Making Plans - A car for 3 months - hire or lease?

So we need to get around France for 3 months.  We will be travelling quite a bit, from Mantes la Jolie in the North West to Bordeaux in the South West, across the South through Provence and into Italy and Germany (can't miss Legoland!) and back into France up to the Somme then back to the beginning again.  We will be staying in small villages and need to be able to get about, we really can't rely on trains.  They are also quite expensive.
We did a lot of research into the options for such a long stay.
We found out that leasing is substantially cheaper than hiring and not as scary as I had thought it might be.
A number of companies lease cars in France including Citroen, Renault and Peugeot.  We decided that Peugeot offered the best deals.
A great website which we found really useful is: www.driveawaybookings.com
Leasing works out to be about half the cost of hiring and it includes all your insurance with no excess and you get a brand new car.
We haven't actually booked yet but intend to through this site so will report back as to how it goes.

Beware French Bureaucracy - the trials and tribulations of Visas

A word of warning to anyone planning on staying in Europe for more than 90 days.  Our original dream was to spend almost 4 months predominately in France with some side trips to other European countries.  However if you want to spend more than 90 days in any one of a large number of European countries (or a number of them cumulatively) you need to apply for a Visa for the country you are spending the most time in.
If that country is France and you are Australian then each person travelling must apply for a long term stay Visa.  This means each of you flying to Sydney as the Visas are biometric.  The cost of the application alone for 4 people is over $600 plus airfares.  Plus you need to provide a lot of personal information about your finances and undergo a special medical examination.
In the end we decided it simply wasn't worth it.  it was going to cost us up to $1,500 and the invasion of privacy was just too high.
So sadly we won't have the time in France we wanted and will miss celebrating Christmas there with our wonderful friends.
But we keep planning and it opens the door for new adventures - possibly in the UK at the end of our trip - watch this space!

In the Beginning

Hi, we are the O'Donnell Family from Tasmania, Australia.  Mum, Dad, the Princess and the Little Man.  We have a love affair with France.  Our kids who are now 10 and 8 first went when they were 5 and 3.  We are now planning the trip of a lifetime back again later this year (intially for 4 months but due to the wonderful french bureaucracy that will now be 3 months - but more about that later!) and we plan to write about our experiences planning the trip and about our adventures on the trip as well.

Hopefully we will be able to give people who have a similar love affair some helpful hints and advice!