This week, we meet Linda and David Bainbridge, a British/Australian couple who arrived in France from Australia along with their two dogs, William and Harry.
David is an engineer who used to work for London Underground, while Linda’s background was in retail banking. The couple originally moved from the UK to Australia to reduce their workload, but the opposite happened. As Linda explains, “It was our first attempt at stepping back from our corporate lives but it didn’t really work out because we ended up doing bigger jobs than when we were in England.”
After 15 years in Australia and dual citizenship, it was decision time. David says choosing to settle in France was a process of elimination.
“It’s very expensive to live in Australia and it’s a long way away, so we had a choice to make. We looked at Lanzarote, but it’s quite remote. Cyprus was an option but the British contingent has dwindled. France felt like a good solution. The climate was the most important thing. We wanted somewhere with sunshine, and the two sunniest parts of France are Provence and the Charente-Maritime. We opted for northern Charente- Maritime, straight in from La Rochelle.”
Linda says running a gite was always part of the plan. “We couldn’t accept the thought of total retirement after so many years in the corporate world. We knew we would need to do something to keep ourselves occupied.”
As it happens, Covid had a role to play in determining their future.
“In Sydney, David worked away from home a lot, but throughout the pandemic, he really got back into DIY and doing work around the house. Suddenly, all these things started to get done that hadn’t been done for years. He realised he liked using Ryobi tools instead of a pen, so he built a fantastic workshop full of Ryobi!”
David and Linda contacted French Connections HCB when they first arrived in France. Linda explains what prompted that call. “David completed our first visa application while we were in Australia and we knew from that that it was quite a tedious process. We realised that if it had already been a struggle in English on an English website, we would really struggle with the French one. We had bought our gites but were getting mixed information as to what we could and couldn’t do on our visa. Some people told us we couldn’t do anything, and that we would have to outsource everything, so we urgently needed help to understand what sort of company structure we needed. Our first conversation was around setting up the business. We had such a good experience during that initial chat that we booked a one hour consultation with Richard Hammond who explained exactly what we could and could not do. He then referred our information through to the lawyer to make sure everything was OK.”
“On Richard’s advice, we opted for an LMNP (Locations Meublées Non Professionelles). It meant we’d be capped on the amount of money we could earn from the gites, but that amount was still in line with what we’d anticipated wanting to earn initially. In fact, it works well for us because David has been doing a lot of renovations which means our season is quite short at the moment, because he can’t do the work when guests are in residence. We knew that for the first 2-3 years, the income limit wouldn’t affect us. Richard also introduced us to French Business Advice, and we have an accountant there called Carla who is excellent. She takes care of all our tax returns, personal as well as business. One of the great things about French Connections HCB is that they have such a big network of experts to help with any challenges. For example, we sold a property in the UK last year, and it wasn’t until we did our personal tax return that we realised we would need to pay capital gains in France as well as in the UK. Even though it was building up to a peak tax time, Carla recommended an avocat in Paris and he turned it round within 2 weeks to give us the document that Carla needed to put on our tax return. Whatever seems to be your problem, FCHCB has somebody that can help.”
Meanwhile, David and Linda’s two dogs are proving to be an asset to the business. “Harry and William love our guests! Harry knows we have people arriving today because he has seen us making up the beds. When he knows somebody is coming, he’ll sit and wait for them on their doorstep….”
So far, the gite experience has been hugely enjoyable for all four of them.
“We took over the previous owner’s bookings when we bought the gite business, so we were up and running from the start. We became owners on March 1st and the first guests arrived in July. Fortunately, the gites didn’t need major renovations, mostly just small things like improving one of the kitchens and getting rid of the dark grey paint that seems very popular in gites. Over the winter we had storm damage in the large gite after 140 km/hour winds. I don’t know how the tiles stayed up there, to be honest! The barn wall collapsed, a fence was ripped off, so we’ve had a few hiccups…”
David and Linda have had a very positive response from their guests, who are mainly English, with French, Belgian, Dutch and Swiss in the mix. Most bookings come through their own website https://www.holidaygites-france.com and the booking site VRBO, although Linda says VRBO has been quieter recently, which may have been linked to the UK and French elections.
Is moving to France and running a gite everything they imagined?
David laughs. ‘Yes, apart from the worst winter France has had since 1959! However, the people here are so friendly. If you just try a little bit of French, they will bend over backwards to help you. Much of my time is spent at the local builders merchants; they’ve got used to the Aussie bloke who turns up and doesn’t really know what he wants in French, and we muddle through.”
Meanwhile, William and Harry are becoming quite famous locally.
“The great thing is that we take William and Harry everywhere with us. Our guests took us out to a restaurant on Saturday night and the dogs came and everybody made such a fuss of them. There was another dog in there too, so William found a new girlfriend…”
It sounds like all four of them have really settled in.
David nods enthusiastically. “I love it here. I love getting back to country living, I grew up in the North Notts countryside, and of course this is a lot different, but after living in cities for 40 years it’s a much better pace of life.”
Of course, that pace of life can sometimes slow things down. “Getting used to the French two hour lunch break has probably been the biggest thing. It’s good, but very frustrating that nothing is open again until 2pm. These are just things you have to get used to. Like when there’s no stock. You have to wait for stock, then half arrives and the other half doesn’t. Everything here is very much more relaxed.”
Linda backs up the story. “We’ve struggled to find tradesmen to help with some of the renovations, people such as stonemasons, roofers and builders. I found a stonemason on a Facebook group and he came in July last year and gave me a quote on the spot, We accepted the quote straight away to join his work queue but had to wait 11 months until he was free to do the work. Same with a chimney sweep. I asked for recommendations and found one. We waited four months for our appointment, so as he was leaving, I booked him straight away for next year. “
Linda says that the FCHCB team has become their go-to source of help. “It’s a question of confidence. Because they did such a good job with the business set-up and the first visa renewal, we asked them to do our carte Vitale. They also handled the importation of an old Mini Cooper that we wanted to bring over. In fact, whatever problem we have, French Connections HCB are our first port of call.”
David is also a keen advocate of FCHCB. “Whatever your problem is, go and talk to them, and if it’s not in their portfolio, they will guide you towards somebody who can help. They have a vast range of knowledge and skills in their contacts. All the people they have recommended to us have been excellent, helpful and extremely professional. For me, it’s a peace of mind thing. You can easily make such a mess of it on your own. When the capital gains tax thing happened, I thought, ‘Well, that’s me off to the Bastille!’ although in reality my worst nightmare would be to be deported back to the UK…”
If you could use a bit of help or expert advice in a tricky situation, check out our YouTube channel. We’ll be uploading step-by-step guides every week, and you can meet more of our clients who are happy to share their own experiences to help other people moving to a new life in France.
If you’d rather talk face to face with relocations, business and property expert, Richard Hammond, you are welcome to book a 30 minute initial consultation. The consultation costs 90 euros but that amount is deducted from the first service you book with us.
We look forward to helping you iron out the kinks and smooth the way to your new life in France.
