The founder of a support group for distressed women gives free advice to help others whose ‘French dream’ has fallen apart

Like many people who work long hours, I’d often dreamed of a simpler life in a warmer climate. Then, in 2001, the American company I was working for closed its European offices and I was out of a job. To me it seemed fate had given me and my husband the chance to pursue a dream.

Just six months after I was made redundant, we moved to Condac in France. It was May and I decided to take the summer off. Our house had an acre of land with a river running through it. We would sit on the terrace and drink wine together, we’d have friends to stay and began making friends in the village. Once a week we’d go to La Rochelle on the coast. It seemed like such an adventure, the two of us in a new country.