www.breeze-france.com

Business Networking in Toulouse

2010-03-24T16:10:00.004+01:00

The British international Business Network Toulouse (BiBNT) invites you to join them for their April networking lunch at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel near Toulouse Airport on Friday, 9th of April.

"A BiBNT lunch is always an excellent opportunity to meet other British and French business people in the Midi Pyrénées region," says Heather Hughes, BiBNT President. "With members from small and large businesses alike, there is a wealth of knowledge to be shared and, of course, potential business opportunities. If someone is considering joining a business networking group, our monthly lunches are a good way of discovering more about the BiBNT."

The BiBNT is of particular relevance to non‑French companies (whether or not they are already established in the region) wishing to develop markets, find partners or relocate in Midi‑Pyrénées. It can also help French businesses wanting to develop their markets, both locally and abroad, while aiding them to improve their knowledge of commercial English and business practices in English speaking countries.

So there you are... hope to see you for lunch on 9th April. Details here.

You can follow the BiBNT on Twitter : @BritBizNetTls
or become a fan on their Facebook Page.

Bienvenue à Begué Immobilier – now listing French properties on breeze

2010-03-23T10:35:00.003+01:00

We’re pleased to say that another French estate agent – Begué Immobilier – has chosen breeze-france to present their portfolio of sale and rental properties to you.

With expertise in towns west of Toulouse, Begué Immobilier has a strong local presence in communities popular with international residents such as Pibrac, Brax, Légeuvin and Colomiers as well as the country villages and towns west to L’Isle Jourdain in the neighbouring Gers Department.

Until now, Begué Immobilier’s selection of houses and apartments in France has only been advertised on French property portals. With breeze-france, Begué now reaches a wider market and international property hunters have more French homes to view online. Everybody’s happy.

Free LIVE Guide for your French property search

2010-03-22T11:10:00.004+01:00

When we say LIVE we mean LIVE. Real people staff the LIVE Guide service on breeze-france – experienced in French property search and independent of the property advertisers. You’re just a click away from some free help or advice on breeze-france – 7 days a week.

You can use breeze-france's LIVE Guide chat service :

• When you’re looking for information about French property – LIVE Guide staff may already know where to find it or who best to ask – that alone could save you hours of Googling (is Googling a real word yet?).

• When you don’t yet speak French and don’t want to limit your property choice to just English-speaking advertisers – LIVE Guide staff are bilingual and happy to help you contact breeze advertisers or arrange visits. Your overseas property search doesn’t need to become your French lesson!

• When you do speak French but you’re just browsing and not ready to part with your name and phone number – LIVE Guide has already helped “Joe from Timbuktu” to ask if the house he liked was still available and “French Made” (great name) asked for help to find out what the advertiser really meant by “some” renovation required.

• When you’re too tired to pick up the phone – LIVE Guide is an energy saver – just one click away vs. dialling a load of numbers. Free vs. long distance charges!

• When you know that if you don’t ask the question now, you’ll forget to call during opening hours tomorrow. The LIVE Guide service is available online 7 days a week, from 8am to 10pm (UK time).

You'll find the LIVE Guide link on every page of breeze-france.com

Enjoy!

BiBNT - Business Networking in France

2009-04-03T17:39:00.007+02:00

Got back a little while ago from a very enjoyable lunch with the British International Business Network Toulouse (BiBNT) group in Toulouse. Business Network lunches are held in different locations every month and this month we enjoyed ourselves in the newly opened Courtyard by the Marriott hotel near Blagnac airport.

The BiBNT was set up to encourage communications and exchange between French and English business people in Midi Pyrénées. Events are held throughout the year where people meet up to socialise while doing a little networking.

There are currently about 160 members of the network from all areas of business: finance, hospitality, communications, property, legal, health care and more. It brings not only French and English-speakers together but small and large businesses too.

Today, about 30 people were at the lunch and everytime I go I meet new members. The Marriot Hotel themselves are now new members. Lunch was delicious and the chef himself came along to introduce the meal - antipasto starter, grilled tuna steak and delicious crème brulée to finish off. Very nice. After, we were all invited on a tour of the facilities and rooms - everyone likes to be nosy! And I must say that all the rooms, particularly the junior suites, look very comfortable indeed.

So if you're in France or plan on coming to France to set up business, the BiBNT is a very welcoming and supportive group. Their website lists members by category so take a look to see if you know anyone. The site also lists upcoming events including the next lunch at the Crowne Plaza, on the Place du Capitole, Toulouse on Thursday, 7th May and this lunch also provides an opportunity for business presentations to the group. Why not come along and tell everyone what you're up to and maybe improve your business opportunities at the same time?

Hoping to see you there,
Ronaldo

My Triangle Tour: Gaillac, Cordes and Albi

2009-03-27T19:58:00.010+01:00

Like I said earlier in the week, if you live in France, you can expect visits from your friends and family back home and you'll at least be expected to show them around.

Whether you've got visitors or whether you are looking to do some exploring yourself, I thought I'd share what I call "The Triangle Tour". I've got other ones like "The Medieval Castle I've Seen a Hundred Times Tour", or "The Tell Me When to Leave the Motorway and We'll See What We Find Tour" and the "Head Down to Spain for the Cheap Booze Tour", but I like "The Triangle Tour" most.

Starting from Toulouse (it's an easy day trip - leave about 10am latest) you head northeast on the route to Albi (the A68 for those that need numbers). Remember to get petrol before you hit the road because there are no convenient stations! You'll need to pay a toll of 1€30 (last time I passed that way).

I've never seen this road busy and it's nice and smooth and great for putting on the cruise control. Just after the toll booths and leaving the Toulouse area there are nice rolling countryside hills dotted with lovely houses and I always say to myself "Geez, they must have great views from their place". Of course, I have to say it to myself because yet again, smooth roads, rolling hills, sunshine and too much wine with dinner the night before, causes visitors to nod off and leave the driver talking to himself!

