law comes back. back here comes here quite a lot and he feels like it's gone back in time and it and it has and it won't suit everybody um our kids um are like why can't we walk to the shop but then even though i've I've never lived in the country and there will always be a Tesco Express or a Sainsbury's Express.

You just have to manage it. You have to manage them closing, which I love. I love the fact that they close for lunch. I love it. I think it's fab.

You know, having come from a job 60 hours a week, majorly stressful, eating at my desk, you know, every day. I think it's fabulous that they take a long lunch break. I really do. And I mean, there is a takeaway.

We had one. The other week we had a takeaway, but there's not takeaways ordinarily. Sometimes the restaurants, I think people have a misconception of, you know, kind of haute cuisine food. There's not a lot of that around here in rural France. I'm an ex-chef as well, and I was quite surprised by that.

But, you know, you can do that in your own kitchen if you're that way inclined. So you have to be prepared for the shops to be shocked. The soup. Supermarkets don't, so it has changed quite a lot in the main towns.

It will rain. You may have a foss. That foss will need to be emptied. There's things you can't put down your sink, for example. You should speak some French.

It's polite to speak some French, even if you don't want to learn any more than the very basics. The red tape, the bills that turn up that you have no idea what they are and you just need to pay. And never not pay something.

Always pay it and then quibble if you're not sure about it because otherwise you'll be fined and the fines increase, apparently, quite significantly. You'll miss people at home. You know, we miss the kids. But actually, you know, this is what we wanted to do. And when I had my cancer scare, I just thought, you know, actually, what are we waiting for?

You know, my job is rubbish. And ridiculous and I've put my life into that job and I think I deserve something for me now so you have to let go of it being a selfish decision because it is a selfish decision but not all selfish decisions mean that they're negative they're a decision for you to make you know you and your partner you know wife whatever so um but I mean there's massive storms here that's that can be quite scary when you live around trees I don't think I ever feel completely isolated I don't have a car in the day, Dean has the car I do anything from two to four classes every day except for Sundays I have friends that pop in for coffee and tea there is almost always so much to do for me because I'm that kind of person so it's not really lively it's not the same as the UK think there isn't a Tesco Express. You know, if you're going, one of the rules we had when we moved here, Dean, if you're going to the shop, you must get milk and bread. Always get milk and bread.

Even if you think we might have it, just get it anyway, because it's no milkman. And if you don't, if you like fresh milk, we only like fresh milk. Otherwise, you can have UHT and it lasts for quite a while. Yeah, so you just need to bear that in mind when you're going shopping.

I tell you what you need to be, more organized. organised. You need to be more organised.

So you have to think they close at 12, I need to go to Monnier's before 12, you know, I need to get up a bit earlier or whatever it may be. You just have to be a bit organised and that doesn't faze me at all. So we didn't go out for about six months, seriously. And then when we were both working, we didn't go out either.

So I love Montmorillon. I don't know why I'm less keen on Belac. I honestly don't know. I don't. Montmorillon is easier to drive to, it's a very pretty town.

So I really like it there, I like Leclerc. Belak has everything you need, if I'm honest with you. And apart from a lovely bar down by the river, I don't...

I don't think I've seen that much of Balak and the library I've been to. We've been to Angoulême for a beautiful weekend. And then I think that's about it.

Chateauroux we've been to. So we need to explore France more. But literally, when Dean's dad comes over to help with the building, they're at it seven days a week, you know, from eight in the morning till seven at night.

So it's hard graft here. If we were retired, we could easily have just such an array of places to go that are just so beautiful.

Transcript for:Life and Challenges of Rural Living in France

Transcript for:
Life and Challenges of Rural Living in France