Of course we normally want to put a positive spin on buying, moving and living in France but it is important to keep clients up to date with French news and issues, so here goes another story about the woes of speeding when driving in France. 

We send hundreds of people on viewing trips each month so it only seems right to publish this article about speeding in France and the consequences of it, the article appeared in The Times newspaper on the 22nd June 2014, so hopefully our clients can take note and get to the property viewings safe and sound and with enough money left to be able to buy a house in France!

Drive safely within the limits and everything swill be fine, but break the speed limits and........

British holidaymakers in France face draconian penalties this summer as a hidden force of gendarmes cracks down on speeding, reports Dominic Tobin

IT'S 4.03PM on the A16 autoroute, which runs between the outskirts of Paris and Dunkirk, via Calais. Standing next to a British-registered Audi TT is a man with shoulders hunched like a schoolboy, receiving a dressing-down from a French traffic officer.

Hiding under a bridge on the A16 last week, Gérard Andrieux, left, and Yves Renard of the French police catch a British driver speeding in his Audi TT.

He is being asked to hand over his driving licence — which he does. It will be posted back to him, but not for weeks, and in the meantime he is told he is banned from getting back behind the wheel in France for three days. As he makes his apologies, his wife is sent to a nearby cash machine — accompanied by a policeman — to get the money to pay a 135 euros (£108) on-the-spot fine.

Welcome to speedy justice, French style. The driver has been clocked with a laser gun by a crack team of gendarmes out to catch British drivers who forget that France is not a playground. At 179kph (111mph), on an autoroute with a 130kph (81mph) limit he was lucky not to have his car seized, the authorities say. They are gearing up for a bumper summer as the annual exodus of holidaymakers begins and drivers head for holiday homes and campsites on the south and west coast of France.

This strict enforcement of speed limits is all about safety, of course, but it also yields big dividends. Unlike their British counterparts, the police in northern France use on-the-spot fines as their main weapon. Armed with laser guns and concealed under motorway bridges and in roadside hedges, they are catching more British drivers than any other west Europeans.

More than 1m British holidaymakers are expected to be driving into France this summer, mainly through Calais and down the A16, or the other major route south, the A26, and French police predict they will collect a total of 1.73bn euros (£1.38bn) in speeding fines in 2014, up from 1.66bn euros last year.

In Britain, police generally give motorists some leeway above the speed limit before they are stopped. The pelotons motorisés — the name for the traffic gendarme units — stop drivers even if they edge above the speed limit by 1kph. Neither are drivers given the courtesy of being warned that they are entering a zone where speed traps are in operation on the routes that radiate from the ferry ports and Euro-tunnel. The pelotons motorisés have taken to examining the manifests of trains and ferries, checking for high-powered sports cars that they suspect might be more prone to speeding, and deploying squads of officers to target them.

Once a car has been clocked above the speed limit there is no requirement for photographic evidence; if the policeman says the car was speeding, it is up to the driver to prove he was not. Justice, when it comes is summary and swift: as well as on-the-spot fines, drivers can receive an instant ban.

While the gendarmes insist they have no special remit to catch British drivers, they point out the temptation for Brits to take advantage of the long, straight roads in France that are relatively uncongested. Added to that is the surge in popularity of organised rallies whose participants can sometimes forget that strict limits apply, even though organisers don’t condone law-breaking.

Known as rallyes sauvages (or wild rallies) in France, these events typically follow public roads towards the sun and sea in southern Europe. They attract wealthy, speed-loving owners of rare supercars. In 2006, police seized a Ferrari 360 and Porsche 911 for the offence of reckless driving. The two drivers, both British, were travelling at more than 150mph during that year’s Cannonball Run. At a subsequent court hearing, the cars were permanently confiscated and auctioned off. The Ferrari owner bought back his car for €88,000 (then £60,000).

Sharing intelligence with Kent Police, the gendarmes now scour lists of cars booked onto Channel Tunnel trains or ferries, on the lookout for a telltale cavalcade of fast cars. “They know we react quickly and so they have started trying to cross during the evenings, at night, or around midday [when many French police officers go home for lunch],” says Captain Jean-Claude Derudder, second in command of the road safety department in the Pas de Calais region. “That doesn’t stop us from setting up speed checks quickly.”

Buying tickets for the Channel crossing at the last minute won’t help. “We only need 20 minutes to set up a speed check,” says Derudder. As it takes at least 30 minutes to cross the Channel, we have plenty of time.”

