Could moving to France be more affordable than staying in the U.S.? For 74-year-old Carolyn, it was. After losing her husband and facing the reality of rising costs in Idaho, she found an unexpected path to peace, purpose and property, through French Connections HCB relocations ervices.

“Your company offers everything anybody needs.” Carolyn said

At 74, Carolyn faced a decision many wouldn’t dare to make. Widowed and living in Idaho on a modest inheritance, she realised that even if she bought a trailer, the ongoing lot rent would eat away what little she had left. For the same cost as just two years of lot rent, she found something far better. 

She looked to a place where she had a kinship with. She looked to rural France and found a stone house with land in rural France.

What began as a search for a simple house with a garden led her to a €23,000 stone cottage in Clugnat, a rural French village with just 660 residents. With a south-facing garden, shared well and fruit trees waiting to be planted, it wasn’t just a house. It was her dream retirement home.

So Carolyn reached out to Richard and the team at French Connections HCB to help her secure her visa to move to France from America and we’re proud to say that French Connections HCB helped make it real for her. 

From navigating the 47 different types of visas to support with getting vehicles after moving to France, and from emotional support to practical solutions, Carolyn’s journey is proof that starting over is possible at any age, especially with the right people by your side.

We caught up with Carolyn in the small village of Clugnat, France where she invited host Lizzie, into her charming stone home with a garden to tell us about how she is loving life in her new home and how French Connections HCB helped Carolyn move to France from America, every step of the way.

How Did French Connections HCB help Carolyn move from USA to France?

French Connections HCB Helped With Her Visa

French Connections HCB handled Carolyn’s visa application, we took care of the whole process of legally moving to France for her. We provided a bespoke visa package, walked her through the paperwork and ensured her arrival was fully compliant.“I made an appointment with Richard… bought your visa getting package… and then I bought six months of extra help. I was thrilled with their service once I got my visa. I literally escaped out the door with my suitcases before my kids could have me committed!” Carolyn laughs.

Read more about our French immigration and visa services HERE or why not take our quiz to see how we can help you move to France from the USA

French Connections HCB Organised a Car for Her at the Airport

Carolyn’s car was waiting at the airport when she landed in Paris, ready for her to drive herself to her new home in Clugnat. Richard and the team helped source a car that matched her lifestyle, down to the model and manual transmission she preferred.

“Richard asked what kind of car I wanted. I said a Citroën Berlingo or something with room for hauling concrete, paving stones, manure… and they found me a Kangoo. They even had it delivered to the airport. It was there when I landed. The car was wonderful,” Carolyn says. “I haven’t had a lick of problems with it…”

Learn more about our French vehicle services HERE, including driving licence exchange to a French Licence, vehicle registration, car purchase when moving to France, and more!

French Connections HCB Offered Ongoing Relocation Support

We know settling in can sometimes be a little daunting. Beyond the initial visa and car packages, Carolyn paid for six extra months of support, knowing she might run into issues settling in. That decision gave her peace of mind and a safety net while she adjusted to rural life, dealt with missing luggage and initial property challenges.

“French Connections is absolutely amazing. They are helpful, they know what they’re doing, and the services that you guys offer now… your company offers everything anybody needs. Just like me, they can just jump. And if your kids think you’re crazy, do it anyway.”

French Connections HCB Gave Her Confidence To Move From the USA To France

For Carolyn, French Connections HCB wasn’t just about paperwork. It was about confidence. We’re happy to say that our relocation services, designed for Americans who want to move to France, or anyone anywhere in the world who wants to move to France, helped her make the move! 

Carolyn explained that working with French Connections HCB was a way to prove, both to herself and her children, that she wasn’t making a foolish move. We had and still have her best interests at heart.

French Connections HCB Let Her Do It Alone

Carolyn didn’t just move to France from the USA. She moved on her own, in her 70s, to a rural village where she didn’t speak the language. Which is incredibly brave! Our team here at French Connections HCB enabled her to do that by removing the obstacles that might stop someone from trying.

“I’ve always jumped before I looked. But this time, I didn’t. Once I found the house, I thought, ‘I don’t know how to get a visa.’ That’s when I found French Connections. They made the move possible. They really did.”

See our full VIP package here, which includes 3 month and 12 month unlimited on-call concierge service for your first year of living in France

French Connections HCB Helped Carolyn Find Her Dream Home in France, Safely

Carolyn was incredibly brave to move on her own, and is thriving, loving her dream home and dreams of baking bread for the whole town! Our team at French Connections HCB made sure she wasn’t doing it blindly. Once Carolyn had found the house herself, we helped with visa, car and 6 months of initial support to make the transition as smooth as possible. 

“Your company offers everything anybody needs. Just like me, they can just jump. And if your kids think you’re crazy, do it anyway!”

Thinking of �鶹��ý from The USA?

Carolyn’s story shows that it’s never too late to start again and that moving to France from the US is possible with the right help.

Whether you’re planning your retirement in France from the USA, a new adventure or just want to move from the USA to France, French Connections HCB can help you make it happen, legally, practically and confidently. We helped thousands of Americans move to France from the USA and can help you with every aspect of relocating to France. 

Take our quiz to see how we can help you move to France HERE: /get-started/

Book a FREE chat with our team to explore your options and find out more about moving to France from America:

💼 Prefer a 1-to-1 consultation with our Founder, Richard?

The €90 fee is fully refunded when you move forward with any service. Click here:

In the third of our ‘Behind the Scenes’ series, we’d like you to meet John and Sandi who have Brexit to thank for their French adventure.

John gives us the background to what became a race against time and an urgent call to our team at French Connections HCB.

“My company is involved in transport and geothermal energy and we could see that there would be restrictions on growth in post-Brexit UK. We also personally felt passionately that we were European citizens. France offered a great opportunity, because of deregulation of its rail sector and the growth of the geothermal sector there. Also, having even a nascent presence within the EU opens up opportunities for the business. At the moment I am the only employee in France, but we are actively exploring expansion here.”

Having left the decision very late, John and Sandi were galvanised into action. “We just thought ‘Let’s go for it! It’s now or never.’ We researched what needed to be done to move to France under the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. There was a hard stop as everything had to be completed by the Brexit deadline of 31 December and it was already late October! Running a company, I was used to dealing with the EU, including their processes and all the ‘paperasse’ so I could work out how to do it. But with so much to do and work to manage, I couldn’t afford the time.”

With the clock ticking against them, John was thorough in his search for somebody trustworthy, reliable and competent to help them.

“I joined all the relevant Facebook groups and saw a number of references to French Connections HCB, so I asked around, sent PMs and discovered that they had a good reputation. I contacted them and they were super helpful, very transparent about pricing.”

John is honest about his thought process.

“Yes, I could have got it done for less. There were one-man-bands who would offer to hold your hand and do it for you, but I couldn’t afford to take the risk. I needed a professional outfit, so I did my due diligence and French Connections HCB came out on top on performance and price. Also, I just liked talking to them.”

During their initial introductory consultation, John and Sandi opted for the two services that were essential ahead of the Brexit deadline.

“The residency application came first, then Social Security. Those were the two main things we needed help with urgently.”

To apply for a residency in France, you need an address. John shares the story of how they solved that problem.

“In my real life outside of work, I play Blues guitar and sing. I’ve been coming for many years to the Cognac Blues Passions Festival, which has a jam stage. I would play there every year, so that was the place we always came for our holiday.”