After about 40 minutes or so there's one of those nice little rest stops that France does so well. They are also set nicely back off the road, and kept nice and clean (well, except for the hole in the ground toilets). I usually stop here to wake up the visitors, have a stretch and let the dog out for a break (she likes to come with us). There's a nice misting shower thing for people to use on hot days and that too will keep your visitors happy pushing the button and jumping out of the way from getting wet. (Small things, eh?)

Back onto the motorway and the very next stop a few hundred metres along is for Gaillac - wine region and the start of the Triangle. So off you get and follow the signs crossing over the motorway to Gaillac (then watch for the slip road up to the right). It's not far, maybe 5 minutes or so to the town. Though it always seems longer when you're not sure where you're going, doesn't it?

As you enter you should be crossing a bridge with a great view of the town on the riverbanks. Just like you imagine a French town to be like. On the far side of the bridge, there's a little car park where you can stop and take a few pics, pop into the Cathedral and visit the tourist information centre - they've got wine tasting, yay!

I haven't spent any more than a half hour or so at this spot in Gaillac so I'm sure there is more to investigate in the town but hey, I'm a tour guide with a schedule to keep so I tend to hurry everyone back into the car and head off again. (If you know Gaillac well, let me know if I'm missing anything.)

Keep your eyes on the road signs - your heading for Cordes sur Ciel. Work your way out Gaillac to get yourself onto the D922. I love this bit of road. It's starts off fairly straight and then gets all bendy and curvy, up and down hills, through villages. Vineyards are everywhere and you're welcome to stop and visit any of them (not us though, I'm on a schedule remember - so I lie and tell people they're closed). The countryside is really beautiful and the views along this road always make me happy.

Just keep going till the end of the road and you'll be making a left turn and bang - Cordes sur Ciel. The view of this town will have your visitors going 'wow'. A steep, pointy hill that they decided to build a town on quite a hundreds of years ago (it was about 1300 - OK, I'm lying again, I ain't got a clue - I've told you before to print out historical info from the internet). Pretty pictures here at the official Cordes web site.

When you come into the town try to get yourself parked near the first (almost invisible, watch the traffic!) roundabout. There's a little car park there and that's where the little train takes you up to the town at the top (costs about 2€50 I think). Now, you can walk if you like, I have before but ended up wishing I had an oxygen tank strapped to my back. By the way, flip flops or high heels are not recommended on my Triangle tour (cobble stones everywhere). I recommend the little train up and enjoy the walk down.

Up at the top there are all sorts of little artsy boutiques. There are restaurants (hope you got there in time!) and cafés and a great view. They've even got a sugar museum with elaborate sugar sculptures. Nobody on my Triangle tour has ever complained about Cordes - except my aunt with the blister on her heel.

Have a good look around, take some pics, relax with lunch and a refreshment and enjoy the walk downhill (at an angle you may not have experienced before). Then get back into the car, we've still got another town to hit.

You head back out of Cordes as you came in but continue straight on the road to Albi. Your visitors will fall asleep again here no doubt. It's about 20-25 minutes along the road (guessing).

Albi has a huge cathedral. The "most impressive I've ever seen" my brother exclaimed, and it is pretty impressive inside and out. Having seen it a few times myself already I like to sit and wait in one of the cafés with the dog while people explore (OK I'm lazy). The town has lots of bendy streets and nice shops and at the main cathedral square you'll also find the Henri Toulouse-Lautrec Museum (little tiny painter guy). Walk down behind that and the view is spectacular over the river and looks down onto perfectly manicured gardens from the (hmmm?) 15th century. Uh huh, that'll do. Very impressive anyway.

A little more exploring - Albi is very nice - and that it folks. Back to the car, follow the green signs for the motorway back to Toulouse (about an hour or so) and you'll have completed the triangle. Your visitors will nod off in the car again, very content with their day and you'll be back in time to get the BBQ going. Yay!

Happy touring,
Ronaldo

Around France: International Festival of 3 minute films.

2009-03-24T18:01:00.007+01:00

The 2009 International Festival of Very Short Films (Festival International des Très Courts) takes place across France and around the world in April. All films are less than 3 minutes long. (Popcorn speed-eating??)

The following French towns and cities are holding events but check out the website for programmes and schedules in each location.

Enjoy the films,
Ronaldo

Around France: Holiday on Ice

2009-03-24T17:21:00.005+01:00

For all of you fans of figure skating twirls, turns, twists, jumps: Holiday on I ce is currently touring France with their new show Energia. A great show for the whole family.
Tickets available on line (between 25€ and 65€) and upcoming dates are:

Limoges - 27 to 29 March

Cournon - 3 to 5 April

Tours - 10 to 12 April
Nice - 14 to 15 April
Montpellier - 17 to 19 April
Marseille - 23 to 26 April
Toulon - 28 to 29 April
Lyon - 1 to 3 May
Amiens - 5 to 6 May
Montbeliard - 8 to 10 May
Metz - 12 to 13 May
Dijon -15 to 17 May

Have fun.
Ronaldo

Moving to France? Expect visitors and little white lies!

2009-03-23T19:03:00.018+01:00

Let's face it. When you move to France you're going to become very popular with your friends and family back home. You just have to mention that the sun is shining, your day-trip to the beach was brilliant, or how you enjoyed the lively village market...and trust me, they'll soon be booking their flights.

That's great, I say, especially in your first year. Visits from friends and family can actually help you settle in better. In the early stages of an international move, when you are missing everything from home, visitors offer good support and give you a bit more confidence in what you are doing. (By the way, www.americansintoulouse.com have a good post explaining the effects of culture shock - it's worth reading.)

