A knowing friend who's done it
Planning a move to France? Tell us where you're up to, and we'll tell you what to do next — and when. Free, and yours in a couple of minutes.
What Pimpernel is
Written by a family who actually made the move. Every guide is human-written, checked against the official sources, and kept current — free, forever, no account needed. When you'd rather have it handled — your own plan, your deadlines watched, a real person on the bits that bite — that's the only part you pay for. And we'll never sell you something we don't believe in.
50+ deep guides, kept current and told straight — no sales pitch, no fluff.
Answer a few questions and the tools turn the guides into your plan.
A real person checks the high-stakes bits before you rely on them.
Let's start with you
Tell us where you are and we'll point you straight at what actually applies to you.
Curious
Weighing it up? Start with the honest reality — what France really costs, what it takes, and whether it's genuinely for you.
Read the honest overview →Committed
Decided? Tell us your situation and we'll build your plan — visa, home, healthcare, the lot — in the right order.
Build my plan — free →Settled
The part most guides forget: the admin that never stops, and a knowing friend for all of it, years after you arrived.
Into the Library →How it works
Every guide and every tool — 50+ corners of French life, kept current and told straight. No account, no catch.
Answer a few questions and the tools turn the guides into your own dated plan: the deadlines and steps that apply to you.
The single paid part — have a real person check the high-stakes bits, or the Move Pack build your whole personalised plan (£60). Both one-off — no subscription to forget.
Who's actually behind it
It's us: Will and Jenny, who made this exact move and learned most of it the hard way; our children, who now win arguments in French; and a menagerie that got comprehensively out of hand — the dogs, the cats, the (many) chickens, and the donkeys we genuinely did not plan on. When a real person checks your letter or answers the question that matters, it's one of us — someone who has stood in the same préfecture queue. We fund Pimpernel through the paid help and the odd honest referral, never by selling you or your attention — and there's nothing to sell you that we don't believe in.
Our story →Free tools
Each asks a few questions about your situation and builds you something tailored — your whole arrival plan, your visa, your purchase, a French letter, the tax on an inheritance. Free to use, grounded in our guides, with a human on call for anything that matters.
Start here
Six questions and we build you a sequenced, phased plan for your whole move — tailored to you, every step linked to a full guide.
Build my plan — free →Deadlines · new
Enter your dates and get a dated plan of every French renewal coming your way — visa validation, carte de séjour, licence exchange, tax, contrôle technique — each linked to a guide, with a one-click calendar export.
Build my plan — free →Paperwork
Pick a procedure — carte de séjour, licence, health, naturalisation, tax — and get exactly which papers it needs, the official source, the traps, and a human to check your dossier before you submit.
Build my dossier — free →The letter writer
Cancel a contract, give notice, contest a bill — the right layout and formules de politesse, a plain-English summary, and a human to check it before you send.
Write my letter — free →Property
The steps, documents and deadlines for buying a French home — tailored to how you're buying.
Start the walkthrough — free →Visas & residency
Find the long-stay visa that fits your move — visitor, remote worker, family or work.
Start the walkthrough — free →Healthcare
Work out your route in — the S1 for pensioners, your payroll if you work, or PUMA.
Start the walkthrough — free →Language
A2, B1 or B2 — the level the law asks of you depends on what you're applying for.
Start the walkthrough — free →Money
Pick a relationship and an amount and see the allowance, the rate and the tax due under the 2026 rules — including the 60% trap.
Open the calculator — free →Money
Moving pounds to euros? See what a high-street bank costs you versus a specialist — the gap hides in the rate, not the fee.
Open the calculator — free →Reference
Every French admin term — PLU, apostille, RIB, timbre fiscal — decoded, and clickable across every guide.
Open the glossary — free →The newsletter
Practical guidance, the regulatory changes that actually affect you, and the occasional thing nobody tells you until it's too late. No spam, nothing to sell.
The guides stay free, always. We'll only use your details to send the newsletter — unsubscribe anytime.