Officers have the power to seize cars for speeding alone. A staggered series of penalties was introduced in 2006, beginning with on-the-spot fines and moving on to an instant driving ban if drivers were caught at more than 40kph over the speed limit. Motorists speeding by more than 50kph over the limit could have their cars seized. It was a fate suffered by a Ferrari F355 owner last Sunday evening. Caught travelling at 191kph (119mph), the driver from London was forced to make his own way home after paying a €750 court deposit.

It is not just supercar owners who are being caught in the clampdown. Ordinary British holidaymakers are easy prey for the gendarmes.

Last Monday,we crossed the Channel to witness the French tactics as officers prepared for the summer by setting a trap for British spectators returning from the weekend’s Le Mans 24-hour race in the Sarthe deparmtent.

His wife then gets behind the wheel and is escorted to a cash machine in order to be able to pay a €135 deposit, pending a court hearing in November.

Yves Renard (his surname means “fox”) and his colleague Gerard Andrieux head to a discreet spot underneath a bridge, five miles from the autoroute’s final toll booth before Calais. Renard points the radar gun at oncoming traffic and reads out the speed of any car breaking the 130kph limit. Andrieux picks up his mobile phone and passes the details to his colleagues lying in wait at the toll booth. The first time most drivers know they are in trouble is when the toll barrier lifts and they are directed to pull over in the lay-by.

“In the past, people just raced through France at 200kph with wads of cash in their pocket, paid the fines at the roadside and then carried on,” says traffic officer François Maquinghen. “But that has stopped since the rules changed because they know that they will lose their car.”

“If you are going at 131kph you could be stopped,” says Maquinghen. “We are tougher at some points on some routes where there have been a lot of accidents. At others, you might not get stopped unless you are going faster than 150kph.”

It isn’t long before a British driver is caught. Joe Adams, 24, an engineer from Dartford, Kent, is caught travelling at 150kph in his Lexus GS and is handed a €45 fine. “I don’t recall speeding and I didn’t see the speed gun,” he says. “They’re not as visible as in Britain.”

Without enough cash to pay the fine — police accept only euros or French cheques — Adams has to hand his passport to the gendarme and drive to the nearest cash machine, then return to pay the fine.

Matthew Yates, clocked at a similar speed in his Maserati GranSport, accuses the police of using speed traps as revenue-raisers. “Doing 151kph on a wide, clear 130kph road is nothing,” says the 43-year-old from Chichester, who organises events for fellow Maserati owners. “And the 45 euros fine isn’t too bad.

“But they don’t seem to stop the French. There were French cars overtaking me but I’m the one who’s been stopped. We know it’s only for the money and I’ve come to expect it.”

In three hours at the roadside we notice only one French car being stopped and six British, but the police insist that they take no notice of where a car is registered. They just want to stop drivers who are travelling at dangerous speeds.

That said, the gendarmes think that dealing with British drivers is a pleasure. “They are very polite, they don’t argue and they always pay,” says Mégane Painset, a three-year veteran of the highway patrol. “Usually the excuse is that they were late for their ferry. But they still have to pay.”

There’s only one problem in the gendarmes’ eyes, though: they are still unable to access drivers’ details from a registration plate alone. Which means the hundreds of speed cameras across the motorway network are virtually useless in catching speeding British drivers. That is about to change. As revealed last month in Driving, a new law being drawn up by the European Commission will allow French police to track down British drivers from next May. And then there really will be no escape for British speeders.

Stiff penalties

French penalties depend on the speed drivers were travelling when they exceeded the limit. In urban areas, fines are set at 90 euros for 1-39kph above the 50kph limit. On faster roads, including autoroutes, these apply:

1-19kph (up to 12mph) over limit

45 euros (£36) on-the-spot fine.

20-39kph (12-24mph) over limit

90 euros (£72) on-the-spot fine.

40-49kph (25-30mph) over limit

135 euros (£108) court deposit and instant three-day driving ban in France only. This is followed by a court case, often several months later, when the ban could be extended for up to three years (two or three months is typical). The court retains the deposit as a fine unless the driver successfully argues it was wrongly imposed.

More than 50kph over limit (31mph-plus)

750 euros (£600) court deposit and car impounded. This is followed by a court case. If the motorist is deemed to have been driving dangerously, their car can be permanently confiscated. The court can retain the deposit and increase the fine to 1,500, or 3,000 euros for repeat offenders.