If you move here, they will come. No doubt about it. Some for a couple of days, some for a couple of weeks. Every year. The short and frequent visits you enjoyed when you all lived within blocks of each other are very different when they are stretched over numerous days in a foreign country. So I thought I'd share some of my tips and things to expect:

Visitors will dirty your house - quickly!
The 65 hours that you spent cleaning and making everything just right will be lost within 10 minutes of them coming through the door. Suitcases will explode, coats and shoes will be everywhere and you'll trip over camera bags. Aircraft magazines and sticky toffees will land on your highly polished coffee table. Magically your bathroom mirror will immediately be covered in splashes, furniture will be moved around and every glass in the house will be in use. Save yourself the stress...don't overdo the cleaning. Main chores can be done the week before (never do them at the last minute) and then just a quick (stress-free) tidy before going to the airport. You won't be exhaused and smelling of bleach when they arrive and you'll be ready to enjoy the visit rather than instantly regretting you'd ever agreed.
You'll be nominated chief translator - learn to lie.
Even if you are struggling to learn French yourself, you will be asked to translate everywhere you go. You've moved here after all, so your visitors automatically expect you to read and speak with native fluency. You'll be reading restaurant menus out loud and asked to interpret with shopkeepers. Advice? Simple. Little white lies. It's a lot more fun. My aunt once asked me to "...just tell them I need a sticky plaster to stop scabs forming from the burst blisters on the back of my heel". What? We hadn't yet covered "burst blisters" in my french course, so I just told her they were sorry and didn't have any left. She was frustrated with that but she accepted the answer and we avoided the inevitable game of charades. Use your imagination and have yourself a blast.
Visiting an historic village? Google it first.
You're visitors will love visiting towns and villages in France but with their enthusiasm comes questions: "When was that built?", "What is that for?", "Where does that go?". Telling them that you don't know is, of course, completely unacceptable. They'll look at you as if your lack of knowledge has just ripped them off for the price of the tour ticket! (You were secretly and unamimously elected to the unwanted position of Official Tour Guide.) Solve all your problems (and avoid refund demands) easily: just Google the place before you go. Print out the history and let them read it in the car on the way there. Or, my favourite solution. Little white lies of course. Invent stories using words like "hot, boiling oil", "impressive porticos for hanging traitors", "...in 1276 when the princess was married...". Get your creative juices flowing and watch them fall for your tales, hook, line and sinker.
Get visitors out of bed early.
Your visitors are on holiday. They'll want to take their time getting out of bed, drink five coffees and use the hair dryer for 45 minutes! But the place they wanted to visit is likely an hour and a half by car. So your tour doesn't leave until they have finally all assembled at around 11am. Therefore you'll arrive about 1pm (with stops for coffee and toilet breaks along the way). The gang will start having a look around (wondering why everything is closed) and then decide it's time for a bit of lunch. BANG. Problem!

Hey, this is France. The restaurants are full (that's why the shops were shut) or they're closed between 2pm and 6pm. That means from about 2.30pm to 3.30pm you'll be searching for a sandwich, or a crepe or "let's just walk over there to see what they've got", until everyone is fed and no one is really satisfied. The snacks weren't enough, and they'll want dinner early (which will, of course, screw up your plan to have a little nap when you get home). So...get them out of bed early! (I lie and tell them it's an hour earlier...It's for their own good!)
"Home, James."
Isn't it odd that two years ago it wasn't a problem for your friends to drive a rental car through Istanbul, Athens and Naples but while visiting you in France, they suddenly become scared to get behind the wheel? Uh-huh. Don't fall for the old "you be the chauffeur/we're scared and don't know what to do" trick. Your visitors know exactly what they are doing: they're planning on enjoying lots and lots of holiday wine with lunch and dinner and then sleeping in the back seat all the way home.

Remember, a two-hour drive to the coast will mean a two-hour drive to get home again. Therefore, you're facing four hours behind the wheel in a hot car, plus three hours sightseeing or sunbathing, two hours for lunch, and three for dinner. Your contented passengers will be gently snoring on the return journey and you'll have toothpicks propping your eyes open after a 12 hour day. So make arrangements to share the driving wherever you can. Of course you can always lie and say you've lost your licence.

The main thing of course is for everyone to appreciate their time spent together. When your family and friends visit you in France, it's not necessary to be the cleaner/translator/tour guide/chauffeur all of the time. Relax and enjoy yourself. That's what you came here for.

Parlez-vous français? Free French lessons.

2009-03-11T20:43:00.005+01:00

While surfing around the net today, I came across a site offering french lessons and I thought it would be good to provide a link to it for some of you who may be a little rusty. First of all it's free - that's always good - and secondly the site has a quick audio play, so you can listen and repeat at your own pace.

They offer other languages too, but they seem to cost money and the French is free - don't know why! Here's the link: www.bonjour.com

If however you are just simply too lazy or you're linguistically challenged, don't fret. When you decide to follow your dream and look for a property in France to buy or rent, you can always count on our free Anglo-Phone service to help you talk to our advertisers and, more importantly, understand the response.

See ya soon,
Ronaldo

France Property Search: How to find your ideal property location in France

2009-03-05T12:41:00.000+01:00

When searching for property in France that old, number-one rule of “Location, Location, Location” should never be forgotten. Even when “following your dream” you still need to be practical to make sure you pick a property on the right side of the tracks.

It’s not always possible to do a tour of France, so here are my best ways to find an ideally located property in France using the internet.

First and most important: list your lifestyle needs – what must your new French property be convenient to and what must it be far away from? This will be your reality check later when you’re being seduced by a property’s ‘stunning views’ or a ‘magnificent farmhouse kitchen’ or the suave estate agent. This list will stop you from making big mistakes.

Be precise. Don’t list: near a school, an airport, a grocery shop and a golf course, if you actually mean: a school within walking distance, an international airport within an hour’s drive, a grocery shop with a big enough selection to keep three fussy kids happy and a golf course we can afford. Prioritise the list.

Next, use the internet to discover town names and areas that suit your lifestyle needs first. With you’re lifestyle needs identified, you’ll be able to perform more effective searches on the property websites later and save a lot of time by only focussing on properties that are in locations that match your lifestyle.

Spark up your favourite search engine and tape your lifestyle list to the side of your screen. Get a cup of tea or a glass of your favourite French wine because good research takes time – it will pay off in the long run.

You goal is to match your lifestyle needs list. Try searching for “schools within walking distance in southwest France” or “affordable golf courses central France”. Search with the words you have written down on your lifestyle list. Remember, you’re still looking for location information. Don’t be sidetracked by lovely French property photos.

