Are you about to relocate for a major lifestyle and career change?

Pi Productions, the creators of Grand Designs and the reinvented MasterChef, are looking for couples and families planning to quit the rat race for a better life.

They are making a brand new documentary series for Channel 5 that follows people as they relocate to start a new life and a new business. This is an aspirational show, propelling people to follow their dreams.

Whether it’s moving to the countryside to run a farm, setting up a surf school by the sea or opening a BnB in a bustling new town, a Guest Gite business or vineyards we want to hear your story.

NEW PRIME-TIME CHANNEL 5 TV DOCUMENTARY IS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE ABOUT TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES

We are looking for families or couples who are planning to ditch the 9 to 5 to pursue a career in something they are passionate about. We want to showcase the amazing lifestyle business opportunities out there and show what it takes to make a new business a success. 

Interested parties can email : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or give us a call on 0203 761 4522 or 0203 761 4569.

There is no pressure to take part at the initial enquiry stage.

Blog submitted by: Laura Coquereau at Pi Productions working with The French Property Network - Cle France.

Sterling surges to multi-month highs as "Remain" camp leads in 'Brexit' poll.

The pound has posted significant gains against a basket of currencies after the publication of an opinion poll by IPSOS Mori showed an 18% lead for the "Remain" camp.

With 55% likely to vote to stay in the EU compared to the 37% opting to leave, the pound clawed back recent losses, hitting the key psychological level of 1.3000 interbank (IB) versus the Euro – representing almost a 10 week high versus the single currency. 

We have also seen significant changes in the following currency pairs with the pound breaking through key levels.

The sensitivity that the pound currently has to the polls highlights the difficulty that investors face when trying to second guess the movement in exchange rates.

As we draw nearer to the Referendum we are likely to see increased volatility in all sterling crosses, so in order to stay ahead of the game, it is important that you speak to your dealer who will explain the options available to you.

Do you want more information ?

So if you need to buy or sell currency and would like to be kept up to date with all the latest data releases and exchange rate movements then feel free to contact myself Ben Amrany.

If you are buying or selling a house in France we will make sure your monies are in the right place at the right time, we work hand in hand with you, the notaire and Cle France.

For more information on the currency service I can provide please feel free to contact myself...

Ben Amrany from FC Exchange follow this link or phone and ask for myself and quote "Cle France" on 020 7989 0000.

You may contact me directly using this form (click here) with your requirement and I will explain the options that are available to you in getting the best exchange rate.

Blog submitted by: Ben Amrany for The French Property Network - Cle France.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

The EU Referendum campaigns started today with David Cameron and Boris Johnson et-al touring the country to gain support for each side. Our blog pages have become a bit 'heavy' recently so we are trying to lighten the mood with our translation of the Eurovision song entry from France, watch it tonight and sing along!

It’s May, and for many Europeans, it’s the return of something very important. Non, je ne parle pas du soleil (no, I’m not talking about the sun), but Eurovision!

Not familiar with it? Basically, every participating country submits a singer and song to represent them. From there, the songs are performed in 2 semi-finals and a final, then the vote is decided via a jury and the public. You can read more about how that works on the post I wrote about France’s 2015 submission.

Last year, France picked Lisa Angell who performed “N’oubliez pas” Unfortunately, the song wasn’t very successful, garnering only 4 votes. Yikes.

France seems to have a pattern of doing a fun and catchy pop song one year followed by a slower song the next. “N’oubliez pas” was slow, so that means this year’s is fun and catchy! And it really is…

Cette année (This year), France chose 31-year-old Israeli-French singer/songwriter Amir to perform in the contest in Stockholm. “J’ai cherché” (I’ve Been Looking) was written by Amir, Nazim Khaled, and Johan Errami.

Here are the results after the semi-finals.

The following 10 countries qualified from semi-final 1:

Azerbaijan

Russia

The Netherlands

Hungary

Croatia

Austria

Armenia

Czech Republic

Cyprus

Malta

The following 10 countries qualified from semi-final 2:

Latvia

Georgia

Bulgaria

Australia

Ukraine

Serbia

Poland

Israel

Lithuania

Belgium

You may have noticed that France isn’t listed as a qualifier. As per the contest rules, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the host country all perform in the final because they are the biggest monetary contributors in the contest.