One of John and Sandi’s friends had a little summer holiday home in a small village near Matha in the Charente Maritime. “It’s a tiny commune, very quiet, and there was a chap who lived opposite in the Maison de Maître and he had a gîte available. We needed somewhere to live and he was willing to rent it to us and was very helpful.”

The story gets even better when John and Sandi started looking around for a place to buy.

“We moved in early December 2020 and the gite had no heating (which we had been warned about by the owner). It was bitterly cold, so we bought oil heaters and managed to avoid freezing to death while we drove in ever expanding circles looking for a home. We knew our landlord’s place was for sale, but we had visions of being able to walk to a bar and boulangerie which was not an option from there. However, the kindness of the local people, the quiet charm of the village and the elegance of the house and gardens slowly worked their magic on us. We bought the house and now we live in a classic Charentais Maison de Maître! It can be very depressing looking for a place to live in the cold, but if you find somewhere that you like in winter, then you are just going to love it in summer!”

The cold wasn’t the only thing John and Sandi had to contend with.

“Of course, we were in lockdown at points throughout that winter. They were tricky times for moving home and country. Both of us in our 60s and neither of us speaking any French really. We had to learn fast, and we made that a priority.”

18 months later, John and Sandi are well and truly settled in their new life and are thinking of applying for citizenship further down the track.

“We will be doing that, but we are focusing on language at the moment. It’s very important and it’s something that people who might be thinking of moving here should know. We didn’t want to just be the English ‘expats’ who come over here and only hang out with the English. We are not ‘expats’, we are Brexit Refugees. Immigrants! Of course, it’s harder to learn when you’re older, but I read Le Monde in the morning, Sandi does 2 hours a day at least and reads simple French books and we have language classes each week, face to face and online. Top tip: the best online tool is Lingopie which teaches languages using real TV shows and movies. They also do excellent online one-to-one lessons.”

John and Sandi also came up with another fun and unusual way to hone their language skills. “We joined a local French association, which is just French people singing classic French chansons, and that is really helping with pronunciation. They are also great company in the bar afterwards!”

Joining the Association has led to John to add some classic French songs to his Blues guitar repertoire. “There are two exquisite French classics that I only heard recently, “Je l’aime à mourir’ and ‘San Francisco’. I’m learning those in French with the help of friends at the Association. My goal is to perform them in French soon.”

Quite apart from the singing, the Association has been a great way for John and Sandi to make new friends in the local community.

“We have apéro evenings which are always convivial occasions! I use Google translate sometimes, but it’s at the point now where I can hold a basic conversation – even if I sound like ‘un enfant de deux ans’ It’s fun and the group is patient and appreciative of our efforts. They see our move as a really brave thing to do, but we are having the best time.”

As well as the initial residency visa and carte Vitale, John also asked for our help with car registration.

“We brought our own car over. It was very new, so it was easy to get the Certificate of Conformity ourselves (although it took over a month). We had a few shocks though. One of the things I didn’t realise was that you can’t continue an HP agreement if you move to France, so we had to find the money to pay it off.”

So how do John and Sandi view their French adventure so far?

“Overall it has been an excellent experience. The decision to work with French Connections HCB made all the difference. If you are doing it yourself, you need to take a deep breath and work on the basis that there is always a process in France. It might be slow and it might be complicated and involved, but you have to make sure you do everything correctly. Do your research, ask questions, understand that it’s going to be slow. But for anything that’s absolutely critical, like car registration or carte de séjour, use a professional like French Connections because you can’t afford to get these things wrong.”

While there are obvious differences between the French and UK systems, John doesn’t see that as a disadvantage.

“Yes, the French have a bureaucracy, but it works. And I’d rather have a bureaucracy that works than one that’s a light touch but doesn’t work. Yes, you’ll pay a bit more tax, but you can see what you’re paying for. There is still a concept of ‘the social good’ in the community. In our commune, the Mayor is God – but he’s also just the guy who lives down the road and can be called anytime to advise or help. To me, that’s gold dust.”

To sum up, we asked him how he would describe French Connections HCB to somebody who had never heard of us.

“First class. The key thing is communication. If I email, I get a response. If there’s an issue, it is dealt with promptly. The team is proactive. CPAM (Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie) had mislaid a couple of elements whilst we were back in the UK dealing with family matters. Luckily for us, Laurie from French Connections was handling everything for us. She chased it up with CPAM, chased us up and sorted everything out instead of just sitting back and waiting for us to deal with it. In short, I’d say French Connections is really good value for money. You get what you pay for every time.”

People like John and Sandi are the reason French Connections HCB and our sister company in exist. We have helped hundreds of clients with every aspect of moving to France, from visas and banking to buying a house or registering a car.

We have also just launched an exciting new , created specifically to take care of all the everyday fiddly bits, such as connecting water, opening gas or electricity accounts, getting mobile phone contracts, signing up to a local doctor or dentist and so much more. A subscription of 89 euros a month gives you unlimited access to our resources. Whatever you need, we’ll do it, and you can opt out at any time.

If you would like to talk to us about any of our services, simply  to see how we can help. We look forward to talking to you.

Kind regards,

French Connections HCB Team

This week we introduce Lee and his French husband, André. They are living the dream, not just because of the French château they have bought and are restoring, but because of the warmth of the welcome they have received from the village they now call home. 

Their adventure began two years ago. 

“We used to watch other people restoring châteaux in France on the TV and we always said,  ‘Wouldn’t that be lovely?’ but we never put anything into action. Then overnight our attitude changed. We realised that if we didn’t do it now, we were never going to do it,” explains Lee.  

“I had worked in insurance in the city and was with the same company for 24 years. But after Covid lockdowns, we both felt that this was the right time to change our lives.” 

As soon as Covid restrictions were lifted in October 2021, Lee and André jumped on a plane and headed to France to visit a shortlist of properties they had liked online. André had grown up in Paris and knew a lot about the different areas of France. Despite originally thinking of the Dordogne, André had a hankering for a hillier landscape so they focused their search in the southwest of France. 

Their instincts were good. 

They landed in a tiny village called Mailleres in Les Landes, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.  Lee and André laughingly call it a ’20-minute village’. “We are 10 minutes from the 10th-century commune of Roquefort, 20 minutes from beautiful Mont-de-Marsan, one hour from  Biarritz and one hour from Bordeaux, so it’s handy for everything!” 

The very first property Lee and André visited was the one they ended up buying.

“We fell in love with the château on the internet, then we got here and it was a lot bigger than we thought, with over 6 hectares of forest and woodland. It also had a huge 13×6 metre pool. We particularly liked that there was a barn we could convert, as well as a 17th-century house that was completely gutted inside but had four solid walls, a new roof and electrics. The château itself also had a new roof, which was a big tick as far we were concerned. We also decided on a full survey to ensure that our decision was the correct  one.”

Lee and André were lucky in that the proceeds from the sale of their London home covered the purchase of the château, but they will be taking out a short-term mortgage to pay for the renovation work. “The advice we got was to use the bank’s money”, says Lee, “which made sense to us.” 

Lee and André became proud owners of the château on the 30th of April 2022, a mere seven months after first setting eyes on it. While André is still running his business in London, the restoration project in France has become Lee’s full-time job. He realised quite quickly that his language skills might not be up to the rigours of the French administration. “I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing and as André left France at 16, he wasn’t up to speed with all the processes either. It was at that stage that our best friend, Barbara, a current client of French Connections HCB, suggested that we should ask the team for help.” 

