Living in Charente Maritime

We are in The Charente  (16 ) - the next door department to Charente Maritime. Although we do not have a "coast" , we have the lovely Charente River which has bathing beaches and lido recreation spots, and the beaches of Charente Maritile are under an hours drive from us. Most people know the town of Cognac ( from the famous Brandy of that region) but few have heard of the Prefectorial Capital of Angouleme. It has a delightfull old centre, based on an elevated Plateau high above the winding river below. Beautiful cream limestone buildings, quaint olde worlde cobbled streets and warm friendly people. If you ever get the chance you must visit.
I have written more on my Blog , the link is

http://liveincharente.blogspot.com/2009 … efore.html

....well here's some thoughts for you!!!!

Our story is that I met my wife in my 30's, we lived in Hertfordshire, married and had kids in fairly quick succession. Due to the disparity of earnings and the fact we both were part of the london commuter ratrace, it soon became clear if either us wanted to be visibly present whilst our children grew up I would have to be the one to give up my career (a poorly paid local government middle management) whilst my wife would be left to earn six figures as a lawyer so we could live in our shoebox house. After a while I became quite happy being a house husband involved in the local community - worked at local school, secretary of church council, organised my sons football team etc - it was clear there was something missing. Basically there was a sense from my wife of "i'm earning all this money but what am I getting for this" and as a result we began our search for that illusive something more....

For us the something more was a "mobile home" in the Charente Maritime area of France. Basically every summer and easter i went off by car ferry to live a caravan existence in a fully facilated park (swimming pool, kids club et al) with my wife visiting us as much as she could! Great fun some of you might say!

After awhile we began to formulate a plan that there might be an escape route from the ratrace for my wife. If we moved to France as a family she could work in Paris and retire early etc.... Dare we risk it? Risk it we dared!!!

Since September 2008 we haved lived in a big old charentaise house, with a large gardin and swimming pool whoopee!!! We have 2 kids my son is 10 and just before we came to France he was diagnosed with asperger's syndrome. I used to help in his class and he really struggled most especially as he was very unassertive. My daughter who is 8 didn't really take to school in the UK and though not exactly naughty was a little ...tricky. As you can imagine our first thought was to research the school situation for them. To begin with my frence was fairly basic - having had 6 months of 1:1 in the UK - so we needed the help of a translator at our "big" first meeting at the school on Thomas's behalf. However we got a good feel about the school from that meeting.

In essence the improved climate, the quieter lifestyle and most importantly the possibility of escape from the ratrace was too big an attraction for us to resist. In terms of the children we just needed to know that they would be okay about the big change and that any support needs they had would be met.

Since September 2008 my french has improved and I effectively work as a cricket coach with primary children. Having gained a french diploma ("brevat d'etat") I am able to get expenses for this. As well as this I am a voluntary english teacher at a private school in our nearest town and have also done voluntary work with adolescents at a youth centre in an area that is quite deprived. The voluntary work was quite demanding for me - I may continue to do this work but in a more structured environment. Whilst my french has progressed well, I even went to a language school for a month at the beginning, I still have a long way to go. Thankfully I have the support of an english speaking french teacher. In many ways the life i have now is quite similar to the life I had before we moved...

The kids are fine in their primary school. Initially Olivia found it difficult to settle but i think that was because i was away from her for a month at the language college (although i returned each evening) as having looked after her since she was 9 months old she has always been used to me being around. She now speaks quite well and with a very good accent but of course she gets extra support. Sometimes she struggles to retain information - not surprising you might say with the two language challenge - and we think she may have slight dyslexia. Her teacher has been wondefrully supportive and we are quite sure she will get specialist support if she needs it.

Tom was comfortable with the school from the start and we have now begun the process of him getting extra "communication" support with his asperger's. It is a very small school of only 70 children and i now know the children's teachers well enough to have complete faith in their skills.

In France each Wednesday there is no school so this gives the children the oportunity to pursue their activities. For Olivia this is horse riding and dance whilst it's football for Thomas. Preparing the horse, as you have to do with lessons here, has been a challenge for Olivia and i don't think the technical language has been easy for her. Thankfully the dance and football clubs are both very good.

On paper it all seems very good I suppose but having been here almost 2 years now I think we have made a mistake and i'll tell you why in my next post..........

Do tell why you think you have made a mistake