Since setting up the business so much has been happening and
it's all been going crazy, but definitely in a good way! I wanted to write a
blog post to let you know of the progress. Since the first sale to Barcelona,
we have received even more orders! Great News!
J
It's been very encouraging and have really been enjoying sending all the British
food items across the world including
HP Sauce to Sweden,
Pot Noodles to the
Netherlands and
Marmite to France. I think people have really appreciated the
personal touch we put into all of our food packages!
British Essentials were also asked if we would like to submit a travel
publication written from the perspective of our British Expats twitter
followers, focusing upon experiences and the British food that they missed
when moving away from the UK. This
sounded like a fantastic idea, and got to work right away... however nothing
prepared me for the number of responses received from many British Expats across
the world. The British Expat interviews will now be published here weekly.
Our first interview comes from Jacqui Brown - A British Expat living in France
 |
| Jacqui Brown - British Expat who moved to France in 2004 |
Q) Hi Jacqui thanks for
agreeing to take part, could you let us know a bit more about you?
I am a wife, a Mother, an animal lover, a try-my-best
vegetable grower and home cook, an avid reader, a book reviewer and a blogger
living frugally in France since 2004. I swapped city living and rail commuting
for village life with an orchard, a vegetable garden, a goose, ducks, chickens
and rabbits and couldn’t be happier. Despite the frustrations of French
bureaucracy I’m still in love with France and enjoy sharing my family
adventures and French life tips on
http://www.frenchvillagediaries.com
and helping others to find their perfect French holiday on
http://www.specialplacesinfrance.com
Q) Sounds like quite
a change, how did you find the
transition of moving to a foreign country?
We knew France fairly well before moving here, but it was
still a slow process to settle in and a steep learning curve, especially in
terms of paperwork. For a country so geographically close to the UK we are very
different culturally and I don’t think we appreciated this fully until we
arrived. Having a school aged child helped as it gave routine to our lives and
threw us into local community life.
Q) So I guess that
really provided you a platform of meeting new people and making new friends?
Yes meeting people was easy especially as I quickly got
involved at school, helping out on trips and running an English conversation
club for the children. I also put my name down to help out in the village
whenever a plea for volunteers was made. I am on the village monthly magazine,
help to organise an annual charity meal and a summer picnic in the park and
take my turn to run the library. We have a small circle of expat friends as
well, as chatting/relaxing in English will always be easier than in French,
however as we are not overly outgoing people we don’t attend many of the expat
social events that are available in this area.
Q) How is the quality
of life compared to home, and what are the things you most like doing living in
France?
I think our quality of life is about as good as it gets. We
now have the time and land to grow our own vegetables and keep chickens, a
large fruit and nut orchard that doubles up as a great outdoor space for our
son and lots of time spent together as a family. We will never be wealthy in
terms of money, but there are not many 12 year olds who can say that they have
had both parents home for the two months of the school summer holiday since
they were four years old. We live in a rural area, so big attractions are not
on our doorstep, but we are only an hour and a half from the Atlantic coast for
days at the beach, and the local theme parks of Futuroscope and Puy du Fou are
also just close enough for a day trip. What we do love is that we are able to
take our bicycles out and spend our days exploring the quite roads of our
region, the Cognac vineyards, the canal network of the Marais Poitevin and the
salt marshes of the Charentes Maritime.
Q) What negatives, if
any are there to living in the UK?
It is always hard to leave family behind, especially when
you have young nieces and nephews who change so much between visits.
Q) What are your top
5 expat tips for new expat arrivals following in your footsteps?
Learn the language.
Think very carefully about where your income is going to come from.
Try to get involved in your new community, even if you feel your
language isn’t yet good enough.
Don’t expect life to be one long holiday.
Don’t take on the renovation of a ruin unless you are a builder and
have a bottomless wallet.
Q) What is the cost of living
like compared to home?
Generally, I think France is more expensive to the UK for many things,
aside from house prices. Social contributions and taxes if you run your own
business are much higher than in the UK as is the majority of food in the
supermarkets (we are only recently seeing offers like ‘three for two’ here).
Utilities and internet/phone costs are also higher, again mainly due to the
lack of offers and deals available. Although insurance premiums have risen I
think they are less than the UK, but shopping around and changing providers is
not as easy. Wine, however, remains very good value!
Q) On the topic of food, How
does food in your country compare to food back in the UK?
I have no complaints here. France has a very good attitude to food and
it is taken very seriously from school meals for nursery aged children and
right through your life. Our son has always had a three course balanced meal
with lots of variety for his school dinners and because of this will now eat
most things. The French are very good at seeing food as a pleasure, but are
sensible with their portion sizes so it is possible to go out to lunch for a
three course meal, but not feel too full for the rest of the day. Seasonal
produce is also something that is very important in France and I have to say it
makes sense, why eat strawberries in December when they taste nothing like
locally grown strawberries in June? France has taught me to eat for the
enjoyment the food and flavours give rather than just mindlessly eating.
Q) Is there any particular foods
you miss from home?
Generally we are more than happy with the food on offer here in France,
but they just don’t get
Marmite and we can’t live without it.
Q) If you could bring just 5
food/drinks products from the UK to your country, what would they be and why?
Marmite, it
is available here, but only in very small jars for a very high price.
BitesizeShredded Wheat, French cereal has nothing to offer that is similar as they
prefer sweet, chocolaty breakfasts and I’m a fibre girl!
TwiningsLemon and Ginger Teabags a must for us to start our day and although there are
many flavours of tea/infusions available in France, unfortunately Lemon and
Ginger isn’t one of them.
Cheddar
cheese, a nice strong extra mature one. We love French cheese and eat lots of
it, but despite having many different varieties they don’t have anything quite
like a strong Cheddar.
A
sliced brown, granary loaf of bread to make sandwiches with. Fresh
French boulangerie bread is delicious, but getting wholemeal or granary bread
is very difficult and as I said before, I’m a fibre girl.
Q) How does your grocery
shopping experience differ from when you were in the UK?
Although things have changed a lot in France in the eight years we have
been here, generally speaking the availability of fresh produce is still very
seasonal and there is less choice in ready meals and cooking sauces (which
certainly helped my culinary skills when we first arrived). Markets are also
very popular and many people still prefer to buy local. All of this is a good
thing in my opinion.
Q) And Finally, is there other
advice you would give to new expat arrivals?
Have fun, join in as much as possible and make the most of the new
cultural experiences you find.
Jacqui Brown, 2013