Once you’ve started to identify regions that might be suitable, you’ll start to learn the names of major towns in the area. Pull up a Google map, zoom in and note the names of surrounding villages, suburbs, etc. then try searching for specific information on those. You’ll be surprised how much you find. There are a lot of good places to live in France.

Don’t be afraid of French information websites. Even if you can’t read any French at all there are still words and data lists – you don’t need to be a linguist to work out what’s being said. Using French phrases or words in your search can also help you to avoid the more flowery “travel-log” descriptions on English websites. Use your French-English dictionary and practice your language skills as well.

A good source of local info is the ‘Mairie’ (town hall) in practically every town or village. Most of them have websites, so if you think Blagnac, near Toulouse, is a contender, just search for “Blagnac Mairie” or “Toulouse Mairie”. These sites often have current information on schools, cultural and sports activities, population, new road systems, market days, photos, crime rates, etc.

Try searching for “France forum” or “ expatriate sites France” to read what people who live there already are talking about and pose questions to them. Angloinfo.com or Totalfrance.com for example cover most regions of France. They have forums, classified ads, etc. in English.

Now that you’ve identified suitable locations, use English-speaking sites to start your property search. But don’t forget the French sites for even more property choice. There are over a million properties for sale or rent in France and most are not advertised on English-speaking sites. You should never let language difficulties limit the properties available to you.

Search for French based property sites using those town names and the new French words you’ve learned. For example, “town name + immobilier” will give you the real estate agents specialising in the area, or simply search for a house for sale with “maison à vendre Toulouse”. You’ll find more properties and be able to compare prices.

So where are we? Make a list of your lifestyle needs first. Use internet search to identify locations that match those needs. Then start searching for your new property in France using both English and French based websites for maximum choice. In that way, you’ll save a lot of time, money and frustration, avoid mistakes and enjoy your ideally located French property much faster.

Hope this helps,
Ronaldo

How much does stuff cost?

2009-03-05T11:12:00.003+01:00

OK. So every week my mailbox gets stuffed with a huge amount of advertising leaflets, flyers, free newspapers and the like. Normally I flip through them just to see if the phone bill is lost in the pile, then I add them to the mountain of paper in the recycle box that I never get round to emptying. But after pulling the newest pile out of the mailbox I decided to flip through the 'bargains' to see what I was missing. Then I thought it might be interesting to share this week's prices in France with you so you can compare them to where you live.

So here are some of the prices for everyday things being advertised this week from Carrefour (one of the biggest grocery shops - in fact I'm told that their shop in Portet sur Garonne about 20 minutes from my place is the largest shop in Europe and I don't doubt it).

Pampers New Baby Diapers / 35 in the pack = 9€ (US$11 or £7.99UK)
Medium-sized Loaf from their bakery (pain de compagne) = 0.90€ (US$1.13 or £0.80UK)
Packet of sliced ham / 4 slices, 180g = 1.90€ (US$2.39 or £1.69UK)
Six chicken breasts / 720g = 5.80€ (US$7.29 or £5.15UK)
Two dozen large eggs (buy 1 dozen get 50% 2nd dozen) = 3.30€ (US$4.15 or £2.92UK)
Peanut M&Ms / 2 packs 220g each = 3.19€ (US$4.01 or £2.83UK)
Coke 15 pack of 33cl cans = 5.15€ (US$6.47 or £4.57UK)
A pineapple = 1.40€ (US$1.76 or £1.24UK)
A 1kg packet of frozen green beans = 1.83€ (US$2.29 or £1.62UK)
4 x 1 litre cartons of 100% pure orange juice = 4.66€ (US$5.85 or £4.14UK)

Now the good stuff:
75cl red wine Château Jean Guillon Bordeaux = 3.90€ (US$4.90 or £3.46UK)
(I buy my everyday drinking plonk at Lidl's for 1.25€ a litre!!)
70cl bottle of Jack Daniels = 17.95€ (US$22.56 or £15.95UK)
1 litre bottle of William Lawsons Scotch Whisky = 11.24€ (US$14.12 or £9.97UK)

That's obviously just a little selection of prices. How do they compare to what you pay? Anyone want to know the price of anything specific? This week's recycle pile also advertises TVs, Fridges, garden stuff, kids clothes, prams, computers, cat food, furniture, curtains, lawnmowers and yes, even a kitchen sink!

Cheers,
Ronaldo

Pleased to be a sponsor of the British Beer Festival in Cornebarrieu

2009-03-04T16:31:00.004+01:00

Sticking to my Places You Might Not Know in France theme...here's some info on Cornebarrieu (read on and I'll invite you for a drink - how's that?)

Sitting just north of Blagnac (Toulouse) International Airport, Cornebarrieu is a popular suburb town and seems (at least every time I'm there) to be getting more popular all the time with some pretty nice new-build housing developments.

It's location is probably the main draw - 10 easy minutes to the airport, another 10 right into the centre of Toulouse - 5 to Blagnac and the soon to be opened new Tramline, plus the huge shopping centre, multliplex cinema and the aeronautical industries for those of you looking for a job at Airbus. There are also large english- and german-speaking communities.

House types in Cornebarrieu range from village houses to semi-detached, small bungalows to executive homes. So there's something to suit all budgets. Try a search on breeze-france.com for houses for sale or rent in Cornebarrieu and also try the towns nearby: Blagnac, Aussonne, Pibrac, Colomiers, Grenade... don't forget that our free Anglo-Phone service can help you ask questions to the advertisers on breeze if your French isn't up to scratch yet (yeah, yeah, I know - I'll stop with the sales pitch already!)

There are plenty of activities in the area for young and old and there's a good selection of restaurants and bars to meet or make new friends... Which, by the way, brings me to the real reason I started this...for those of you who may be in, or near, Cornebarrieu between Thursday the 19th and Sunday the 22nd of March, you'll be able to have a pint or two at the British Beer Festival being held at Le Carpe Diem (Chez Paka's).

