WE MOVED TO… FRANCE

Friday 1st December 2006

Bob Hyde

Caryn Barratt, 44, and Robert Harris, 39, left Northampton in 2001 to settle in western France. Caryn now works as an estate agent while Robert sells furniture through internet auctions

Why did you move?
We moved here after looking for a holiday home in France. We kept returning on holiday and finding it harder to come back to Britain. We loved the fact that there was no traffic and we were a million miles away from the rat race. We went to view a house whose owner wanted to retire – it seemed a golden opportunity.

What were the biggest adjustments?
The French are so laid-back, it takes ages for anything to happen. Building work was painstakingly slow and when we wanted a stove and fridge freezer, it took almost a month for them to be delivered. Shop opening hours are limited too.

What are your working hours like?
I used to work in recruitment so it was a real change to be selling houses to French and English couples. I work nine house, with a two-hour lunch break. In Britain I was doing nine to 5.30pm straight. Robert was working a 37-hour week in a furniture shop, but now works from home with no fixed hours.

How does your home compare?
We live in a small village in a two-bed house, which is more than 300 years old. We're currently converting an attic into a third bedroom. In Britain we had a three-bed house, which was built in 1902. We bought it in 1998 for £79,500 with a mortgage, then sold it for £155,000 and bought our house out here for £63,000.

What about education?
The system here is very different. Pupils do fewer hours, but work harder. Most go to school on Saturday mornings and then have Wednesday afternoons off. They also learn languages earlier. Corporal punishment is still legal, providing the parents have been informed. If we had children, we'd be happy for them to be educated here.