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21/03/2007, 17:59 phil47 Joined on 19/03/2007 Posts 6 Re: Help needed with regard to moving near Swiss border area.  Teamedup wrote: I really like the Jura, but we live in the Alps and they are exceedingly beautiful for the most part, so I know where I would always choose, but then the prices of buying here are dearer. You are right about the music. I live with a musician who cannot wait to get back to the Uk to play all the time, instead of very very rarely here, if we lived in a city, then it would be a bit different but en plein campagne it isn't the same and there still isn't enough music for him either. We have musician friends, some amateur, some what I would call semi professional as they just cannot make enough to live on and others that are interim de spectacle, which is certainly not what it was, but they manage to make a living. If your music is really the 'thing' you need then I would start coming over and finding out about every little spectacle there is in an area you fancy and talking to people about what you want to do and where you should be exactly.       Hi Teamedup. Well that's my dilema. All I have done all my life is play guitar for a living. I don't think I'd be able to switch professions after all these years. Mind you, nor would I really want to. I have played with loads of bands over the years, but currently teach more than I gig. I work with some of Billy Braggs musicians and the 'Mutter' the singer from Stackridge at present, but the old UK isn't what it was for us ageing Rock N' Rollers. One of my best friends and also one of the finest bass players in the UK is delivering meals on wheels to supplement his income, and the ex bass player from 'Ten Years After' is doing car repairs. All the others are dead I think..... Oh how the mighty fall eh? I still keep in the business via teaching, as at least it's still playing. I bought our house and brought up three kids from playing guitar, but you couldn't make a full time living from just gigging these days, unless I want to travel all over the UK, and I'm getting a bit old for that. Plus..'Been there..Done that', springs to mind. Time for a change I feel.. My daughter however is a brilliant singer with a lovely voice and as an added bonus looks just like Nora Jones, so I do quite a few gigs with her. The dad and daughter thing seems to go down well, but obviously I'd like her to make her own inroads without having old dad there to cramp her style. I'm sure I could get the teaching thing going and also some gigs, especially in Switzerland, but in the final analysis like everything else.. It's a gamble. I have been offered a few things in the States, but it's a bit far from my sons.   Phil.        Report

08/04/2007, 19:19 charlotte G Joined on 15/11/2005 Posts 12 Re: Help needed with regard to moving near Swiss border area. Hi Phil Stubbled across your posting about living near Switzerland. We have a house we vist in Les Pontets which is near Mouthe about 20 mins south of Pontatlier. We love it there great in the winter and in the summer. It is like living in two different countries. I would look around Pontarlier and southwards around Lac St Point and then down to us. There are alot of people working in Switzerland and living n France around, In our village there must be at least 4 families, prices have gone up but you could find something. WE are in the doubs region which appears more affulent than the Jura. There seem to be less houses in the Doubs than the Jura where you could pick up a bargin. The Doubs is more expensive and I am sure there is a sub estate agent culture where houses come on the market without an estate agent seeing them, if you know what I mean. If you want to know more about the area, please get in touch I would love to help Thank you Charlotte PS I very rarely look at this forum so email me directly charlotte.gaisford@craftycomputerpaper.co.uk    Report

12/04/2007, 20:57 Rich Joined on 12/04/2007 Cruseilles Posts 3 Re: Help from a fellow guitarist in Cruseilles Hello Phil, Well as a fellow-guitarist I feel I owe you an answer. Sorry for being a bit late, but I am new to this forum and just came across your post. By the way hello to all the other regular posters ! Please forgive me for not introducing myself before answering this post. I have lived in the Geneva-Annecy area for the past 30 years and am now living half-way between the two cities in Cruseilles. Yes, Haute-Savoie is expensive, but prices drop spectacularly if you move a few miles further away from the Swiss border. One of the reasons property is so expensive, is because the frontier-workers (les frontaliers) working in Switzerland and living in France have much higher buying power than the average french family and this has tended to push the market prices up. However, most frontier workers live within 45 mins from the Geneva frontier. If you go beyond that distance, prices become quite reasonable, especially if you don't mind living in a rural area rather than in a town or city. The Ain area - north of Geneva - is according to friends and relations who live there, even more expensive due to the proximity of the international organisations in Geneva (CERN, UN, etc.).  On the other hand, I feel, it would be useful, workwise, to be close to Geneva, to draw from the sizeable population for potential guitar-students. You might consider giving lessons in a place closer to the border. In my town, a local social-club organises music lessons in premises made available by the townhall. Oh and by the way, french bureaucracy is terrible. Not having been back to the UK for many years, I am unable to compare, but the paperwork involved in setting up a small business plus the taxes and charges over here are notoriously bad. Anyway, this is a beautiful area and I hope you will look us up if you manage to come out here. Rich        Report

09/05/2008, 15:24 odile Joined on 09/05/2008 Posts 2 Re: Help needed with regard to moving near Swiss border area. Hi Phil- just read your post. I am Swiss from just across the French border near Pontarlier. Have lived in UK for 38 years and never intended to go back. Last year a very old farmhouse I've always loved came up for sale - and be bought it - just like that. Sadly not sold our house here yet - but will move asap- wish us luck. The Annecy area is much more expensive than the Jura! I actually know of an old primary school which has been entirely renovated, being sold for £200.000 with all the furniture, equipment for snow clearing, graden, washin machin, etc, etc. There is lots on the market- would be interested to know how you got on. Bonne chance   Odile    Report

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