Lee contacted our founder, Richard, and explained what they wanted to do and the things they needed help with. The French Connections HCB team leapt into action! 

“Charlotte organised my visa, then we flew out to meet the bank manager of the Crédit  Agricole. We opened an account with him, then another at the Crédit Mutuel, all facilitated by Richard. Perhaps we would have got there under our own steam eventually, but we needed to get stuff done quickly – especially when it came to my visa – and the service was seamless.” 

Lee and André have also asked for Richard’s help in buying a Ford Ranger, which is André’s dream car. Lee laughs because he only passed his driving test a week before he left the UK, but driving became essential because Maillere, like many small French villages, has limited public transport and no shops. With André making frequent return trips to the UK, Lee needs to be independent. 

As well as the big items like visa, bank accounts and car purchase, Lee and André have called on French Connections HCB for help with all manner of everyday smaller things. 

“Charlotte has been looking after me, sorting out my EDF direct debits which had accidentally been cancelled, then she found a vet for our dog. Juliette found a dentist for me, and a doctor. Originally I paid as and when for these smaller admin jobs, but now I’m here in France, I just pay 89 euros a month and the FCHCB team look after absolutely everything for me.” 

Lee and André have big plans for their new home. 

“Within two years, we will be renting out the château as a luxury holiday rental, and we’ll also create a yoga retreat at either end of the holiday season when the weather is cooler.” 

There’s a lot of renovation work to do, but Lee is confident of meeting the deadline.  

“I have now met Richard many times. I have asked his building company to do the restoration work at our property, which will start in January. Richard’s builder is going to move in with me to save costs, and the job is programmed to take 6-7 months. He will start with the house, then we can move in there while he starts on the château. Currently the château has 11 rooms but over the years, some of them have been chopped in two with stud walls, so the plan is to bring it back to its original state.” 

The biggest joy for Lee and André has been the reaction from the village.  

“As two gay guys, we were wondering if we would be welcome – but we are, absolutely.  People are pleased that new life is coming to the chateau. In July we went to the Bastille Day celebrations and were welcomed by the village. Some of the older generation told us that what we have done in the short time since we arrived is how they remembered the house,  with the old oak trees standing proud in the front. Using the tree surgeon from the village,  we’ve already taken down 30 pine trees that were hiding the property. The deputy Maire came to see us. He could see what we were doing in opening it all back up and he loves it.  Yes, we are the talk of the village, but everything we have heard back through the gardeners is very positive.”  

Another great surprise was learning the real name of their château. 

“When we bought the property, we believed it was called Domaine de la Grange. I know that means ‘domain of the barn’ but it didn’t seem right – and ‘grange’ is too close to  ‘grunge’ for my liking! But when we were chatting with the locals on Bastille Day, they told us that the real name of the property is ‘Château de Jostelle’. For about 50 years, it was owned and run by nuns, and Jostelle was the name of their order.  Recently, a man who was helping the tree surgeon told me he used to go to Sunday school with the nuns at Château de Jostelle and had very fond memories of the property, so he was  happy to be working there.” 

Based on his own experience, Lee has already recommended our services to other people. 

“I’m an intelligent, smart man, but when you are moving and you don’t speak or read  French, it’s hard. Before meeting Richard, we had applied for a mortgage ourselves and we were declined with no explanation. Richard put us in touch with Crédit Agricole and secured an agreement in principle straight away. It’s a funny feeling for someone like me who has always been in control, but I get terribly frustrated from the point of view of the language barrier, particularly when it comes to financial matters. For example, neither of us has a Will, which is essential in France. Richard put me in touch with their Financial Advisor,  Simon. I’m also getting his help with setting up a company and putting in my tax declaration. Doing it yourself is not as easy as I thought and I’ve also realised that the French love paperwork! ” 

So how would Lee and André sum up their experience in France so far?

“Whilst enjoying Bastille Day at the village hall, we met other newcomers who, like us, have bought properties in the village. We now have the pleasure of new neighbours from New Zealand, Grenoble and Hong Kong. All had the same attitude after Covid, that a change of lifestyle was the most important thing for them and their family. For us, this is the start of a different life, a different journey. Hopefully we’ll look back in two or three years and think, wow, look at us now! Our château has been empty for 20 years, and the gates have remained closed. We found out that people from the village used to play  football on our field and the village Fête was held there, so we’ve told the Maire that once we’ve made the trees safe, we are absolutely up for that…” 

At French Connections HCB, we’re delighted to have played a part in Lee and André’s adventure. They have promised regular updates as the work on Château de Jostelle progresses, so keep an eye on your inbox!  

In the meantime, if you need help with any aspect of moving to France, including car purchase and registration, property search, visas and financial advice, you can  to see how we can help.

And if you are already in France and would like to take advantage of the subscription service that Lee mentioned, our team will be delighted to sort out unlimited everyday tasks for just 89 euros a month. You can cancel at any time, which means it’s also perfect if you are visiting your holiday home. 

We look forward to talking to you. 

This week we talk to French Connections HCB client, Mark. He has just returned from his first trip to the UK since moving to France and is surprised by how happy he is to be back on French soil.

“France feels like home, which is a bit strange considering we have only been here since the beginning of August!”

A couple of years ago, living in France was only a pipe dream for Mark and his partner, Rachel, but a nasty bout of Covid changed all that and gave them a new perspective.

Mark explains, “During the first Covid lockdown, Rachel and I were in discussions with our friends about doing a family holiday. We don’t have any kids but our friends have three, so we booked a fairly large house to accommodate everybody, with a pool, a decent sized garden and a BBQ, that sort of stuff.”

That holiday didn’t turn out as planned because UK’s Covid rules changed overnight.

image source: 

Last September, we introduced you to Lee and his French husband André. They had just sold up in the UK and bought a Château in southwest France. Château Jostelle came complete with four hectares of forest and woodland, plus a 17th century building called the White House, an additional barn that was ripe for conversion and a large pool. 

There was work to be done and a lot of French admin.  Luckily, French Connections HCB and our sister company,, could handle it all.

Lee and André have been HCB clients right from the start. We facilitated their mortgage, helped them open a bank account and organised Lee’s visa. Those of you who are following their story will remember that Lee had only passed his driving test a week before leaving the UK but is now very happy behind the wheel of their new VW Golf. 

It was only natural that Lee and André would turn to Richard again for help with the restoration.  He has years of experience in buying and renovating in France and over the years has gathered together a loyal team of experienced builders who were very happy to take on the project of Château Jostelle. 

Lee explains how it is to work with Richard’s team.

“Basically, the builders moved in with us. From Monday to Thursday, they live in the château while they work on the White House, then they go home for the weekend.  They’re a breeze, to be honest. We were a little bit nervous at first, you know, wondering how would they like the château, how are we going to get on… I was ummming and ahhhing, but now we’re doing it I can’t think why I was worried. It’s quite funny because when they’re not here at weekends, we kind of miss them. How many people could say that about their builders?! My dog Mr Titch misses them the most. He has fallen in love with Yannick. The guys usually go to bed at 10, 10.30 but I don’t head up until about midnight. On the way upstairs, Titch always runs into Yannick’s room to say goodnight….”

Lee and André’s renovations are being  and the progress from week to week is quite astonishing.