This article originally appeared in The Sunday Times on Sunday 23rd June 2014.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

We find France’s frivolous side at its seven weirdest festivals

Tragic news: the World Pig Squealing Championships are no more. At the event, in Trie-sur-Baïse, in the Hautes-Pyrénées, competitors were called on to imitate the noises made by pigs at various stages of their lives, right up to slaughter. There’s speculation that the domination of many-times world champ Noël Jamet was discouraging entrants!

France still retains a decent number of other fêtes of heartening eccentricity, however, confirming, against much available evidence, that the French do have a frolicsome sense of fun.

Bed racing, Brittany
At the Fête de l’Insolite (“Festival of the Unlikely”), in Mahalon, beds, stripped down to their essentials, roar along a circuit around the village church. Teams of three — two pushing, one on board — compete to challenge the world record of 1 min 16 sec. The event also includes a race of delivery tricycles; egg-, beret- and pancake-throwing; 
and a contest involving the long-distance spitting of apricot stones. “The fête is intended to be humorous,” says Bernard Le Gall, the mayor, helpfully.
July 14, free; mahalon.fr

Shoe tossing, Aquitaine
For one day in August, the narrow streets of Salies-de-Béarn are devoted to the Hurling of the Espadrille, the rope-soled sandal of these parts. One euro gets you three goes — with espadrilles provided. The record is 108ft 8in, a heck of a distance for a sandal to travel.
August 15, free; piperadere-salies.blogspot.fr

Lying, Gascony
The Gascons of Moncrabeau have been at it for centuries, meeting to exchange gossip and, when real gossip ran out, invent some more. In 1972, they formalised this tradition into the Festival International de Menteries (“lies”). Texts are sent in and Academy members choose eight to be delivered — standing on the allegedly genuine 18th-century Stone of Truth. Last year, one man told of raising domestic ticks for curative uses. You can also visit the birthplace of Fujiyo Lapuce, IT consultant to Louis XIV.
August 3, £4; academiedesmenteurs.fr

Garlic peeling, Midi-Pyrénées
There’s a Laotian lady in Beaumont de Lomagne who can peel 68lb of garlic in 30 minutes. She’s the woman to beat at the 2014 Fête de l’Ail Blanc (“white garlic”). The festival also features maths-inspired games: Pierre de Fermat, of last theorem fame, was born here.
July 20, £1.60; club.quomodo.com/ fetedel-ail

Square boules, Côte d’Azur
How do you play boules on streets so steep that they might roll right into the Mediterranean? The answer: play with square boules. The good people of medieval Cagnes-sur-Mer, high on the hill, hit on the solution 35 years ago. Now the world beats a path to the Championnat du Monde de Boules Carrées. “There is skill involved, but it’s mainly luck,” says Pascal Zaccure, president of the organising outfit. Anyone can join in, and anyone does: it’s one of the Côte’s great social levellers.
August 16 and 17, £5.75; cagnes-tourisme.com, cercleamis.cagnes.free.fr

Trailer lifting, Basque Country
Imagine the Highland games without kilts, whisky and sporrans, but with berets, wine and highly impressive bellies. That’s about the size of the Festival de la Force Basque, in St Palais. Look out for burly fellows lifting a trailer and rotating it on its axis (two turns is OK, but real champs manage five), lifting 220lb bales high into the sky on a pulley — and being rocketed skywards themselves when the bales fall to earth — and straining like hell at the keynote tug-of-war contest.
August 17, £12.50 (under-12s free); saintpalais-tourisme.com

Potato mash-up, Nord-Pas-de-Calais
“It’s essentially nuts,” says Didier Roussel, the deputy mayor of Esquelbecq, where they’ve been tipping unfortunates into pools filled with mash for 18 years. Patate Feest is abundantly potato-themed, with processions and spud-inspired games. One involves picking up a single potato with a building-site crane. Relays and tugs-of-war around that mashed-potato pool invariably ensure participating youths get thoroughly lathered.
August 31, free; esquelbecq.com

This article originally appeared in The Sunday Times 'Drive' section Sunday 8th June 2014.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

BORROWERS will find it easier to fund a property purchase on the Continent as the falling cost of mortgages and strong pound boost their buying power but buyers must beware of the threat of deflation.

The European Central Bank (ECB) last week cut its main interest rate to a record low of 0.15% from 0.25% in an effort to stimulate the eurozone economy. This will push down borrowing costs and make mortgages in the eurozone more affordable.

