The local website, which specialises in providing French news in English, German news in Germany etc, featured a list of things Brits have to take on board and accept when they move to France.

As it happens, the majority of the 300,000 ex-pats opt for rural France. There are several reasons for this: the price of property, the tranquility and the inherent beauty you find in much of the country.

Looking back, I realise we were quite brave to buy in 2003 and move out here two years later. It was a jump into the unknown for someone such as myself, having been essentially a home-town boy: born and bred in Watford. My wife, Ellie, having come from a service family, had spent much of her earIier life upping sticks and moving on and, after 25 years in Sarratt, she had no such qualms about leaving the bosom of SW Herts.

I read the magazine, French Property News, avidly every month before we left the UK and I learnt much that was useful in preparing us for the experiment, which we said we would give two years and then review our options. We knew after a few months we did not need such a review. Moving abroad had been virtually trouble free and we were far from lonely.

In fact we were lucky for we bought in 2002 when the numbers opting for such a change of lifestyle, began to accelerate. So when we moved in, we soon came across a number of ex-pats who had also taken the plunge.

In effect we were all in it together and our good fortune was increased by the fact an English couple had purchased a local bar/ bistro, which remained open in the evenings. That in itself is almost unknown in rural France so we had access to an instant social life.

Anyone contemplating a move to rural France would be well advised to check out that aspect, for most villages close down at around 8pm in the evenings. It is very much a case of last one leaving, turns the lights out. You can be lost in a relatively unsocial world, entering a lottery in that you will not know if the natives in your street or locality are likely to be really friendly.

I have heard of ex-pats who moved into tourist areas and were shocked to discover that come November, their small town was about as lively as a Sunday afternoon in 1950s UK.

If you are self-sufficient, have an absorbing hobby and get on well with your partner, then rural France is extremely pleasant and relaxing. If you need company or action, opt for a town or city of significant size.

We were fortunate in that there were a number of English using the bar. We found the rural French in Limousin, friendly and supportive but they did not warm to the Brits socially. Social life for the French in our neck of the woods involved the occasional village hop or fete (in their best jeans, of course) and brief visits to the bar.

The natives with whom we gelled, included a taxi driver, an alcoholic and a retired Portuguese couple. So while we spent some two thousand pounds or more on French lessons, we found scant opportunity for conversations. They spoke, welcomed you and were warm up to a point but no further. That was what we found in Limousin: reserved in a friendly way.

I spent £2000 on English lessons but after two years I ended them. The only person with whom I conversed in French was the teacher. The natives in The Tarn are far more approachable but ten years on, I am not keen on the idea of further lessons. In a sense I wish we had moved to The Tarn from the outset but that would be to forego the eight happy years we spent in Limousin. We enjoyed those years although it began to pale once our friends sold the bar.

In the Tarn, we have attended dinner parties with French people - something we have never experienced in Limousin.

However, we note many things in the Tarn are similar, so I thought it might be useful to give our own take on the aspects you have to get used to if you move to rural France and I will tackle them over forthcoming, fortnightly columns.