Brits in Brittany

You have decided to move - something you have been planning for years. No more ‘May be next year'. This is it. But how do you go about such a huge thing as moving country? I think if you have finally decided that is possibly the hardest part over with.

Not that there aren't loads of decisions to make. Is this just a holiday home or something more permanent? Do you still want to keep a toe in the U.K.? Sell your house or rent it out?

Then there is where. You have chosen to buy a property in Brittany - great choice, but even within this one region there are huge differences. Do you want the sophistication of Saint Malo, city or the southern yachting bases, a little village, a remote farmstead, an ancient township? If finance is an issue, ( when isn't it) consider the fact that even going a few kilometres inland will make a huge difference in price, and also gives you a greater choice of properties. Nowhere in Brittany is more than an hour or so from the sea so living inland doesn't mean that you can't indulge in sea side picnics, dips at midnight and all the rest. You just won't be doing it every day, but this isn't a holiday this is living.   Do you absolutely have to have a boulangerie, a bar and a restaurant within walking distance? Are there children to consider in which case you have to think about their schooling. How big a property do you have in mind? Is land essential? New build, ready to move in, one that needs a little decoration or a place that is practically falling down, presumably at a falling down price?

Answers to all these questions should be sorted out before you even approach an estate agent or you will both be wasting an awful lot of time. Not that you shouldn't be flexible too. I f the perfect house hasn't enough bedrooms ask yourself if you really need that many and if you do enquire about getting planning permission for an extension before you pay the deposit. If it needs a little work consider how long this will take as well as how much it is likely to cost and try to be realistic. However good your French buy a good dictionary - there are specialist dictionaries available with building terms in them. Look out for them at overseas property shows. It will save you mistaking a cuisine àménager ( a kitchen still requiring plumbing for appliances) and a cuisine aménagée ( one that already has plumbing in place) - a considerable saving in time, trouble and money. It also means that you can go into the bricolage and ask for exactly what you want rather than trying to work out that water based gloss paint is labelled as peinture brillante à l'eau and instead of struggling to describe the spray gun that you want you can just ask for a projecteur - some of these words would be impossible to work out. You either know them or you don't.

Things operate differently in France. For instance it is extremely unlikely that you will be allowed to visit a property unaccompanied, even if it is empty.

There are lots of Brits in Brittany already, and although you may well not want to live in a British enclave  - what is the point if what you want is a French lifestyle? - it might be good to talk to one or two - your estate agent is the person to ask, or you may well find that your neighbour, or a cousin or a workmate already knows someone who has taken the plunge. They will be able to tell you all the pros and cons, might know reliable workmen if building work is necessary, and can even be a support when things go a little pear shaped. But they aren't you. What one person finds impossible - some French logic - another will take in their stride. Having lived abroad before I know that some people just get on with life, accepting that there will be irreconcilable differences, but not letting them spoil the experience. If you still love it then Brittany is probably the place for you

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