I'd just add that, in France, unless you really attract attention to yourself, you're unlikely to get checked or pulled over just because you have English plates. I speak from experience: brought an English car to France early this year. Drive quite a lot. I've had police directly behind me at least once. Never been stopped or attracted any looks. Again from experience I would say that in the Netherlands, for example, they are much more likely to take an interest in you over the same, longer time frame. But not in France. But yes I did bring the car back to renew the MOT.