Translation of the song into English

Want to hear this year’s entry? tune in tonight and the song already has some English in it, but the translation published below is courtesy of Eurovision’s official page.

J’ai cherché un sens à mon existence

I was looking for a sense in my existence

J’y ai laissé mon innocence

I have lost my innocence in doing so

J’ai fini le cœur sans défense

I finished my heart without defence

J’ai cherché

I was looking for

L’amour et la reconnaissance

Love and recognition

J’ai payé le prix du silence

I paid the price of silence

Je me blesse et recommence

I hurt myself to start again

Tu m’as comme donné l’envie d’être moi

You gave me like the need to be me

Donné un sens à mes pourquoi

Gave a sense to my whys

Tu as tué la peur

You killed the fear

Qui dormait là, qui dormait là

Sleeping there, sleeping there

Dans mes bras

In my arms

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

You’re the one that’s making me strong

I’ll be looking, looking for

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

Like the melody of my song

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

You’re the one that’s making me strong

I’ll be looking, looking for

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

Like the melody of my song

J’ai cherché un sens,

I was looking for a sense

un point de repère

A point of reference

Partagé en deux hémisphères

Divided into two hemispheres

Comme une erreur de l’univers

Like an error of the universe

J’ai jeté tellement de bouteilles à la mer

I threw so many bottles into the sea

J’ai bu tant de liqueurs amères

I drank so many bitter liqueurs

Que j’en ai les lèvres de pierre

That I got lips of stone from it

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

You’re the one that’s making me strong

I’ll be looking, looking for

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

Like the melody of my song

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

You’re the one that’s making me strong

I’ll be looking, looking for

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

Like the melody of my song

Au gré de nos blessures

According to our injuries

Et de nos désinvoltures

And to our casualness

C’est quand on n’y croit plus du tout

It’s when you don’t believe in at all,

Qu’on trouve un Paradis perdu

That you will find a paradise lost

En nous-ou-ou-ou-ou

Within u-u-us

Oh, you, you, you, you

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

You’re the one that’s making me strong

I’ll be looking, looking, looking for

You-ou-ou-ou-ou

Like the melody of my song

Like the melody of my song

Repeat x 2 and fade.

Everybody sing!

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

End to ‘bill shock’ as EU mobile roaming charges are slashed

New rules that slash roaming charges for using mobile phones in other European countries have come into effect.

Controversial roaming charges holidaymakers pay to use their mobile phones in another European country will come down dramatically and are set to disappear altogether from 2017 following EU intervention.

For several years the European commission has been battling with the big mobile providers to force through cuts to the cost of making cross-border calls and using data in another country – the much hated roaming charges that leave many in “bill shock”.

Following lengthy negotiations, the EU announced in October last year that it will ban these charges from June 2017. Monthly call allowances will then apply across the EU as if the user were in their home country.

In the interim, the EU has put a cap on the amount operators can charge – which has just come into force. A roaming surcharge can now be no more than:

• €0.05 extra per minute for calls.

• €0.02 extra per SMS sent.

• €0.05 extra per MB of data.

Previous reductions have already seen the cost of roaming within the EU fall by 75% since they were first brought in, the European commission says.

Today’s changes mean EU roaming charges will fall by at least a third. Call costs will go down from around 16p a minute – typically what is added to cross-border calls – to a more palatable 4.4p. Data charges – the cost of accessing the web with a smartphone – will typically come down from 17.4p per MB to 4.3p. Such charges have often caught out unwary travellers, landing some with bills running into thousands of pounds.

However, it should be noted that contrary to what is said on the big phone company websites, roaming charges are levied on top of the cost of a UK call. So if you make a five-minute call from Madrid to Manchester, five minutes of your calls allowance is used, plus you pay the top-up rate of 4.4p a minute – a total 22p to the UK operator.

If you’ve used up your monthly calls allowance it starts to get very expensive. Most of the big operators – EE, Vodafone and O2 – typically charge 40p-45p a minute for calls made outside the allowance, so those roaming can be paying almost 50p a minute to call home.

Make a pay-as-you-go call and you’ll be charged around 30p-a-minute plus a 4p roaming top up.

The cost of receiving a call from the UK while you are abroad has also come down from around 4.4p to either 1p a minute or free, depending on the operator. EE charges 1p a minute while Vodafone, Tesco and O2 have scrapped them entirely.