 Chez nous: France offers top deals (Sipa Press/REX) - read more on the Cle Mortgages page - click here.

The cheapest 20-year fixed-rate mortgage in France has already dropped from 3.75% to 3.45% since the start of the year, according to International Private Finance (IPF), an overseas mortgage specialist. Over the same time, sterling has strengthened from €1.20 to €1.23, cutting the monthly cost of a €250,000 repayment mortgage from £1,249 to £1,186.

As a result, the number of British buyers looking for a European bolt hole has been growing. IPF said it had seen a 24% increase in inquiries for French mortgages in the first three months of the year, compared with the same period in 2013.

Simon Conn, a broker specialising in overseas mortgages, said: “Over the past 12 to 18 months I have seen a steady increase in demand for the most popular countries, such as Spain, France, Portugal and Italy. Lenders have been lowering rates and also accepting smaller deposits.”

Of all the eurozone countries, France offers the best borrowing rates and accepts the smallest deposits — the cheapest being 2.3% for a 10-year fix with a 20% deposit. In Italy, the lowest rate available is 3.4% for a 20-year term and a 20% deposit, according to IPF. In Spain, the cheapest rate is higher at 4% over 20 years and the minimum deposit is 50%, while Portugal is even tougher for borrowers as the lowest rate is 5.28% spread over 30 years with a deposit of at least 60%.

Simon Smallwood of IPF said: “Mortgage rates for international borrowers are becoming more competitive. Expectations for interest rates in the eurozone are now lower than they were and this makes it likely that mortgage rates are going to stay lower for longer.”

Capital Economics, the consultancy, expects the ECB rate to remain at 0.15% until at least 2016.

However, Danny Cox of the adviser Hargreaves Lansdown urged potential buyers to be cautious. He said: “The eurozone economy is stagnating and heading towards deflation, when prices are continually falling. This could cause house prices to fall further and potentially extend the financial problems across the Continent.” Germany’s inflation rate almost halved last month to 0.6% from 1.1% in April.

Buyers should research their target country’s tax system, as there is a variety of property-based levies across Europe. Smallwood said: “Annual wealth tax in France and inheritance tax in Spain are calculated on the net value of the assets you hold in the country.”

This means buyers would be taxed less on a French property if they bought it using a mortgage, rather than by remortgaging their home in Britain and paying in cash. “It can therefore be beneficial to buy with a mortgage as this reduces its net value,” said Smallwood.

However, borrowers considering a foreign currency mortgage need to be aware of the exchange-rate risk. The pound may be getting stronger against the euro, but any reverse in this trend could leave buyers struggling to cover higher repayments.

The investment bank UBS has forecast the pound will strengthen against the euro to €1.33 in three months but drop to €1.25 in a year.

Buyers nervous about currency fluctuations may want to consider arranging a “forward contract” through an exchange specialist, to lock in a rate.

Kathleen Mackinnon-Helm is our specialist Overseas Mortgage Broker, she says between April 2013 and April 2014 borrowers in France have seen a drop of around 10% in the cost of their loan. Rates on ten and fifteen year terms dropped last month but currently rates are stable.

If market observers agree that an increase in rates is to be expected in the months to come – namely because of the FED’s monetary policy which will certainly have an impact on the European money markets - for the moment the mortgage market in France remains very attractive, even if the banks are very cautious and go through loan applications with a fine tooth comb.

In conclusion, given the historically low rates, borrowers now have a window of opportunity which will very likely not last.

Save time and money when sending or receiving international payments with Cle France. Go to our dedicated Currency page here.

Part of this article originally appeared in The Sunday Times 'Drive' section Sunday 8th June 2014.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

EUROPEAN POLICE forces are to be given access to British drivers’ details so they can pursue fines for motoring offences committed on the Continent. It will be the first time that information, including a driver’s name, address and previous con–victions, has been made widely available to authorities outside the UK, writes Joseph Dunn.

Police officers in France have the power to impose on-the-spot fines for speeding.

The new law, being drawn up by the European Commission and due to come into force next May, will give police in 27 countries the power to demand British motorists’ details from the DVLA if they suspect an offence has been committed and has been caught on camera.

Offences include speeding, driving without a seatbelt and driving while using a mobile phone. Once the DVLA has received the demand and the car’s registration number, it will supply the registered owner’s name and address, allowing European police forces to send a penalty demand through the post. The letter will be written in English.