The organisers have selected this year's Real Ales and they include some old favourites (London Pride, Pitchfork) as well as some new imaginative titles to whet the appetite (Ginger Tosser, Thrappledouser). Further details are available at http://www.freewebs.com/beerfestival/

This year the dates also coincide with final day of the six-nations rugby fixtures (Saturday 21st) of Italy v France, England v Scotland, and Wales v Ireland.

Cornebarrieu has a lot to offer including the British Beer Festival and our team at Purchase in France/Breeze are proud to be one of the sponsors. So if you're planning on scouting around the area that weekend, pop in for a drink. There will be loads of informative expat 'locals' around to talk to.

Cheers,
Ronaldo

Property Hunting Comfort

2009-03-04T15:06:00.003+01:00

Just thought I'd mention La Maison, Toulouse to all of you looking for a comfortable place to relax and put your feet up after property hunting in Midi Pyrénées.

On offer are beautiful chambres d'hôtes / apartments for short or long-term let. Very convenient to Blagnac airport and motorways so an excellent base for your search for that ideal new property.

Owned and run by the always welcoming Nathalie and Robert Atherton, I know you won't be disappointed. Check out what's available at their website: www.lamaisontoulouse.com.

Just tell them Ronaldo sent you! (Hopefully they don't slam the phone down - that would be pretty embarrassing!)

Get on your bike – for charity

2009-03-04T14:34:00.002+01:00

Want a great way to tour the French countryside and meet new friends? How about your own little Tour de France to raise money for Epilepsy research with Olympic Medalist Marion Clignet?

Two circuits have been organised for 24 May 2009 - one at 50km and the second at 120km - following the training route of Marion and her club (Le C.C. Lardenne) through the Gers (32) and Haute Garonne (31). Have a look at Marion's website for more details. http://marionclignet.com/meet-marion.

Why not look for a new property or your ideal location while cycling along?

Ideal location for active lifestyles - and for the not so active too.

2009-03-04T09:40:00.006+01:00

For all you sporty and adventurous types looking for the ideal location in France, check out this location description added by one of our property advertisers. The house for sale is in Nadalie, near Bouzic in the Dordogne area. Is this the ideal location for you?

This property sits in the Dordogne hills, close to the Lot in an area of outstanding beauty near to historic chateaux, caves with prehistoric paintings and not far from the River Dordogne. It is an ideal area for those who like outdoor activities – riding, walking, climbing, fishing and water activities. Mediaeval towns and villages, signed footpaths and cycle tracks offer plenty of opportunities to explore. The “locals” are very friendly and of mixed nationalities. There is a local wine co-operative within walking distance and larger grocers and retailers within easy reach. The village also benefits from weekly visits by fresh produce suppliers. In the summer months, local villages and towns hold communal meals, market mornings and evenings, dances, boules competitions, antique fairs and many other cultural events. Doctors, hospitals, schools, etc., are all available in this area. The airports at Limoges, Toulouse and Bergerac are within easy distance as are the Pyrenees Mountains, the Mediterranean Sea or the Atlantic Ocean.

Lots of things to keep you and the family busy. Though I must admit that I'd probably head straight for the heated pool, maybe pour myself a little refreshment, lay back, relax and just appreciate my energy saving contribution! Have a look here: http://www.breeze-france.com/users/view_property/465

Waving the flag and automatic upload

2009-03-02T11:55:00.007+01:00

Pretty soon you'll see a little French flag in the top righthand corner of breeze-france.com and we're pretty excited about that. Not just because we've finished a long process of translation and programming to make the site fully bilingual, but mainly because it makes our site a much more attractive place for French advertisers to promote their properties. The benefit to you is that you'll have direct access to an even wider selection of properties from advertisers who would normally only be advertising on local French websites.

The other good news is that we've now got a facility for larger property advertisers to upload or update all of their properties at the push of a button. Again bringing you more choice. With auto upload we expect the number of listings on the site to grow quickly. So keep checking back for more choice.

Merci et à bientôt,
Ronaldo

In The Press...

2009-03-02T11:35:00.004+01:00

Recently in the press:

New Anglo-Phone Language Service Benefits French Property Advertisers

New property website breeze-france.com offers affordable English-speaking services to help French advertisers overcome language barriers and promote French properties to a wider, international market. (more...)

Twittering Away

2009-03-02T11:16:00.003+01:00

I've joined the Twitter revolution and it looks like it'll be another great way to help everyone find property in France. As well as keeping you up to date with what the breeze team is working on via Twitter, I'll also be posting links to attractive properties. So if you follow me on Twitter you'll get automatic links to my property suggestions. You can also find my recent twitter posts on this blog. Just scroll down the right hand side.

Ciao for now,
Ronaldo

Where to live in France? Heard about Blagnac?

2009-01-19T16:41:00.010+01:00

In 1995, having never stepped foot in France, I was given the opportunity through work to transfer to Toulouse. So off I went on a work-sponsored familiarisation visit with Blagnac marked on my airline ticket (yes they still had tickets back then). “Where’s Blagnac?” I asked, “I’m, supposed to be going to Toulouse!” Blagnac, they told me, was the home of the main airport for the area and where the work was located. OK.

So with visions of little men wearing berets, riding bikes and sporting chains of garlic round their necks I boarded the plane fully expecting to find a quaint little town, miles from all the action in Toulouse (hey, I was much younger then – action was important to me!).

Turned out the airport was nothing like the grass landing strip in the middle of nowhere that I was imagining. It was pretty modern, all shiny and polished. For some reason I thought I’d be going back in time – but turned out I was going forward! (Here's a list of airlines using Blagnac Aeroport).

Meeting me as planned was the smiling and welcoming Heather (now, funnily enough, my business partner in Purchase in France!). She looked after the car hire, got me checked in at the hotel, pointed me to the shopping centre, provided loads of info and arranged for someone to show me around. Great. It was time to explore.

I won’t bore you with a full travel log of that first trip though it was a great laugh – it’s obvious, I guess, that I liked the place. Blagnac for me and many other people that moved here around the same time, was our landing spot. Our Ellis Island is you like, our “Bienvenue en France”.