“We started with the White House, and we couldn’t believe it.  Within two or three days they had completely gutted it!  It was derelict but they managed to save the staircase, which we were really happy about, because it was beautiful. In the latest video, you can see that they’ve now done all the insulation, they’ve put the plumbing and pipework in, and they’re adding the second layer of insulation. There’s a big concrete lorry coming tomorrow because they’re doing the foundations. Our friends in London can’t believe it. I had building works done at our last house and it would have taken at least 6 months to get to this stage….  

A lot of people have said to me, ‘Aren’t you putting all your eggs in one basket with Richard?’  because I use him for my financial stuff and everything else. But I’ve known him for more than a year and a half now, from when we were buying the property and he handled all our mortgage and visa admin. We’ve become friends.  If I can’t trust Richard’s building firm after all he’s done for us, who can I trust? Especially bearing in mind we’ve been badly stung by some local gardeners who were recommended by the previous owner of the château. He had given us a list of local people, all of whom have been great except one. The gardener started off fine, but then I noticed that his bills were going up. He quoted 6000 euros to cut down and clear an overgrown piece of land no bigger than a swimming pool, which used to be the vegetable garden when the château was a nunnery.  In the end, our next door neighbour did the whole job for 400 euros!” 

Lee and André are now getting ready for the next stage of the restoration.

“Richard has been advising us on different heat sources. We’ve gone with a wood pellet burner, which he is sourcing for us. It will be our main heating source as well as electric radiators, and it has a ‘pompe à chaleur’ system to vent warm air around the house. In the summer, we can have the fans on so the air circulates. Richard initially suggested a log fire in the sitting room, but we opted for wood pellets because they’re easy and we can operate the burner on our phone. All in all, it’s been an interesting learning curve for people like us who are only used to central heating!”

There are also decisions to be made about lighting.

“I’m a little bit OCD about lighting. I tend to have lots of lamps, but I just want one switch so I can walk in and turn all the lamps on at once, like we had in our London house. I told Yannick the builder and he said that’s a bloody good idea!'”

The château itself already has a sizeable pool, so Lee and André have decided to put in a smaller, simpler one at the White House.

“We’re going for a black liner. It’s something a bit different and it will suit the house which will be boho chic, mainly black and white with grey tones, hessian and wicker.”

Choosing fixtures and fittings is something that both Lee and André enjoy. 

“That’s the exciting part, picking out bathrooms and showers and things like that. We’re probably going to use Hudson Reed. Funnily enough, they are actually based in France.
I love all of their stuff, Victorian baths, Victorian toilets.”

Lee knows that invoices are essential during a restoration project.

“Richard has been telling us that the paperwork is really important. It’s all about making sure we have the 10 year guarantee (decennale) in place, which is also linked to the mortgage. At the end of the project, we’ll have a decennale for all the work, so if anything goes wrong, we can just call Richard.”

Much to Lee’s surprise, Richard’s building team is already about a month ahead of schedule. 

“I said to the builders, ‘You’ve only been here 7 weeks, how can you be a month ahead?’ But when you think about it, they are here, living on site in the château itself and they’re happy. They have nice beds, they have their special coffee and the English biscuits that they like and a beer in the evenings. André makes them a big meal on a Monday and they absolutely love his food. It’s almost like Christmas, he does a 3 course meal! For the rest of the time they go to the Auberge for which is literally two minutes down the road. They’re up at 7 and at work by 8. Of course they go for lunch between 12 – 2, but now the evenings are lighter they work until 7.30 or 8pm. I would highly recommend the live-in approach to other people doing a big renovation. It’s quick and efficient and it saves a lot of money.”

Lee is quick to acknowledge that HCB’s help has been invaluable.

There’s nothing they haven’t been able to pull off for us. I’m talking to William at French Connections HCB at the moment because he’s looking after my driving licence. Our first year of being here is coming up and I’m only allowed to drive for 12 months on my UK licence then it has to be switched for a French one. The application is going through at the moment. 

I’m also talking to Richard’s barrister because he’s looking after my visa extension. I came over on a 12 month long term visitor visa (VLS-TS) so I have to renew that for a 2nd year, but within 6 months of renewing, I can apply for my 5 year residency.  Once I’ve got that, it means I’ll be able to work because on a long term visitor visa I can’t. The other thing that’s important is that André and I had a civil partnership in the UK, which is supposed to be recognised in France but sometimes it’s not. So we’re going to get remarried over here in June!” 

It’s a credit to how well Lee and André have settled into village life that everyone is delighted by the news of the wedding. 

“We’ve been to the Maire’s office and they were all so happy for us. With Richard’s help, we’re having all our documents translated, so when they are all done, we’ll take them all back down to the Mairie. With our civil partnership in the UK, there were admin costs, registrar costs and everything. We asked what the admin costs were here and they said ‘No, it’s free. It’s our privilege.’  We’ve told everyone in the village about the wedding and they’re all excited.  We’ve got about 50 people coming and we’ve invited Richard and the builders and their wives.  We’ll stroll down to the Maire’s office and get married there, then it’s a one minute walk back to the château.  We had always wanted to have a party to say thank you to everyone, so this will be a wedding and a party combined. André has already spoken to the wine merchant, who has become a friend, and we’ve got a barman and a DJ lined up.”

After an eventful year and a lot of French admin, Lee and André are delighted with how far they have come. 

“2023 is us really cementing our roots. Fingers crossed, the White House should be finished midsummer, which is earlier than we’d anticipated.  We’ve been sharing our progress with the village, and they pop in and have a look. I send them the video updates that Richard films, too.”

When we spoke to Lee last year, he told us that the château grounds used to host the village fête in years gone by.  That’s something Lee and André are keen to do again once the excess trees have been cleared and the grounds replanted. “We want to get it to a position of being a managed woodland. Local people told us to reach out to the farmers and they’ll come and take down the trees free of charge as long as you give them the wood.  I’m happy because I know those trees will be much healthier. Next year we can start thinking about re-seeding what we call the fairy meadow, which looks even more beautiful now.  We’ll just seed it with loads of wildflowers and cut a pathway through the flowers so you can stroll in and out. “

Lee laughs as he admits to a very English yearning.

“André has found some South African grass called Kikuyu that’s tolerant and resistant. It is very invasive and needs very little rain, which is good. Best of all, it means I can have striped grass! When I tell people here that I want striped grass, they look at me as if I am mad – but I’m an Englishman and it’s important to me!”

With the White House progressing at a pace and the grounds slowly taking shape, what’s next on Lee and André’s agenda?

“When the White House is done, we’ll start on the château with the same team. The electrics need to be completely updated, and the basement floors have to be supported.
Yannick has already brought in a structural engineer to make sure we can do it. 
 It’s essential because the château has huge rooms and they have bowed in the middle. We have bits of hard cardboard under tables to balance them at the moment! The château was stripped of all its features when it was occupied by the Germans during the war. So we’ll be redoing all the coving and plasterwork, including the ceiling roses. André wants to include pineapples in the motif, to reflect the Edwardian era. We have a lot of work to do in the bedrooms, too.  There are currently 11 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, but our goal is to end up with 6 bedrooms all with ensuite..”

Lee reflects on what he and André have achieved.

