A poll carried out by website www.creme-de-languedoc.com revealed that 50 per cent of British expats living in France, if they were able to vote, would have voted for right-winger Sarkozy; 31 per cent would have voted for socialist candidate Royal, and 19 per cent for centralist Bayrou. In contrast, 30 per cent of French voters plumped for Sarkozy in the first round of the election.

One of the voters echoed what many who entered the poll had expressed, that Sarkozy is a bitter but necessary pill for France's problems, saying: "I don't like Sarkozy, he seems a bit of a bully, but he knows what will get France on its feet, if only the French will take the medicine and accept change, the dirtiest word in the language along with the one we took from them – entrepreneur."

Ninety per cent of respondents believed that France is suffering both economically and socially. Eighty-seven per cent felt that employment laws need to be relaxed, 83 per cent that taxes should be lowered, 70 per cent that France cannot afford current levels of spending, 67 that the number of immigrants coming into France should be increased as long as France selected those with the skills that the economy needs and 55 per cent felt that France needs to encourage more freedom in its education system.

Not that this makes French life inferior to British life, though. Trisha Mason, founder of French property agent VEF, has known life in France for more than 20 years. "With four generations of my family living alongside me, we have encountered most things that the healthcare system and the education system have to offer, and we have never been disappointed in the quality of what we have received," she says.

Neither does the quality of French property available disappoint those who seek out the best examples. For example, a four-bedroom French property in Brittany, one of the most popular areas for British expats, is currently on the market at the all-inclusive price of £255,102. The property, which is being marketed through VEF, is a detached house in a small hamlet in the Blavet Valley and is decorated in wood and limestone.

For those with smaller budgets, a French property with scope for development in a market town in the Languedoc region is on the market for £101,320 through Francophiles. The property includes a small garden, an above-ground swimming pool, a laundry and a garage and is about 80 minutes from Nîmes International Airport.

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Article published on 14 May 2007