Blagnac is close to everything. It’s a “suburban hub” with a population of around 22,000. You can easily get to the centre of Toulouse (just about 15 minutes to the Capitole), and all of the surrounding towns. Easy motorway access helps everyone move around quickly and a new tramline opening soon will make Blagnac even more desirable.

It’s a popular place with lots to offer. Not only is there a large shopping centre, cinemas, ice-skating, parks, schools, restaurants, cafés…. (I could go on and on) but Blagnac is also home to most of the European aeronautical industry companies (eg. Airbus). You may be qualified for some of the jobs on offer (check out www.monster.fr and search for jobs near Blagnac. Try using the key word “Anglais” to help you find jobs currently on offer that require spoken English). The Blagnac Mairie offers a nice little slideshow of photos to give you a feel for the town as well as lots of useful info (sorry there's no English on the site, but look at it as an opportunity to practice reading in French).

There’s also a large selection of properties available in or near Blagnac. One of them may be your dream home. Just enter “31” into the keyword search (that's the department: Haute-Garonne) on breeze-france.com and then select “Airport”, “Within 30 minutes” in the Location Search – or click here for a selection of properties near Blagnac.

Here are the names of a few towns around Blagnac that are also worth typing into the breeze-france.com search engine: Grenade, Aussonne, Beauzelle, Cornebarrieu, Colomiers, Pibrac, Léguevin, Plaisance du Touch, and Tournefeuille.

Click the comments link below if you have more information about Blagnac that readers may be interested in.

A fresh breeze - in the French Pyrénées Mountains

2008-11-19T17:26:00.003+01:00

I'm not very well known for being a sports enthusiast but I'm sure you are, and the southwest of France has lots to offer. During my daily trawl through the internet I came across epyrenees.com. Seems a pretty comprehensive site for those of you who may be into walking, climbing, rafting, riding, skiing (I'm tired just typing those words), or relaxing (yes, that's more my style!). They call themselves "the definitive English Language travel guide to the Pyrenees". I just thought that once you've found your new house on breeze you'll be looking to get out there and enjoy yourself. Go for it!

An overview of breeze-france.com on PropertyPortalWatch

2008-11-19T16:53:00.002+01:00

I’m pleased to say that propertyportalwatch.com – a blog about international property sites, managed by Simon Baker, former CEO of the REA Group Australia – have been kind enough to include an overview of breeze-france.com on their site. They run quite an informative blog with news and views from the international property website world that many of you may find interesting. Have a look here:

http://www1.propertyportalwatch.com/2008/11/breeze-francecom/

News spreads fast and (sadly?) I’ve fallen in love with statistics!

2008-10-30T13:35:00.002+01:00

Analysing statistics has never really been my thing, but somehow I’ve caught the bug and I’m absolutely fascinated.

Recently we issued a press release on PRWeb promoting the free Anglo-Phone language assistance we offer at breeze-france.com. My face has been stuck to the computer screen watching live viewing statistics ever since. I’m completely obsessed and can’t believe how fast news is spread these days.

Within a half hour of hitting the airwaves, our humble little press release was suddenly zipping across the internet at breakneck speed. The statistics were telling me that people from China, the US, the UK, Romania and Poland had clicked in to read it. I was hooked by the percentages, the number of impressions, the fact that people were reading when the time difference tells me they should be in bed! Amazing.

The numbers kept climbing. Breeze-france.com was being read about around the world. Ireland, Luxembourg, Greece, Canada… (breath)…Italy, Russia, France and Belgium. My head was spinning with statistics. I couldn’t wait to spout out the figures to people.

So I did. I starting calling friends and sending text messages to Heather and Gareth and Lucy and Tom - every half hour: “We’ve passed 10,000 impressions and the UK readership is climbing.” Then, “Now appearing on home pages of International Business Times and Topix.” Then, “Passed 70,000 impressions and more than a thousand reads!” I had a brilliant day and dreamed about numbers and percentages all night. (Crazy? Boring? I should get a life??)

I’ve decided I love statistics now. I want more. I never really liked them before but the rush of excitement has left me craving…did you know that 50% of new home buyers also bought a new car within a year? Isn’t this stuff great! OK, OK. I can see your eyes glazing over so I’ll quickly summarise my findings.

Today’s summary is: word is spreading fast about breeze-france and the services we have to offer. Stop.

Here’s a link to the press release (but click it and I’ll end up obsessively re-doing the numbers tonight!!)

http://www.prweb.com/releases/overseas/property/prweb1474684.htm

See ya later,
Ronaldo

Great Idea No. 2 – Matching your lifestyle!

2008-10-01T10:54:00.009+02:00

I love our Great Idea No. 2 – a lot! It’s the Breeze Location Search.

Here’s how it works. Let’s say, for example, that you don’t know where you want your new property in France to be – after all, it’s a big country with lots of nice places. You do know that you’ve got to be within 15 minutes of a golf course, and you do know that you must be able to stumble (not drive) to the grocery store when your bottle of wine is empty (hiccup!). Then our Location Search is for you.

Location Search helps you find properties in areas that match your needs. No more travelling to see a beautiful property, falling in love with the place and then trying to justify a 45 minute drive to the kids’ school every morning. Get the location choice right first and save yourself some time and money. You can then use the Property Search criteria to select the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, etc. that you need. Clicking the "+ add a...." links will give you more choices to really refine your search.

Makes so much more sense, doesn’t it? Give it a try.

We’ve got another Great Idea to share soon. So please check back. You can use the comments link below to share your thoughts about our Location Search.

Enjoy discovering France,
Ronaldo

Where to live in France? Let’s start with Fonsorbes.

2008-09-28T12:41:00.006+02:00

Dear France Property Hunters,

OK. I’ve said that throughout this blog I’d like to discuss suburban towns, or places in France, that overseas property hunters may not know about. Not so much the picturesque fairytale villages of dreams, but real places, where people live and work and go to school. Places that you might consider living in rather than just visiting at holiday time (though some are perfectly good places to spend your holidays as well). It’s my goal to help you discover more towns in France that may suit your lifestyle and to give you more town names or areas that you can enter into search engines. So I’d like to start off today with my own little town – Fonsorbes, a suburb of Toulouse.