Mobile phone users will now have to decide if it is worth their while paying extra for holiday roaming deals or bolt-ons. For example, EE offers unlimited calls and 100MB of data a day in Europe, but that costs £4. It remains a good deal if you make lots of calls – but if you are only making the odd call and not accessing data the extra expense is not worth it.

Other big firms offer similar deals – check out the best ones offered by your provider before you head to the airport. Data deals are particularly good value if you don’t have Wi-Fi where you are staying, and still want to update Facebook or search online.

If you roam a lot you may be better off switching provider. Three has led the way with its Feel at Home tariff which won’t charge anything extra to call or text the UK or for data use in 18 countries, including many in Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Carphone Warehouse-owned iD network is also worth considering for frequent travellers looking to avoid roaming charges before 2017. Its TakeAway tariffs include free roaming in 29 countries including the whole of the EU, the US and Australia. Plans start at £12.50 a month for a sim-only 12-month contract.

Tesco Mobile announced this week that it is scrapping extra roaming charges for its customers travelling to any of 31 European countries between 23 May until midnight 3 September.

Note, most of the above prices only apply if you are visiting another EU country, which excludes a number of popular tourist destinations – for example, Turkey. Visitors there this summer will typically pay £1.20-£1.50 a minute to make calls, and a frightening £6 per MB of data downloaded. Tourists to other non-EU countries face similar charges. You have been warned.

What you will save

Let’s assume that Jane is heading to Paris for the weekend. She makes three five-minute phone calls to home in Manchester, sends five texts and uses her banking app, checks the weather forecast and gets around the city with a mapping app, adding up to a total 20MB of data.

Let’s also assume that Jane is on a Vodafone pay-monthly contract with a certain number of minutes and data, and that she hasn’t exceeded her monthly limits.

Last week in Paris she would have had to pay £2.47 for the calls, 25p for the texts and £3.48 for the data – a total of £6.20.

From this weekend she will pay 64.5p for the calls, 4.5p for the texts and 86p for the data – £1.55 in total.

So from Saturday she’ll be saving a total of £4.65. Happy holidays!

Part of the content of this blog was originally posted on the Guardian website.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

EU Referendum – will all British expats be included?

Judgement on British expats’ right to vote in EU Referendum is delayed for further consideration.

The Conservative’s 2015 manifesto, which was the backbone of their successful campaign and lead to the formation of the first Conservative majority government since 1992, included a pledge to scrap the rule that prevents British expats from voting in UK elections once they have lived overseas for 15 years.

However, no proposals have yet been made to change the legislation, so British expats who have lived overseas for more than 15 years who wish to vote in the June EU Referendum will not be able to do so.

At least that is the current situation. If 94-year-old Harry Shindler, a Second World War veteran living in Italy, and lawyer and Belgium resident Jacquelyn MacLennan are successful with their challenge, at least two million more British expats may be able to vote on 23 June.

Both claim that under the EU Referendum Act 2015 they are being denied the right to vote on the UK’s continued membership of the EU. Lawyers representing the expats took the case to the High Court in London on 20 April to seek a judicial review of the legislation.

If Successful

If successful says Richard Stein of Leigh Day, the lawyers for the claimants, “the judicial review should require the Government to rush through amending legislation to change the franchise for the forthcoming referendum in June 2016.”

During the court hearing on 20 April, the QC representing the government told the court that if the claimants won their case, it would be impossible to implement all the necessary steps needed to include them and still keep to the planned for date of 23 June. (QC is Queen’s Counsel – a senior barrister who has shown outstanding ability in complex cases and is awarded Queen’s Counsel status.)

In answer to questions as to why an expat who has lived overseas since for more than 30 years really cares whether the UK votes to stay in or out, the claimants’ QC told the court that his clients are, “not ex-pats but Britons in Europe” and that it was “not that they had left or given up on the UK, but every day of their daily lives they are relying on the fact of their British citizenship and membership of the UK in the EU”.

At the end of the High Court hearing, Lord Justice Jones and Mr Justice Blake told the government’s QCs that due to the complexity of the case they would need time for further consideration, but that they appreciated the “importance and urgency” of the matter.

Certainly, if a decision is not made soon there will not be time to set up the systems required to gather and record potentially two million more overseas votes.

Part of the content of this blog was originally posted on the Anglo Info website.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.