“People say they can’t believe that we’ve done this, we’ve done that. I tell Richard he ought to be paying me. I’m the biggest PR person for HCB, I can tell you! Not only am I their number one client, from securing a mortgage to sorting out pensions and visas, building work and driving licence, but there’s plenty more we’ll need their help with. To everybody who is thinking about moving to France or renovating a property, I say before you do anything you need to speak to HCB. I don’t know what I’d do without them, particularly Richard. He’s man of many hidden talents. We keep in regular contact and he comes every week to check on the work and film the progress.  I can’t thank HCB enough.”

If you would like to follow Lee and André’s adventures, .

And of course, if you have a project you’d like to discuss or an admin issue you’d like us to help with, we’re all ears. For a comprehensive question and answer session, we invite you to book a 30 minute personal consultation with our business and property specialist, Richard Hammond, at a time to suit you. Simply click on the button below. The consultation costs 90 euros, which is fully refundable if you use any of our services moving forward.

We look forward to talking to you.

This week, we’re talking to our client Ian who has lived and worked in Abu Dhabi for the past 15 years but spends as much time as he can in France.

We first met Ian three years ago when he contacted us to talk about his car. It was a 2012 Range Rover, the last model, and Ian was undecided about its fate.

“For a while, I’d been considering whether it was worth exporting the car from Abu Dhabi where it was coming to the end of its life in an environment where temperatures regularly reach 45 – 50 degrees.  Heat like that takes its toll on cars, so I was wondering whether it was worth running it into the ground or taking it to France where, being a left hand drive, it would make the transition much easier. “

As luck would have it, Ian spotted us online.

“I saw an ad for French Connections HCB on Facebook that was quite timely, so I got in touch and ended up having a long discussion with Richard, the founder of the company and a car buff himself, on the pros and cons. In Abu Dhabi, I had been offered about 6,000 euros for it when it was 8 years old, but Richard reckoned it was probably worth 30-35,000 euros in France. It was in mint condition – and still is. I took it to the Range Rover garage in Lincoln (UK) last year and they said they didn’t think they had ever seen one in such a good condition.”  Ian laughs, “One advantage of Abu Dhabi is there’s no rust on cars.  Mine was dusty and the rubber had gone but overall the car was in great condition because there is hardly any rain in the UAE.”

Based on Richard’s advice, Ian decided it was worth exporting the Range Rover to France.

“Richard introduced me to his transport partners, , and they handled the export from the UAE to the UK, with Richard supporting in the background. Ship My Car were extremely efficient and things moved very quickly. The initial paperwork was done within a week of making the decision to go ahead.  Then I had to go down to the traffic department in Abu Dhabi for the car to go through a test. I had to take the number plates off, go inside, hand them over, get an export certificate, then go back outside where a guy with a low loader was waiting for me and the Range Rover was loaded onto the back.  Off it went to Dubai, where it sat for a few days. The guys from Ship My Car kept sending me pictures of my car in a crate. They were very good at keeping me informed. Once it was loaded onto the ship, the journey to the UK took pretty much 4 weeks. The good thing is you can track its progress, so I always knew where it was.”

Ian explains why the car went first to the UK, rather than directly to France.

“I initially shipped the car to the UK because France taxes imported cars on emissions, but the UK taxes on value. Since my car was valued 6000 euros (GBP £5000), the tax on the import was only £1000, whereas in France it would probably have been 22,000 euros, of course, the car was still taxed when it made its journey to France because it was entering the EU, but only about 4,500 euros, so it was still far cheaper to bring it via the UK route.”

When the Range Rover arrived in the UK, Ship My Car took care of everything.

Ian remembers, “It took a week or so for the car to clear customs, then Ship My Car did the MOT and all of the other stuff they needed to register it as UK car with UK plates. There was a slight delay because only the manufacturer certificate of conformity was acceptable.”

The next stage of the journey was transporting the Range Rover to France. With Ian still in Abu Dhabi at that stage, Richard put him in touch with French Connections HCB’s transport associates, Pop Valet. Ian remembers the date because it was imperative to have the car in France before the Brexit deadline of 31st December 2020.

“Pop Valet picked up the car in the UK on 23rd December, just one week before Brexit. The delay was due to that extra test which happened on the 17th. As soon as we got the results, the car left straight away, so it literally arrived in France just before the deadline! “

Ian recalls that there was only one hiccup in the entire process.  “It was due to Brexit. The French would not accept the UK emissions certificate because it had to be in French and apostilled. The new Brexit rules meant that the car had to physically go up to Paris to the  UTAC (l’Union Technique de l’Automobile, du Motocyle et du Cycle) which is the one place in France that does emissions testing. In the end, Richard’s Dad, who is even more of a car enthusiast than his son, drove it up to Paris and got it tested. It was all fine, obviously, so he then drove it back down. Richard’s team at French Connections HCB started the process of registration in France, organised the carte grise and also helped me to sort out the insurance through their associates, . “

Ian was very happy with the outcome. “I’ve now also moved my house insurance to Fab French, as well as insurance for a 2CV that Richard helped us to find and buy last summer. That’s now registered, insured and sitting outside our house in France. We’re in a little town in the Gironde, which is about one hour from Bordeaux and 45 minutes from Bergerac. We love it there, it’s such a nice spot. We first visited in 2007 when we went to Rugby World Cup and just loved the area so we bought a house there in 2016.  We’re usually at home in France for 6-8 weeks in the summer, plus two or three other times during the year. When we’re in Abu Dhabi, my parents and other friends share the house, so that’s a good arrangement.”

In fact, there is only one little cloud in an otherwise perfect sky.

Ian explains, “Our village has a 10th -11th century Abbaye, which means we’re very restricted when it comes to building work. That’s why we still don’t have a garage! We initially wanted it in front of the house as a stand-alone, but we discovered it’s impossible to get permission. We were advised by locals to just do it and ask for forgiveness later, but we weren’t keen to take the risk. We eventually reached a compromise, thanks to the architect who works with Richard and the French Connections team. We plan to build a garage attached to the rear of the house. Our planning application has now escalated from the regional planning office up to Paris, mainly thanks to Richard getting somebody onto it. He’s a terrier! He’s spent most of his life in France so he knows how the system works …. “

We asked Ian to sum up his experience of working with French Connections HCB so far.

“My job in Abu Dhabi is to transition large Design & Build projects – mainly railways and metros – into operations. I do a lot of delivery work and therefore I appreciate people who can deliver when they say they are going to deliver. That’s why I work with Richard.  If he says he’s going to do something, he does it. I don’t need to chase him, I don’t need to do anything, I just know he’s going to get it done.”

And when it comes to the partner companies Richard has introduced him to along the way, Ian is equally positive.

“Fundamentally, what you do in a job like mine is that you look for good suppliers. You are only going to work with suppliers who are not going to let you down. For me, that’s why Richard has chosen to partner with Ship My Car, because he knows that they do what they say on the tin. They pick up cars, get them delivered, get them registered and hand them over. That’s what they do and they do it well. It’s the same with Richard and his team. “

At French Connections HCB, we help clients from all over the world relocate to France and that includes the transportation, delivery and registration of your car or motorcycle.  If you would like to chat to us about your own situation, we invite you to book an initial 30 minute consultation  where you can ask questions and get expert advice. The consultation costs 90 euros but this amount is deducted from any service you book with us.

We look forward to talking to you.

 This week we introduce you to US resident Jack Brown, who has every reason to celebrate Thanksgiving this year after his tortuous journey to secure a French visa.