Toulouse is the capital of the Midi Pyrénées. It’s the fourth largest city in France and nicely located in the southwest. It’s not a huge Paris-sized city, I think it’s about the size of Glasgow, Scotland (my other home town) or maybe Manchester, England (though I don’t have the facts to support that – I’m freely and carelessly writing as if I know what I’m talking about!). I will probably mention Toulouse a lot – it’s a beautiful city and worth visiting.

Like all cities, there are plenty of suburban towns surrounding Toulouse that are growing in popularity and Fonsorbes is one of them. Workers in France’s aeronautical and scientific industries (Airbus or the new Canceropole cancer research centre, for example) are a big part of the population of these towns and more houses and apartments are always being built to accommodate new residents.

We’re about 30 minutes drive southwest from Toulouse’s city centre, which suits me fine since my late-night bar-hopping younger days are now (thankfully??) a distant memory. I have a panic attack every night if I’ve not brushed my teeth and got myself tucked up in bed before the clock strikes eleven! However, should I suddenly need to hit the tiles one night with reckless abandon, the city centre is close enough.

Here are some pics by "bazyorke" posted to Webshots. I don't know him personally but his pics are pretty good and better than I've got so I thought I'd take advantage of the "embed" feature on his web page and show off his work. Thank you bazyorke, hope you don't mind.

Around Toulouse. Fonsorbes, it’s buildings, events and neighbours

Fonsorbes is a normal, everyday example of a French town. There is the obligatory church on the hill, a nice looking Mairie (town hall), and a little, flowery main street running through it with hairdressers, pharmacy, pizza joint, banks, florist shops and the vets (with their new building which I’m sure I’ve single-handedly funded with health care payments for Cara the wonder dog – let’s not go there).

There’s a large grocery store, butchers, bakers, wine sellers, nursery and primary schools, and a new high school and shopping centre both under construction and opening soon. There’s no classic “French Market” (it’s down the road in Saint-Lys) but there is a little guy that sets up on Saturday mornings selling fruit and veg in front of the church. Within easy reach are larger retailers for sports equipment or furniture (IKEA!), supermarkets, DIY and garden centres, etc. that serve all of the surrounding area.

One of the great things I like about French towns, including Fonsorbes, is the way that they organise social and cultural events. There is always something on the go: a car boot sale, a little concert in the park, a dance for the teenagers, a party for the kids, a town fête. They even organise community get togethers (“Repas Partager”) where they set out the long tables and invite everyone in town to come along with their “pot-luck” dinners and share an evening with the neighbours! Get this too, once a year they even do a little bus tour for newly arrived “Fonsorbais” residents to show them round and welcome them to the town – with a little drink to finish off at the Mairie! Not my thing but I'm sure lots of people would like that.

For a small town of about 10,000 people, there’s plenty going on for everyone including football clubs, rugby, judo, dance, tennis, and golf. The family next door enjoys all of that but I prefer the less physically demanding sports like relaxing in the sun with a cold beer or walking the dog – which is, in my opinion, the best way to catch up on the goings on in Fonsorbes... The town gossip walking her collie keeps me laughing with her stories, the old granddad with his golden retriever gives me gardening tips and weather reports, the hairdresser with her mongrel tells me about the town council meetings with local business owners, and the guy that walks the rottweiller with the recurring skin condition (the dog not the guy) claims he’s the one who has single-handedly funded the vets new office. (I said let’s not go there!)

All in all, Fonsorbes is a pretty good place to live, and so are the neighbouring towns of Saint-Lys, Plaisance du Touch and La Salvetat Saint Gilles. Plus if you want a little getaway, the Mediterranean beaches are a really nice and easy 2 hour drive away. So are the Pyrénées mountains – which I can sometimes see but don’t want to see too often (everyone here knows that seeing the mountains means a bad weather front is moving in to spoil the sunshine – a good view is not always a good thing!) About 3 hours takes you to the Atlantic coast, and the Costa Brava or Barcelona in Spain are only about 3 and 4 hours drive.

If you’re looking for somewhere to live in France that caters well for everyday living then you’ll find properties in Fonsorbes or surrounding towns by entering 31470 into the postcode box in the www.breeze-france.com Quick Search. Please also, share your info about the area by adding a comment below. Next week I’ll be talking about the towns just north of Fonsorbes, so please come back soon.

Reporting from Fonsorbes on a sunny Sunday morning,
Ronaldo

Great Idea No. 1 – “Anglo-Phone”

2008-09-26T16:28:00.005+02:00

If you’re searching for property in your home country, then you (usually!) speak and understand the language pretty darn well, and it’s natural for you to pick up the phone, call the advertiser to ask for a few more details, confirm a bit of information or to schedule a visit. You’re pretty comfortable doing that.

Now, imagine that the property you are interested in is in another country and you don’t speak the language. What do you do? Simple: just use a website or a company that speaks your language, right?

That’s great. In fact, all the pros recommend that you make sure you completely understand all conversations and stages of your overseas property transaction and seek assistance if necessary. However, in doing that, are you actually limiting your choice of property down to only those represented by people who speak your language?

In France today, there are over a million different properties available on the largest French property website. The majority of them aren’t normally advertised on overseas property sites that you may be using and you may have to get on a plane and pound the French pavements to find them. Even if they are advertised on sites written in English, non-French speakers may struggle getting “discovery” questions answered the way they would easily do it themselves at home.

Enter Breeze’s FREE Anglo-Phone service – our Great Idea No. 1.

Anglo-Phone is your free-to-use bilingual assistant. You can easily contact Breeze advertisers to ask early questions or arrange a viewing. Sure, use translators or specialist professionals to help you through the process later, when you’re ready, but don’t limit your choice of property now.

Early on, when you just need to know if the spare room is big enough to hold your collection of antique handbags, or if you’ll be able to walk comfortably to the shops without having to wear hiking boots and an oxygen mask, then the native English speakers at Anglo-Phone can help you avoid costly and time-wasting visits – for free.

