The official Soho Solo site for self-employed individuals working in The Gers

Testimonials

Read some testimonials from self-employed people who have chosen to live and work in the Gers. These lively, accurate and realistic accounts paint a clear and simple picture of setting up a business locally. They are true stories of what it is like to live and work in The Gers. And they could become your story too...

A complete report on the Soho Solo initiative

Source : demain - 2005
Duration :  5mn.
Total size : 14 MB. ~ 46 KB/s.

Testimonials and scenes

• Olivier GOBET, webdesigner living in SARRANT.
• Marie Christine TERS, project support specialist.
• Soho Solo members meeting

Robert Sanders

My name is Robert Sanders and I've been working as a self-employed consultant in the Gers for about 7 years. I'm originally from Guildford in the UK and I was attracted to this part of South West France by the all round quality of life that the Gers has to offer. Prior to setting up a Soho business, I had a number of different commercial and international roles within the food industry. Now I spend a lot of my time travelling in Europe working on European projects that focus on supporting small and medium sized companies and help them to develop their business.

The SOHO / SOLO project has given me the opportunity to network with local companies and organisations and has helped me to grow my business. It is been very worthwhile to meet up with other "Soho Solos" and share experiences. It sure beats sitting on the M25! http://www.robertsanders.fr/

Carol et Martin SCOTT

 

We come from a small village in the North of England where we ran our own business. We retrained in order to live and work as independent professionals in the Gers. Martin, my husband, is a carpenter and I design and make classical garments.

Why did I choose the Gers? Why not? We are a long way away from all the stress and noise of the big city! In our case, it was simply a matter of choosing a better lifestyle! In our former farmhouse with one hectare of land, we have rediscovered peace and quiet. The former wine cellar is now our showroom and workshop, while the stables are used to store wood. We live near to the village of Monguilhem with all its commodities, and the sea and the mountains are less than two hours away. We can use the internet to communicate with our customers in the morning and pick our vegetables in the garden in the afternoon!

Both of our boys are as delighted as us to live here and we appreciate the welcome of the local people.

Email : pedeloup@orange.fr

Suzie Larcombe

When my husband and I decided to relocate to the Gers I had just turned 40 and had had twins 3 years earlier. It was a good time for my husband, my children and me to do something different and "off the wall". We travelled throughout France and Spain, looking for a suitable place to relocate to. It was on the way back to Scotland that we stumbled on the Gers. There was something about it that made us feel at home. We very much wanted to integrate into the French community so we based ourselves in town, which gave us an immediate circle of contacts. My husband and I both have sales and marketing backgrounds but we didn't want 9-5 jobs. As a result, we decided to create our own company offering Common-Sense Marketing and effective Website Design to French and English speaking clients, www.LimeGray.com. Clearly there are difficulties in relocating to a new country- you have to be strict with yourself in the discipline of work and time management- it's not a holiday after all! However, looking back on our decision to move, and the move itself, there is nothing major I would change. Overall, my family and I are very happy here.
Contact : suzie@limegray.fr

Pierre Eloy

Hello. I work and live in the Gers with my partner and have benefited from the support of the Gers Soho / Solo teams.
Touristic develops web sites for all kinds of professionals and trains entrepreneurs in information technology. Today, Touristic is now fully self-sufficient, but I still keep a close eye on the support that the Soho / Solo network offers: advice, training, contacts, etc. Don't wait any longer. Make the most of these professionals who can help you.

Olivier & Sophie Gobet-Pene

 We have been living in Sarrant for six years. Olivier is a web site designer and Sophie is a training consultant (SARL Gd6d). We arrived from Paris. We chose Sarrant because we found the ideal house in the centre of an open and dynamic village.

Since we arrived, we have made an effort to adapt to local life by taking part in different activities in the village. The locals gave us a very warm welcome.