Jack and his French wife Chantal had bought a house in France with the intention of moving back to Chantal’s homeland after years of living in the US. Chantal, being French, didn’t need a visa of any sort, so she moved over in January of this year to settle in and oversee some renovations ahead of Jack’s arrival.

Meanwhile Jack stayed behind to sell their house in New Mexico and apply for a French visa.

That’s where it all started to go wrong.

As Jack recalls, “We had a problem with selling our house, so I came over to France under the 90/180 visitor scheme to help install us in our new home, then headed back to the States to sell our American house and apply for my visa. Following the rules, I applied for a visa from within the USA, but straight away I encountered a technical difficulty. When I tried to arrange the obligatory meeting online, it just simply said ‘Your mobile phone is not recognised’.

After several frustrating attempts, Jack contacted technical help at the visa centre. “Frankly, they were not very helpful at all! They said it was my problem, must be my browser, it’s this, it’s that, anything but the actual issue. I explained that it seemed to be the mobile that was causing the problem and could they please check from their end. They said no.”

Jack can laugh now but remembers how frustrating it was at the time. ” I told them, that’s what we call a Catch 22 in the USA. I can’t check it, you can’t check it, you won’t let me make an appointment for the visa, so what do I do?”

Their advice was for Jack to start his application again.  

“I pointed out that if there was a problem with my mobile phone not being recognised, it still wasn’t going to work. They assured me it would be fine – and of course it wasn’t. Within minutes I had the exact same problem.”

Back in France, Chantal was so frustrated with the situation that she started looking for expert help and contacted the founder of French Connections HCB, Richard Hammond.

Jack remembers the relief he felt at being in expert hands.

“We had a chat with Richard who, on hearing that I am a British passport holder, suggested that I could make an application for a French visa through the United Kingdom.”

Around that time, Jack had a stroke of luck. 

“The housing market was plummeting in many US cities with a few exceptions, one of them being the city where we lived which is dominated by a massive Intel manufacturing plant. They decided to put $3.5 billion into new manufacturing technology in their Rio Rancho plant, so we went from normal economics to a massive investment in the city just two miles down the road and not enough houses to accommodate the population. The realtor placed our home on the market for more than the average price and we actually got $14k more than we asked for.  So all the things that went wrong technically eventually worked in our favour. We can laugh now but at the time it was quite stressful, obviously.”

With the house sold, Jack joined his adult children in the UK and made his application with the help of French Connections HCB’s visa expert, Juliette.

“Juliette at French Connections HCB was magnificent, ” says Jack. ” She helped me through all the documentation and put the application in. Lo and behold, I got an appointment date! My daughter offered to come with me to that appointment. I was nervous, but Juliette and Richard were very reassuring.  On the appointment day, my daughter and I headed with some anxiety from Southampton to London and arrived about an hour early. We went straight into the visa center and were registered, pleasantly and quickly. We got passed through to the French visa desk and we could see my number on the monitor. Expecting a long wait, we watched it rise up the list but within 15 minutes or so it was our turn!

Things didn’t turn out quite as Jack expected.

“I was applying for a one year visa, so I arrived at the visa desk with a tonne of paperwork, bank statements, the works. The agent took one look and said, “Are you trying to join your wife?”. I said yes, I had been trying to do that for some considerable time! She simply handed the paperwork back to me and said, “Well, we don’t need all that.” She asked me for a copy of Chantal’s passport, which I had, and a certificate of marriage, then she said, “That’s it, Mr Brown”. I couldn’t believe my ears! I asked about the rest of the paperwork but she said that her advice was not to complicate my application and that she was absolutely sure the documents she had were all that she needed.”

From there, Jack headed to the biometrics desk to have his photo and fingerprints taken.

Jack laughs, “The first thing the biometrics guy said was, ‘I believe there’s paperwork missing’ and I thought, ‘Here we go again’! But he went back to the visa agent to double check.”

Next thing Jack knew, there was quite a crowd around him. The biometrics guy, the agent he had spoken to and one of her colleagues were all reassuring him that they had everything they needed and he could relax.

And for the first time in many months, Jack did just that.

“We got the biometrics done and left the building before our actual appointment time! 7 days later we got the message that everything was fine and I could pick up my passport. I took my daughter for a Champagne Kir lunch to celebrate!”

Jack is quick to thank French Connections HCB for the advice and support they gave him.

“When we met Richard, we felt fortunate that we found somebody who had serious experience in overcoming some of the difficulties we were facing, because it’s not an easy process. Juliette was an enormous help too. She is a very thorough and detailed person, I have a contract with French Connections HCB team to help us with French administration moving forward. I would certainly recommend them to other people.”

If you are thinking of moving to France from the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, or are already here and need help with visas, car registration, French health care or setting up a business, we invite you to  with visa and business specialist Richard. The consultation costs 90 euros but that amount is deducted from the first service you book with us.

Meanwhile, as Jack and Chantal celebrate their first Thanksgiving today in their new home in France, we would like to extend our greetings to all of our American clients.

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

This week we introduce you to a couple who fell foul of French bureaucracy trying to register a car in France.

British couple Suzi and Peter had lived in Hong Kong for 30 years before moving to Nice in the south of France in 2019.

Suzi explains, “We needed to buy a car, but because we hadn’t been in France for very long, we couldn’t get anything on lease so we had to buy one outright. We were looking for an SUV type of vehicle, but when we went into the local Jaguar showroom Pete got into a Jaguar F-Pace and loved it. It was his dream car but at that point it was completely out of our budget. Brand new it was about €70-80,000.”

But Pete’s dream car was about to become a reality after all.

“As things transpired, we had to go back to England for a funeral and while we were there, I stumbled across a left hand drive specialist centre. It was in Chelsea Harbour and the guy was quite a convincing salesperson, so I thought it would be fairly trustworthy. My family and I went there together, saw a couple of cars and then the salesman said, ‘Oh I happen to have a Swiss-registered black Jaguar F-Pace with beige interior coming in next week. One single lady owner and only 6,000 miles on the clock’. Exactly the car that Pete had wanted! We obviously got very excited. We had to head back to France, but my brother said he would go and test drive it for us, which he did and we bought it because it was £32,000 compared to €70-80,000 in France.”

Suzi and Pete understood that there would be import tax to pay, but couldn’t have anticipated the problems that started on the day of delivery.

“The car arrived in Nice on the back of a low rider and the driver literally dropped it off and drove away. He left us no paperwork, no import documentation, no proof of delivery into France whatsoever.”

Pete adds: “It still had the Swiss number plates on it so it hadn’t been officially registered in the UK and with both the UK and Switzerland not being part of the EU, that’s where our problems started.”

Suzi leapt into action. “We called the salesman at car dealership where we bought the car and said we really needed to get it registered in France. He said, ‘Don’t worry about the paperwork, I’ve got a guy in France and he’ll be able to do it for you.’ He gave me the number of a guy who was a total shark, who said he generally only dealt in Lamborghinis from Abu Dhabi. He was an awful person. We sent him all the paperwork and details that he asked for, but his response was ‘This isn’t really a job for me.’ We went back to the dealership and he said, ‘Oh yeah, it’s the first time I’ve ever recommended him to anybody. I’ve got other people that are much better’ – and then nothing. He just went quiet and we never got any other recommendations from him.”

