Moving to Rural France: The Dream vs. The Reality—Are You Ready?

We’ve all seen TV programs featuring people picking up their city lives and moving to the country. I used to love watching those programs, and I’d be lying if I said they didn’t influence me a little. But, and this is the big but, those programs only show you the highlights, the excitement of finding your dream property, and a few bumps along the road. What they don’t show you is what happens after that.

Moving to rural France has been a dream come true for me. However, there has definitely been a period of adjustment and a huge mindset change in how I live my life. For example, two-hour lunches are still a thing here; pretty much every shop is shut on a Sunday, and you can’t mow your lawn on a Sunday afternoon. Now, none of this is an issue for me now, I’ve embraced rural life to the fullest, but if you think you’re getting fast WiFi or next day delivery, think again.

I’ve met plenty of people who fell in love with the idea of living in rural France whilst vacationing, only to have a bit of a rude awakening when they took the plunge. Real life is never quite the same as being on holiday. So, what can you expect if you’re brave enough to take the plunge and make the move? Well, I have some advice I’d like to share with you.

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What is Life Really Like in Rural France?

Most people imagine spending their days drinking great wine, eating amazing cheese, and buying fresh croissants every day. Whilst there is certainly a lot of that going on, the real-life version is quite that idyllic. It isn’t all sunflowers and good wine; that’s just an illusion dreamt up by the Francophiles.

After living here for eight years, I can honestly say that this feels like home. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. But the road hasn’t always been a smooth one. I’m still attempting to learn French with varying degrees of success, but I do feel like a local most of the time, as I’m always willing to give it a go.

One thing I will say, though, is that the good far outweighs the bad because I’ve gained the most amazing lifestyle, community, and village, the best I could have ever hoped for.
So, to help you understand a little more about rural life and the French countryside, here are seven things to consider if you’re considering swapping city life for the countryside.

No 1 – 24-Hour Opening Doesn’t Exist in France.

When moving to rural France, you need to prepare yourself for a slower pace of life. That includes two-hour lunch breaks, shops not opening on Sundays, and strictly adhering to opening and closing times.

Trust me, this one used to drive me insane when I first moved over here. The number of times I’ve gone into Mansle, my nearest town, to go to the bank or pharmacy only to find them shut. It’s pretty standard in the country areas. Most places will close between Midday and 2 pm.

But what used to really drive me insane were the hours set by the French tradesmen and builders. When we were renovating our barns, our workmen would turn up at around 9.30 am, down tools at Noon, and not come back until 2 pm.

To add insult to injury, they’d finish for the day at 4:30 p.m., meaning I was lucky if they worked a five-hour day. I’ll be honest. I struggled with it for a while until I realized that fighting it was no use. And if I wanted to avoid a permanent headache, I just needed to accept it.

Now, my hubby is one of those tradesmen; although he doesn’t take a two-hour lunch, he does stop for an hour and enjoy a good lunch. It’s simply the done thing in France.

No 2 – Nothing Opens on a Sunday in Rural France

Sundays in France are nothing like they are in the UK, America, or Australia; I know because I’ve lived in all these places. It’s a bit like being back in the 80s when nothing opened on a Sunday. I used to hate it when I was a kid, as it always felt like there was nothing to do.

Now, however, I relish my Sundays spent relaxing, going on picnics and bike rides, working in the garden in my potager (vegetable garden), and hosting BBQs in the summer. Or even baking up a storm in our cozy kitchen in the winter. In the summer, families in France pack up their Sunday lunch and take it to one of the many picnic areas to enjoy relaxing with family, drinking great wine, and eating amazing food.

Some supermarkets, like our local SuperU, open until around 12:30 p.m., but that’s about it. Shopping malls are closed, and it is really time to unwind, sit back, and relax. It’s part of what makes French rural life so good.

France has it so right. Why work all the hours God sends if you never have time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor? Life here is so much simpler. We have time to take it all in and just be. And although slowing down was hard at first, I’m now so used to it that I object to being thrust back into busy city life when I travel to see family.

No 3 – Socializing With Your Plumber is Perfectly Normal

Life is different here in rural France. Your usual cohort of friends, those you can normally rely on for those quick shopping trips, coffees, or drinks at the local wine bar, aren’t available once you relocate. You have to get used to socializing in a slightly different way.

It’s really quite normal over here to befriend your local tradie, hairdresser, or real estate agent. Seriously, I kid you not. One of my closest friends in France is my wonderful hairdresser, Nicky, whom another client introduced me to.

Your friend circle is smaller, so spending New Year’s Eve with your plumber and his wife would not be unusual. (That was hubby and me in our first full year of living in France)

I started line dancing, which I never thought I’d do, to help with my French and to be a part of something French. It’s made a world of difference. Trust me, after spending two hours every Wednesday having steps yelled at you in French, your French does improve.

We’re lucky to have several close French friends, and we’ve become part of their extended family. It’s wonderful to be invited to Bastille Day and numerous other French celebrations and be treated the same way as everyone else.

Every time Stephane, my slightly eccentric neighbor, has any type of event, we’re always invited. We know all four of his daughters well; I’ve babysat a few times, and his mum regularly sends us homemade treats. It really helps us to feel like we belong and aren’t just living our English life in a different country.