At the moment, British drivers can be fined for most offences in Europe only if they are stopped by an officer, who can issue an on-the-spot penalty. The new rules mean that speed and CCTV cameras can be used to capture the licence plate of the car, allowing police to trace its owner across the Channel. Parking offences are not covered by the new rules because they are not regarded as a road safety problem.

According to Brussels, the move is a response to concerns that foreign drivers were getting away with many offences when driving on the Continent. “This is the result of 10 years of frustration with blatant abuses of traffic laws,” said Helen Kearns, a transport spokesman for the European Commission. “Figures show that foreign drivers’ offences are relatively high and this measure is necessary to say: you can’t just get away with it.”

Police in most European countries have been sharing driver information since November 2013 under a European policing directive. Britain exercised its right to opt out of the directive on the grounds that the penalty notice applied to the registered owner of the car — so-called owner liability — rather than the person who was driving the vehicle at the time the offence was committed. Under British law, the driver at the time is responsible.

Earlier this month the European Court of Justice ruled that the law had been in–correctly drafted and should have fallen not under the policing directive but under the road safety directive, an area where Britain has no right to opt out. “Transport safety is part of EU rules where everyone is involved,” said Christopher Fretwell, a spokesman for the court. “There are no opt-outs. If re-adopted, it will apply across the board to member states.”

Some MEPs are furious that the directive will now be applied to British drivers: “The UK decided that on balance it was not in our interests to take part [in the previous law] because the directive prosecutes vehicle owners, rather than the offending driver, and it seeks to implement fines when other deter–rents — such as points on a licence — may be more effective,” said Timothy Kirkhope, a Conservative MEP who sits on the transport committee.

“If the commission brings forward a similar piece of legislation then we will oppose it when it reaches the European parliament.”

Experts say it is unlikely the legislation can be stopped since it would mean blocking the entire road safety directive. Foreign police forces have no powers to enforce the fine — that remains a matter for British courts — and British drivers could ignore the demand for payment. However, the next time they visited the country where the offence had been committed they would run the risk of being issued with an on-the-spot fine, or in extreme cases having their car impounded. British drivers issued with speeding fines in France have been escorted by officers to cash machines where they are expected to withdraw money to make the payment.

The new law could prove a boon for the Treasury, however: because it works both ways foreign drivers could be traced by British authorities. Although no official figures are available, the number of unpaid fines issued to foreign drivers runs into the millions. According to the most recent estimates, based on a survey of speed camera partnerships in 2012, an estimated 60,000 speeding fines worth £3.6m were written off because there was no effective way to track down foreign culprits.

This article originally appeared in The Sunday Times 'Drive' section Sunday 18th May 2014.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

The market is picking up in France — at least in the places we like to buy — and the exchange rate is in our favour, says local Anthony Peregrine reporting in The Sunday Times on 6th April 2014.

The good news sweeping in from France — or, at least, those bits of it favoured by Britons — is that the property market may be stabilising. In short, this may be your best chance for years to buy into rural France and annoy the hell out of everyone by raving about the joys of French village life. It drives listeners nuts. You know the sort of thing: marvellous little place, just like English villages were 50 years ago; nobody locks their doors; locals are so colourful; salt-of-the-earth neighbours always ready with a lettuce; you should see the village carnival... and so on and on, until you long for them to get hit by le TGV.

The truly irritating bit is that much of this is true. Let me tell you what I did last Sunday morning. After a sunshine stroll by vineyards and through garrigue scrub, I arrived at the village centre, then bobbed into the bakery for a baguette and, as it was Sunday, a cake or two. Generally I go for pets de nonne and têtes de nègre (respectively, nuns’ farts and negroes’ heads: France remains unrepentant in the pâtisserie department).

I bought meat from the general store and, from the tobacconist, the regional Sunday paper, which takes about three minutes to read. Then, in true weekender slacker’s mode, I joined those milling about the square, greeting some, avoiding others. As church came out in a flow of Sunday best, senior faithful surprised themselves, as they do every week, by noting there was time for an apéritif. I am easily led. After more minutes than necessary in the sunny, fuggy bar, I wandered home. There was a barbecue to light and the prospect of Sunday lunch.