You’ll save long distance charges too. From the UK and Northern Ireland, your call only costs 3p per minute. We’re working on deals with other telecom providers to get cheap calls from everywhere else too. Plus (as if that’s not enough already!), the Anglo-Phone lines are open 7 days a week, from 8am to 10pm GMT – when you’re most likely to be surfing the net.

A free bilingual telephone assistant. Great idea, eh? Get more info on www.breeze-france.com and let me know what you think using the comment link below.

Merci,
Ronaldo

Sorted!

2008-09-25T19:43:00.002+02:00

Pleased to announce that the problems mentioned in the previous post have now been sorted. Yay!
I love it when things work out.

Testing times...a few known issues

2008-09-22T14:10:00.002+02:00

Our friendly and helpful Breeze Testers have pointed out that there are random map rendering problems on computers using Internet Explorer.

They've also discovered a few issues in search return lists (ie. when jumping from page to page the site sometimes delivers the next page from your last search!!).

Sorry for any inconvenience....No need to panic....Normal services will resume shortly!
Don the Programmer is on the case.

FYI - Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox are the browsers that work best with Breeze.

Cheers,
Ronaldo

Great response, great new friends….a phantom and a cockroach!

2008-09-17T11:22:00.002+02:00

IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER - As I mentioned, this weekend we went off to the French Property Exhibition at the Olympia in London to launch www.breeze-france.com to the world! What a great reception we got! We had loads of visitors to our stand and great positive feedback. We’re not big or well known enough (yet) to bribe folk with champagne and canapés but we did have a few seats for tired visitors and nice sweets wrapped in our colours, plus a snazzy little leaflet that, trust me, no one left without. We were blown away and we had a blast the whole time (though don't mention sore feet).

The show lasted three days and time flies when you're having fun. What a great experience to be able to talk about the site to people who've never heard of it but were genuinely inspired by what we were doing. I don't think anyone said (to our faces anyway) that they didn't like it. We also made more new friends amongst the other exhibitors and look forward to developing relationships with them in the coming months.

All the visitors were impressed and we got fantastic comments like "Wow, your site is exactly what I've been saying we needed" and "What a great idea" and "I'm going to look at your site as soon as I get home". Sure there were a few people too shy to express their glee but we could see it in their eyes. We launched a website and people like it. How great is that?

So all in all it was a worthwhile event, made even better when Heather treated us on Friday night with tickets to enjoy The Phantom of the Opera (thanks again, Heather!). After the show we stopped by Piccadilly Circus to see the dazzling lights of the massive advertising panels (…imagining our Breeze logo replacing Coca-Cola!!) and thought it would be an interesting experience to join some of those big-city “binge drinkers” we hear so much about! Sadly it wasn’t to be – it was late and they were probably tucked up in their spinning beds. So we stepped over the lager can evidence of their party and headed back to the hotel.

We did have one unwanted visitor to our exhibition stand… a cockroach (the size of a hamster!) crawled out of my computer bag on the first morning! A nice souvenir from the hotel that had successfully deceived us with their lovely internet pics and from which we had just made “the great escape” (another story!). Needless to say, the efficient Breeze team jumped quickly into action, donned our safari hats, hunted it down and bravely disposed of the beast before the inevitable panic ensued. Go Team!

Talking about deceiving – or misleading, or just plain uninformative - internet pictures – has anyone experienced that when hunting for French property? Uh-huh? Well, add a comment and share your stories. It’s important that property advertisers on Breeze hear what you expect from them.

Hoping to hear from you,
Big Game Hunter Ronaldo

Breeze is blowing...

2008-09-10T14:40:00.004+02:00

Hello everyone and welcome to the Breeze France blog.

After two years of planning, www.breeze-france.com has finally come to life. This being my first blog entry, I'll give you a little run down on who we are and what we're trying to achieve with breeze. Then I'll tell you what I'm going to be doing with this blog.

The idea for Breeze comes from our team at Purchase in France. Based near Toulouse in the southwest, we help clients through the French property buying process. The core team is lead by the lovely Heather (the project-juggling, whip-cracking boss), then there's communications boy Ronald (that's me - pals call me Ronaldo), smooth-talking Gareth (not so smooth in the mornings) and soon to be new mum Lucy (congrats - she's glowing).

Supporting us (and I'll take a second to thank them just now...Thanks!) is design boy Daren of www.pigcom.fr. The site build team at Ideas and Creations in Glasgow (special mention to Don the master programmer). Sarah, the "Let's have wine with lunch" legal genius, and Tom, our "Have you thought about this?" advisor.

We saw a little hole in the market. French property advertisers needed a better way to market their properties to a wider (English-speaking) audience. English-speaking property hunters needed more information and more property choice. Both groups needed language help. Eh, Voila! Breeze was born to help both groups. I'll go into more detail about how we're helping in future blogs.

Location, location, location...
breeze is location focused, just like the experts say all property hunters should be. Our location search options are designed to help people discover properties that match their lifestyle (near schools or sports, the beach, or simply to know that getting a pint of milk isn't going to be a problem). For people searching from abroad this is particularly important. Since they can't just jump in the car to have a look, better location information builds better short lists and weeds out costly time-wasters.

In support of this, I'll be using this blog to talk about the different areas I pass through on my daily travels and I'll be asking for input from readers and pros about places further away. Getting information on major towns or regions is easy on the internet. But is that enough? I want to talk about the suburbs of those towns or perhaps lovely and affordable places that people from abroad haven't discovered yet. For example, Fonsorbes, where I live, just west of Toulouse. It's a great area but would you know to enter the name into a web search? If you don't then you'll miss property for sale here.

I look forward to this blog project and hope you enjoy reading it and are encouraged to ask questions or share knowledge. Tomorrow we travel to the French Property Exhibition at the Olympia in London. www.breeze-france.com is online today (warts and all) and we're going to start talking about it - a lot! I'll share the experiences along the way.

Cheers,
Ronaldo