“Meanwhile we already had a hand-holding company that we had used to set up Pete’s company. They told us not to worry and claimed that they had the best car person in the South of France so we paid them even more money to try and get the car registered, but they came back and said, ‘Oh we can’t do it because you don’t have the required documentation for the Douane (Customs) in France’. When we asked, ‘Where do we go from here?’ they just said it wasn’t their problem and we would have to figure it out ourselves.”

Fortunately, Suzi and Pete’s bad luck was about to change.

“It was at that point that I started Googling and fortunately I found Richard Hammond at French Connections HCB. Richard was the first person to give us any sort of viable option. The car had been registered in Switzerland when we bought it. Richard said we would need to first change from Swiss registration to UK registration, and then we could import it legitimately from the UK into France.”

Pete takes over the story.

“Of course, the car dealership should have already legitimately imported the car from Switzerland to the UK and they shouldn’t have sold it to us in the UK until that had been done. As a result, we had to pay two lots of customs duty, so the car has ended up costing us about £20,000 more than we thought. We ended up paying a bit over £6,000 to change the Swiss plates to UK plates, and then another €12,000 to register the British car in France.”

Pete wants their experience to be a warning to others.

“I can’t imagine we are the only ones this has happened to. Richard told us that other clients have come to him after being stung by the same dealership and he has helped us report them to HMRC. We just don’t want anyone else to get stung like we did.”

At the end of the day, has the Jaguar turned out to be a good car?

‘Yes, it’s a brilliant car! In that respect we were very fortunate because the car only had 6,000 miles on the clock when we got it and it was 2 years old. We’ve had no mechanical problems with it at all. Our contrôle technique (the French MOT) has been completed and we now have the final approval to legally import the car to France. After that we can get French plates and then everything will be done and above board.”

Suzi is quick to admit that they would not have been able to sort out the car registration without Richard’s help.

“We wouldn’t have known where to start. He was the only person to suggest that the best route would be to go from Swiss to UK registration, then from the UK to France. His knowledge of the international market – not just the French market – is phenomenal. Also his willingness to help us report the car dealership that we bought from. You just sense that he wants to do the right thing for people.”

Pete agrees. ” I just wish we had spoken to Richard before we bought the car. As future reference for other people reading this, before you buy a car, speak to him. His knowledge is just invaluable. As is his colleague Annabelle’s ability to get the paperwork done.”

Here at French Connections HCB, we’ve dealt with hundreds of car registrations from all over the world. We’ve helped many clients who have been misled by unqualified ‘hand holders’ or unscrupulous car dealerships and we’ve successfully navigated even the most complicated administrative situations. Annabelle, who expertly shepherded Suzi and Pete’s paperwork through the constraints of French Customs, is adept at handling complex scenarios in the minimum of time. Our trusted partners also play a crucial role in transporting vehicles for our clients from all over the world. Their knowledge and efficiency was greatly appreciated in Suzi and Pete’s case.

For expert help in buying, renting or importing a car in France, we invite you to to discuss your situation. The consultation costs 90 euros but that is fully deductible from the first service you book with us.

As Suzi and Pete’s experience has shown, the right advice at the beginning can save a lot of time and stress.

This week we introduce our client Nick Allan, who is finally able to ride his Triumph Bonneville after an administrative nightmare that has taken three years to resolve.

“I first got in touch with Richard at French Connections HCB in 2022 over this motorbike that I’d bought. It was a Triumph Bonneville. I bought it when I was visiting the UK in 2019 and a Polish couple drove it over to France for me in the back of their van. That was obviously before Brexit, so there was no problem with that.”

Nick couldn’t have foreseen the frustration that lay ahead.

“I wasn’t too hung up about getting it registered in France because you could get insurance quite easily and you could drive around on British plates quite easily too. Then Brexit happened and everything changed. The UK insurance company said, ‘OK we’ll insure you for a little bit longer, but you’re going to have to get this bike registered and insured in France.'”

That was the start of an uphill battle that would last for more than three years.

“I started the registration process. I really didn’t think it was going to be difficult because I’d been living in France for years and had pretty good French, but I spent about a year trying to get the bike registered and I was getting nowhere, absolutely nowhere. I was tearing my hair out; I just needed some help…”

It was at that point that Nick started searching for an expert.

“I googled and I found Richard Hammond at French Connections HCB. I got in touch with them and they said, yep, we’ve done this before. It turned out that Richard is really into cars; he knows all about them and has his own collection. He said, Oh yes, I’ve got a Triumph Bonneville as well.”

Reassured, Nick was happy to hand over the admin to the experts.

“Usually in France you upload the documentation and generally it happens relatively easily, but in my case the British conformity certificate kept on being rejected by ANTS (Agence Nationale des Titres Sécurisés). I sent Richard all the documents, including a British conformity certificate from Triumph, thinking ‘this is easy!’, but Richard came back to me and said no, I had to have a French conformity certificate. That was the bit that was missing.”

The French conformity certificate needed to come from Triumph and that required a physical inspection of the bike – which led to another problem for Nick.

“By then the bike wasn’t insured so although there was a Triumph dealership not too far away in Avignon, I couldn’t ride the bike there with no insurance. I rented a van from SuperU, wheeled the bike into the back, strapped it down and tootled off. Triumph gave the bike the once over while I sat there for a couple of hours drinking coffee in Avignon – but then things really slowed down.”

With no news from Triumph, and still no French conformity certificate, Nick was grateful to have expert support.

“French Connections were brilliant. They were in constant touch with Triumph in Avignon and it just took weeks and weeks and weeks but they didn’t give up. I was ringing Triumph and getting palmed off, but French Connections just held their feet to the fire and kept chasing them until finally, in April 2022, they got the French conformity certificate we needed to resubmit to ANTS.”

At that point, Nick breathed a sigh of relief – but his joy was short-lived.

“At first I was delighted. I thought, we’re there now, absolutely there, but still we heard nothing. Then in September 2022, ANTS rejected the French conformity certificate.”

It was a plot twist that nobody could have foreseen.

“They said it wasn’t correct because the bike was originally fabricated in Thailand so it wasn’t properly British and wasn’t properly French. I was really fed up, so I rang Richard who said, ‘We will contest their refusal.” I never knew that you could contest. I had always thought that once they refused, that was it. In true French fashion there was nobody at ANTS you could ring up and talk to or explain. But Richard went back to them and contested it. For me, that was the missing bit of information, that you could actually go back and contest these things.”

That decision proved to be the turning point.

“Once Richard told me we could contest and took it over from there, it took another three or four months but I finally got the provisional carte grise in February 2023. Once I had that, I could get my little French number plate, I could get French insurance, and then finally I could ride the bike. It felt fantastic!”

With everything successfully resolved and the bike legally registered and insured, Nick is making up for lost time.

“I just love pootling around the Luberon where we live, going to little cafes on my old English motorbike. At one stage I thought I was going to have to put it in the garage and forget about it, maybe use it one day if we ever ended up back in the UK. If it wasn’t for Richard, that would have been the result. Nobody else other than French Connections HCB had a solution and knew how to work the system.”

Nick appreciates the service he received from the whole team.

” What I liked about them was they were very, very communicative. My emails didn’t just disappear into a black hole, they always responded – and we were in touch often and over a long period. Every month or so I would send a little message saying, ‘Any news?’ and they would chase again. Even though it was frustrating and slow, I got the feeling that a grown-up had gripped the problem and was doing their utmost to resolve it.”

