GETTING IT RIGHT. (A Place in the Sun)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	A Place in the Sun
Date:	26/03/06 (827 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plan for a life, not just a house purchase.

Disadvantages: No encouragement to speak a foreign language.

I have been watching the repeated programming of “A Place in the Sun” for years. It intrigues me probably more than the average UK viewer, in that I live in France. The programs' purpose is to take British people to another land, and seek their ideal home. To a certain degree with house prices being staggeringly high in the UK, I can understand why people are looking elsewhere, and also that programs like this make entertainment.

Showing the Brit what they can get for their money in areas such as France, Spain, Montenegro, Pau, Italy and other countries is a fine idea, although the last series that I watched upset me sufficiently to write a review about the irresponsibility of programs such as this. For the most part, the programs that I have seen take people nearing retirement age into a country that they “fancy”, show them the houses that are available, show them hilights like how can sit outside and drink wine, or visit the local fruit market, but that the programs never touch upon real issues that would face people who decide to start a new life abroad.

Over the past year, the number of retired people coming to live in rural France has tripled, and what we are now seeing is a sad state of affairs. People arrive here with dreams of a new life, not knowing anything about the language, the health system, or how they will cope taken away from grandchildren and family, and find that after the initial settling down period (or honeymoon if you like), when the work is done to the house, and the novelty worn off, what they end up with is a life that can be very lonely, dependent upon other British people to translate for them, and actually costing them much more than they first anticipated, and in many cases cutting the link with the UK property market, and being unable to go back because of the actual costs of the move to their “dream” home.

The episode I watched the other night was typical of what is going on at the moment, where an elderly couple wanted a house that was big enough to fill with their grandchildren for the holidays. They uproot, they come to search for this new life, and when the grandchildren don't visit as often as they would like because of financial constraint, they leave France and put down their failure to achieve their dream life to the fact that the locals do not speak English.

The program's presentation leaves a lot to be desired. Many of the estate agents encountered are ex pat british people that can find no means of working abroad, and jump on the bandwagon of selling houses, a practice that is questionable to say the least. Whilst the “estate agents” selling the houses may be genuinely registered as businesses, my experience of the country leaves me in doubt. There are agents exploiting the fact that people do not speak the language and charging a fortune for their services dependent upon the vulnerability of people coming to live here, charging exhorbitant fees based on the premise that translation costs time and money.

Amanda Lamb seems about the most professional of the presenters of the program and a new series is planned, though what I question is the side to living in a foreign country that is never covered. I have watched many of these programs, whole series, and what amazes me is that no one questions how a person will make a living in a foreign country, or expresses the importance of speaking the language. Rental incomes are discussed regularly, and yes, there are ways of making a decent amount from buying holiday homes that can be rented out whilst not used, though the proportion of programs devoted to the elderly are increasing alarmingly.

What worries me is the consequence of programs like this. Take for example in the case of a little old lady like my mother in law. Yes, she likes the atmosphere of France and would love to live here, seeing that the style of life is very similar to that style she knew as a child in the UK. It's tempting. It's like putting sweets in front of a child and letting them have as many as they want without restraint, and without warning them of the consequences of their choice. When faced with the reality of lack of language, not being able to drive (most of the houses in my area being very rural), and not being with her friends at an important stage in her life, reality sinks in and she realises that living here is impracticable.

The show does introduce people that are thinking of living here to other ex pats sometimes, but by this stage of the game, the people have already made up their mind about buying a house in France, and the ex pats that they are introduced to say very little that is derogatory about the lifestyle in that country.

There was a more realistic program at one time about people coming to live in foreign countries, where they were given a period of time in that country before committing themselves, and here I thought that the failure rate was more helpful to the viewer in that they actually got to see the struggle of people trying to establish a new life abroad.

IN CONCLUSION

Although the program is a well made one, and the locations stunning, and a little bit of an eye opener to people who just want to see what other countries have to offer, I feel that it is responsible for many failed lives in France, and continues to plug the idea that greener pastures exist on other shores. It does, but where the program fails miserably is in looking at the practicalities of life in those places, and being realistic about the issues that older people will face. As entertainment goes, it is what I call entertaining, though not in the sense that the program presenters intended. Taken as a little voyage for an hour to foreign shores, then yes, it is enjoyable, but having seen the results of people's hopes and dreams shattered by the illusion that you can live well on a foreign shore without knowing the language, I would say that the program needs more professionalism and needs to address the issues that eventually shatter the dream.

Retired people that go to live in foreign countries, having seen programs like this, are never reminded about language and how much it matters at a stage in their lives when they need medical help. They are not told about paperwork, and the huge amount that is required to be filled out in everyday life, how families should evaluate what they intend to do further than buying a house and moving abroad, and I feel it is a dangerous leap into the dark for many, and on this front, the program fails to convince me of its' merits.

Summary: Watched as entertainment the program is fine, but reality is much more difficult.