I could go on about sports associations, full-blooded village fetes, the OAPs’ society and the fact that even the smallest of France’s 36,552 communes runs its own affairs, with a mayor and council. As I said, astoundingly irritating — and the particularly irritated might insist that there’s not much in the above that can’t be done in Britain. But, I’d argue, you couldn’t do it in such warmth, so routinely, or in a place comparably pleasant, anywhere I could afford to live. Whereas it’s all available in France, right now, and — here’s the point — at what remain knockdown prices.

The post-2008 slump in property values and sales lacked the drama that swept Spain. But, notably in rural areas, some drops have been startling, especially in pretty little towns in the profoundly rustic Creuse department. Pre-2008, there was a silly bubble. Prices were grossly overinflated. Then they dropped back to what they should have been, and then dropped some more — up to 30%. There have been some shockingly low deals.

Yet there are signs of change in early 2014, and even (whisper it gently) of an uptake. This is not what the headline national statistics are saying. These are predicting continuing bad times — or poor times, at best — with 4% drops and sales volumes falling, too. For the individual buyer, however, national figures are meaningless. They include cities, suburbs, towns and parts of the country where no foreigner would live unless obliged to.

According to most agents, Britons these days are looking for bucolic properties mainly in the west and southwest — from Brittany down to Midi-Pyrénées, by way of Poitou-Charentes, the Limousin, Gascony and Aquitaine. In other words, they are intent on retaking, by stealth and property deals, land we lost in the Hundred Years’ War.

And here the market appears to be firming up, the past few months have seen signs of mild recovery, no stampede, as between 2000 and 2006 — it’s more of a crawl, but the strength of the pound has jolted people into thinking it’s make-your-mind-up time.

Most movement is around the €150,000 (£124,000) mark. That won’t buy you the rural idyll of a stone farmhouse with an acre of land, but it might get you close if you’re prepared to do some work.

Over in the Dordogne, things are also improving in loftier reaches — from €300,000 upwards. Late last year was the nadir, but in the past three months, inquiries and visits have picked up, especially from the UK.

There are reasons for all this. Britain’s economy appears healthier, so we’re more confident shelling out for the French house after which we’ve long been lusting. At the same time, hardly anyone trusts Spain, what with its vertical price dive and authorities itching to knock down seaside homes that upset them. Interest rates in France remain low (about 3% for a 20-year mortgage) and — an unexpected bonus — favourable rates of capital gains tax on second homes have been extended through to next August.

Now is a fantastic time to buy, there’s still oversupply — but that will even out over the next couple of years. In other words, you’re buying relatively cheap, with a decent expectation that properties won’t get cheaper — not in the west and southwest, anyway.

So there we are. Welcome to France. If you decide to have a crack, may I mention a couple of considerations? You’ll need an English-speaking estate agent and, ideally, an English-speaking notaire, the lawyer who handles the paperwork and charges handsomely for it. (Their average annual salary — admittedly boosted by big Parisian earners — is not far shy of £200,000.) Bite the bullet. There are pitfalls out there, and not all French sellers are as honest as they look. And they don’t look that honest.

Keep the mayor on side. He or she is the person who can smooth edges or render life rocky. Most are highly intelligent, deeply charming, extraordinarily helpful (this is “keeping the mayor on side” in action), and may appreciate an invitation to apéritifs.

Don’t be afraid of resentment. At some stage, some bloke whose family has lived in the village since 1567 will cut up rough against you as an immigrant. It happened to me when my red setter carelessly impregnated a neighbour’s standard poodle. “You immoral foreign b******” was the least of it. Yet most of the village saw the flaw in his reasoning, life carried on, and, a few years’ later, the poodle-owner and I now exchange bonjours.

Avoid feuds. Every village has them, especially those in remoter spots. A history of tough living hasn’t always disposed inhabitants to love all their fellow men. Boundary disputes last for generations. Smile at everyone, but keep well clear. I’ve known people who are not above poisoning enemy neighbours’ dogs.

Finally, if you don’t speak French, consider learning. Otherwise you’ll be confined to an expat ghetto and will miss the essence of local life. Imagine a Frenchman moving to Derbyshire, unable to speak English. Derbyshire people would find this odd. They might even grow annoyed that this person comes into their shops and pubs and talks at them in French (and, Lord knows, Derby folk are tolerant).

This is the same as monoglot Britons living in Aquitaine. We may be numerous — 20% of house purchases in the Dordogne last year — but this is not our country. We are also famously polite. It’s not easy, but we know where our duty lies.

NOTE: The bulk of this article was originally published in The Sunday Times "Home" Section on 6th April 2014.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.