I also joined the committee at our local Salle de Fete (village hall), and not one of them speaks English, so it forces me to try to speak French. Granted, it was very intimidating at first, but now I’m just the mad English woman who gesticulates wildly whenever she opens her mouth. But I’m an accepted member of the community, and I love it.

No 4 – You Could Get Shot by “La Chasse”

Hunting, or shooting, is huge here in rural France. And through autumn and winter, the hunters, AKA La Chasse, are out en masse shooting at everything in sight, including themselves sometimes.

I’m always more careful when walking Lottie (my border collie) during these months, as she could easily get shot at. The Chasse aren’t fussy and hunt everything from deer to wild boar. Health and safety are phrases that don’t fit their vocabulary.

It’s not unusual for passers-by to get shot by mistake. And because alcohol is involved during lunch, this is France, after all, the hunters often shoot each other. It happens with startling regularity. You’re taking your life in your hands if you venture into their path during hunting season.

Only recently, Stephane told us a story about how one of his friends had slung his gun over his shoulder, and his wife was walking behind him. His gun went off by mistake and shot his wife in the leg – only in France!

No 5 – Local Markets Are a Way of Life in Rural France

Everything in our part of France is seasonal, and fresh fruit and vegetables are a big part of rural life. If it’s not in season, you won’t find it unless you go to a specialist store like Grand Frais. This post on How to Survive Grocery Shopping in France will help you understand.

What’s available is based on what’s being grown and changes on an almost weekly basis. It adds a whole other level of tastiness to your cooking as the fruit and veg have so much flavor. I don’t think I’ve tasted radishes like it since I was a kid.

We’re lucky enough to have weekly food markets with stalls selling as fresh produce as you’ll ever see. No perfectly shaped carrots or cleanly scrubbed potatoes; they’re fresh from the ground. We’re used to avoiding buying too much because things tend not to last long. You need to eat things within a couple of days of purchase.

But those markets are an experience in themselves. There are cheese stalls, fresh bread stalls, numerous arrays of vegetable stalls, and here in the Charente, there is usually some form of honey stall and cognac stall.

When you’ve finished shopping, the done thing is to sit in the village square with a coffee or a wine and watch the world go by. It’s just fabulous.

The food markets aren’t the only kind of markets you’ll find. The French are big on their Brocantes (vintage markets). You’ll find one nearly every weekend over the summer, along with the popular night markets. One of the other many joys of living a French life.

No 6 – Same-Day Delivery is Not a Thing in Rural France

While we do have Amazon over here, next-day or same-day delivery is not a thing—certainly not in the countryside. The standard is 2-3 days out here in the rural areas. You have to get used to it. In all honesty, though, it isn’t really a problem.

I keep reminding myself that I grew up in a decade without mobile phones, online shopping, or home delivery, unless you count the milkman, of course. And guess what? I survived.

Same-day delivery is not a necessity, and it certainly doesn’t spoil my enjoyment of living in France.

No 7 – Slow Internet is Normal in Rural France

I won’t lie; the Internet has been the bane of my life since moving to rural France. We do now have fiber in our little village of Saint-Front. But it has been quite the journey. As you can imagine, when running an online business, reliable WiFi is kind of crucial.

In hindsight, I probably should have done a speed test when we came to view our property, but I didn’t. I was too busy falling in love with gorgeous beams and barns waiting to be renovated to worry about practicalities like that.

I did remember to ask whether the internet speed was good, and I was duly told it was. And that was enough for me. Unfortunately, their idea of fast and mine didn’t quite add up to the same thing.

But even if I had done a more thorough check, it wouldn’t have made a difference. I was in love with the property, and nothing was going to change that.

We’ve had a great experience with Bouygues Telecom, and it’s the strongest provider in our area. That’s the key. But others that are good include Orange and SFR.

Some Words of Advice When Moving to Rural France

Here in France, every little village has a church and a Marie (the administrational hub for everything in your municipality). The Mayor has his office in the Marie and actually has quite a bit of power.

If, for example, you want to apply for an extension on your house, you need to get permission from your local Marie. In fact, pretty much anything like that needs permission. We had an experience with this not long after we’d moved here.

We noticed a slight smell every time the dishwasher or washing machine ran. We discovered it was because the drains were emptying right outside the house. It smelt a bit like rotten eggs. The answer was to run new pipework so the drains emptied away from the house in the field across the road.

To do this, we needed the pipes to go under the road in front of our property. I should mention that drainage systems in France are slightly different. But that’s a story for another day.

Now, our little road has practically no traffic. The only people who use it are the postman, delivery vans, the people who live in Chez Le Coq, and the odd nosy walker. But busy or not, we would still have to dig up the road to achieve what we wanted to do. Luckily for us, my neighbor Stephane knows the Mayor very well.

On our behalf, he approached him to get his permission. We were told he would visit us to see what was required. I was quite excited, as I’d never had a local Mayor come to my home. It turns out he was not just a lovely, friendly Mayor but extremely helpful, too.

Not only did he permit us to do what needed to be done, but he also sent two workmen to dig up the road for us. They also repaired it all when we were finished — free of charge, I might add. So, as I say, befriending your local Mayor can be very beneficial.

Conclusion: Moving to Rural France

Life in the Charente is good for me. It’s certainly not been without its ups and downs, though. Moving to a new country and learning a new language can be tough. Hopefully, these seven tips on moving to rural France will help.

À bientôt et merci beaucoup!

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