The Gers is both authentic and innovative. The social and community life is rich. It is the ideal place for our children. Our way of working allows us to focus on both private and professional priorities:

• The life style is adapted to our children.
• We can make the most of the attractions of the city when we travel on business. We still love Paris.
• We can spend more time together during the day, because we both work at home.
• We can focus on what really matters in our work, the real priorities. No more pointless meetings, snack lunches to save time, public transport strikes and traffic jams.
• It is a better way of working, because we make the most of every minute. But it is more work too! It is all too easy to spend the weekend working on an urgent job that must be finished.
• We can offer more flexibility to our customers.
• We are free to manage our own time. We can work whenever we like. Olivier works a lot in the evening, while Sophie keeps some spare time aside for the school holidays.
• We can also manage our budget better. With more spare time, we can spend more intelligently.

We regularly go back to Paris for professional reasons, but we are always happy to come back to the peace and quiet here!

Eric Sendra

 

I used to be an international sales manager, but I decided to turn my back on everything for a quieter and better life. I have been in Gascony since 2005. I feel like I have found the promised land that everyone is looking for, even subconsciously. Long live Gascony

In purely material terms, the Gers offers excellent value for money when it comes to property and the cost of living. But the greatest advantages of the Gers are its hospitality and its warmth. People get together for a chat and a drink for any old reason. The Gers is the homeland of good food and fine drink that you can discover every morning at  www.bridge2france.com.

 

 

Jean-Pascal COSTES

 

I was transferred to the Gers in 1997. In 2002, I retired from the army and went to work for a court officers bureau. Then I created my own business to assist and support local enterprises.

After I left Paris, my last posting as a Gendarme was in the Gers. I soon fell in love with this rural region that is close to my roots in the neighbouring Haute-Garonne. It is the ideal place to exercise my trade, a long way from the big agglomerations where the competition is much tougher.

Email : contact@progesconsult.fr

Cyril Stouck

A proud native of Dunkirk, I currently work for an American insurance broker, headquartered in Levallois, near Paris. Thanks to the tele-working programme, we were able to leave our 40m² flat in Courbevoie in the suburbs of Paris.

I was already attracted by the idea of leaving Paris for the South-West of France, and we were finally convinced by our visit to Auch in the middle of the month of December. Remote working was made possible by the nearby railway station in Agen.
And the Gers is a great place to have children... 
www.stoockies.net

Alan Leng

Growing dissatisfied with the hustle and bustle of life in the UK, and specifically after over twenty years of commuting in the London area, my wife Cecilia and I had talked about coming to France for ten years or more.
We knew France well through our many holidays, and loved the more relaxed lifestyle and the friendliness of the people. I was fortunate in already speaking fluent French through my work as a teacher and translator. We moved to France in 2003, hoping to find a house inland from the Mediterranean, towards Castres, Albi or Carcassonne. But we found that the area we had originally targeted was becoming rather busy and heavily populated, and we loved the rural tranquillity of the Gers, and bought our house just South of Auch in early 2004.
Moving to the Gers has provided us with a new challenge, but has also given us the opportunity to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle and to achieve a better balance between work and play. We respect the traditional values still to be found in France, and regret that those same values are being eroded in England.
Of course the transition to a new country is not straightforward, and we found it was especially hard to leave our family behind. But when we regularly ask ourselves was it worth it, and would we do it again, the answer is always 'yes'. In fact, we wish we had done it earlier!*

 

 Contact : langdoctor@aol.com

 Website : www.biendit.com

Dennis Baylis

We left England 6 years ago to move to the Gers. The first time I came to the Gers was in 1976 on holiday. My wife was born in Auch and grew up here. So when we decided to relocate to France it made it quite easy to choose where. And ultimately we chose the Gers over the city life of Paris because of the large open space, the more time, the less panicking and rushing, and the consistently beautiful weather. It all went surprisingly easy. Moving here, buying the house was quite easy. It all fell into place. I am not going back to England unless I really have to. And when I do have to go there for business it's such a relief coming back here!

Advertising Manager
Website : www.ioa.org.uk
Contact : dennis.baylis@ioa.org.uk