Here at French Connections HCB, we’ve dealt with hundreds of new and vintage vehicle registrations from all over the world and successfully navigated even the most complicated administrative situations.

For expert help with any aspect of moving to France, we invite you to to discuss your situation. The consultation costs 90 euros but that amount is fully deductible from the first service you book with us.

In the meantime, if you live in the Luberon, be sure to keep an eye out for Nick and his fully French-registered Triumph Bonneville!

This week we meet Tony and Natasha, who have recently settled in the Dordogne along with Natasha’s 75 year old mum. The welcome they have received from their new home in the Dordogne is heartwarming.

Tony originates from East London, while Natasha and her mum are from Ukraine. Tony and Natasha arrived in France in early February this year, while Natasha’s mum followed a few months later when the couple finally received keys to the property they had bought.

It was the end of a whirlwind adventure for all three of them, inspired by watching A Place In The Sun during Covid.

“We were stuck indoors watching that in lockdown and then we came here on holiday for three years on the trot. We visited all the regions of the Dordogne and also travelled through France to visit other areas, such as the Loire Valley and the Champagne region, but we just fell in love with the Dordogne. There was just something about it that we weren’t expecting.”

For Tony, the pace of life was a revelation. “For me, it was like going back in time and I can revisit my childhood while I’m here. It reminds me very much of ‘Old England’ – everyone’s smiling. I’m not saying they don’t smile in England, but it’s so friendly here! We realised that if we were to consolidate what we had in the UK, we could afford something really nice here and almost semi-retire, but have a gite business as well…”

“That was naive thinking”, laughs Natasha. “We told the agent we didn’t want a project, but we ended up buying a huge project! We’ve just ordered 29 windows, so you can imagine the size and the scale of it.”

A Place In The Sun was more than an inspiration. It was also how Tony and Natasha met Richard Hammond from French Connections HCB. “We went to the ‘Place In The Sun’ show at Olympia and met Richard and his team on their stand there.”

Tony greatly appreciates the help Richard gave them.

“What I like about Richard is there’s no leading you down a garden path and suddenly saying, ‘Oh sorry, we can’t go any further’. He openly tells you the facts and the risks and how to do things the right way. French administration is a minefield! I’ve run my own businesses, been in the corporate world, and my experience is that if you’ve got experts in their field, try to use them if you can afford them because it will save you an awful lot of time and money and you will know where you stand. That was paramount for us because we were taking a huge risk by selling up. “

It was fortunate that Tony and Natasha had already asked for Richard’s advice because things moved faster than they could ever have foreseen.

“We put our house on the market thinking it might take 6-8 months, but we sold within two weeks, cash buyer, full asking price! That sort of accelerated us putting in the offer on our house in France, which was accepted, and we were thinking, ‘Well, this is real now!’ To have Richard there to help us through the process of how fast the next steps would be, and knowing that we weren’t going to fall foul of being tripped up, was very reassuring because we were essentially homeless in the UK for about a month…”

Natasha agrees. “It was a bit more than a month actually. During that time, Tony stayed with his parents while Mum and I stayed with my sister, who also lives in London. After that, we rented somewhere here in France for a few weeks before we got the keys to the house, so we were apart in England but reunited in France!’

Tony smiles at the memory. “As lovely as it is moving back in with your parents and moving in with your sister, it made us realise how lucky we are to have our own house!”

As Tony and Natasha’s plans began to take shape, they naturally included Mum ‘whether she wanted to or not!’ as Tony laughingly puts it.

Visas for all three were not a problem. Tony was already a UK citizen and Natasha had lived in the UK for over 20 years and holds a British passport, but it was surprisingly easy to include Mum’s application with their own.

“We submitted Mum’s visa application along with ours, with her declared as a dependant. We had to provide a letter saying that we would be looking after her and that she would be living with us. She also needed special medical insurance because of her age.”

Tony admits that Natasha’s mum was initially hesitant about the property and the location they had chosen.

“From what Natasha tells me, her experience of doing refurbs in the Ukraine with Natasha’s father wasn’t always plain sailing, so she’s had some bad experiences. I think she was expecting something more finished on the main house; she found it quite grand but very big. The thing that really concerned her is that we are classed as rural, even though we are in a little hamlet, whereas Natasha and her mum have always lived in cities, in Ukraine and later on the outskirts of London, and it’s a huge change.”

Being made to feel welcome by the people in their hamlet has been hugely important to all of them.

Natasha explains: “We have lovely neighbours. Our nearest neighbour was a Head Gardener in Montpellier. His garden is absolutely spectacular – he should be charging money for people to go in! He gives us plants constantly as well as advice. He and his wife took us to the village where there was an African concert and they introduced us to local people and kind of adopted us in a way.”

Tony agrees: “Yes, we are very lucky to have them as neighbours because although Jackie doesn’t speak much English, his wife Christine is an English teacher, so she is helping us with our French and we are helping them with their English. The other neighbours are a selection: a couple from Paris who come here for the whole summer, and an English woman who has married a French guy. We are all really close. We’ve also met loads of people just around the area, mainly Brits but also a Russian and some more Ukrainians. We have a better social life here in a couple of months than we had in years in England.”

Meanwhile, Tony and Natasha have been going full steam ahead with the first gite.

“We are up and running! Thankfully we have two properties here that are liveable. The main house is not a refurbishment; it has been built very traditionally but it’s only 14 years old and is not completed, so it’s basically a blank canvas. Natasha sees it as quite daunting but I’m from the construction industry and for me, although it’s quite a big area to do, once we get started it will happen very quickly. We are marketing one of the gites this year, basically as a learning curve for us and something we can manage, so hopefully we don’t make too many mistakes. We also took a lot of advice from people in and around the area and we’ve spent 12 months doing our due diligence on what we need to do and the best way to do it. We put up our website and went on platforms three weeks ago and we’re almost fully booked for the period we anticipated, which is pretty good, we think.”

As they settle into their new life, the help from Richard and the French Connections team has been ongoing, as Natasha explains. “We’ve just been to Bordeaux for our medical, so now Richard will be applying for our carte Vitale, and then in November he’ll apply for an extension of our visa.”

Tony is the first to admit that Richard’s expertise has been crucial In terms of navigating complex business rules.

“Richard is helping with the set-up of the business and he registered our company for us. He has also given us strong advice on what we can and can’t do functionally as a business to fit in with Brexit rules. Not only regarding the gite, but also working remotely back in the UK if I have to. All of that has been invaluable. With our visa, we want to be seen to be doing everything right and it helps to have a good understanding of how the process works on the legalities of Brexit. I don’t even think the French always know what the rules are; it seems to be a moving target!”, laughs Tony.

We’ve promised to catch up with Tony and Natasha again at the other end of the year for an update on what they have learned from their first year running a gite.

In the meantime, if you are moving to France, or already here and looking for advice, we invite you to visit our YouTube channel where you will find a growing selection of ‘How To’ videos that take you step by step through many of the administrative processes. These include visa applications, car registration, buying a property, applying for a carte de Séjour and eligibility for French health cover. We’ll be recording and uploading new videos every week.

If you are stuck and need help with your specific situation, you can . The consultation costs 90 euros but that amount is fully deducted for the first service you book with us.

And if you are planning to visit the Dordogne, you’ll find Tony and Natasha’s beautiful gite at