Yes it is, that is exactly the kind of comment I needed to hear.
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Our story.
We have been to many parts of France and enjoyed them all;
Had a wind mill near on the bay near Cancale. Very windy.
Owned a house in charante near Cognac and moved on from that.
Sold our restaurant and bought this property after looking for years
and thinking about the next stop in our lives. Although we should have been
slowing right down we remembered the dream of having a lovely garden and
entertaining guests in a beautiful home. But the region had to be desirable to
in order to entice guests to travel.
We chose our property based on this impregnated dream and we went for it!
It has taken some time to realise that by following our hearts we have found our way.
We have made lots of new friends and said a silent good bye to others and we have worked our
way through the paper work of France.
Next year is going to be very interesting.
Just not sure of much except that we will be working hard and meeting lots of people.
This region never fails ! Every time we go for a drive we discover something new.
Although you can’t let your disease govern where you choose to live (I have RA too), you might want to look up where there are rheumatologists in that broad area http://annuairesante.ameli.fr You may be lucky and it will be an area that is well served, but some places are distinctly not! The ameli annuaire isn’t totally comprehensive, so look at town directories too.
And if you are on biologics, this is a médecine d’exception here so can only be prescribed initially by a hospital based rheumatologist. And waiting lists can be very long - I had to wait 7 months for first appointment here.
At the time of our decision to buy a home in France, our daughter lived and worked on the Island of Sardinia and our son lived in Dorset, so we decided it would be best if we moved somewhere halfway between them so out came the slide rule and about halfway was a French town called Agen.
We booked a gite for two weeks and got on the Eurostar train in London then onto a TGV from Paris to Agen, never ever having been to this part of France before.
Fell in love with the area to the north of Agen and we brought our first house in Tournon-d Agenais, that was back in 2002 and we are now living in our third French house but still in the same area.
Suppose luck played a big part in doing this otherwise we would probably never have found this area.
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I had not even thought of that, but yes I have the joy of injections each week. I can not imagine 7 months without having been on them for 8 years now. I will look at the site you suggest.
We have travelled extensively through France and really like the Charente, a bit of classic car stuff going on, not too far from the coast which I love in winter. I can not bear the crowds in summer. I am sure there are be its about, I mean we do get every where but the villages seem to have fewer than the Dordogne. We don’t plan on being anti social to our fellow countrymen but would like to integrate as much as possible with our neighbours. I enjoy the smaĺl villages which are not quite as “done” as some areas, if that makes sense.
In Saint Claud it’s quite possible that your neighbours will be British. 
I also noted in passing that one of the town centre restaurants advertised that English was spoken.
Not an issue for us, as no English at all for miles and I think only 300 or so in whole department… if you’d like to know more about dealing with RA in France send me a message as its a boring subject for those who don’t have it.
Sorry to hijack the thread but I, too, have RA and have been on Enbrel for many years. Is there any problem with getting this type of medication in France - and having it covered by insurance as I don’t think a $2,700.00 USD monthly payment would fit in our budget.
Thanks!
I’m on Enbrel, plus MTX and a multitude of other drugs and it costs me about 4euros a month… diseases like RA are classed as affections longe durée (ALD) so your costs are covered 100% once you are in the health system. So if you are french resident, and join the health system, and find a hospital based rheumatologist to provide the prescription then no problem at all.
If you are covered by some type of insurance rather than being in the french health system then I really don’t know - sorry! I guess it depends what you mean by insurance, as some I know won’t cover chronic or pre-existing conditions. All I do know is that the Enbrel itself costs 760 euros a month, so whoever’s providing it for you in the US is paying or charging over the odds!
Thank you so much, Jane Jones! I will investigate further.
My wife, Florence, is French and her parents own their house in Carmaux in the Tarn (81).
As they are looking to move into a retirement complex, and Flo and I are wanting to buy our home in France, it made sense to buy her parents house.
Carmaux is a small town between Albi and Rodez. Not your normal French tourist town but I have come to know it quite well over the 12 years Flo and I have been married. It is pleasant enough, within easy travelling distance of the Pyrenees, and the airport at Toulouse is not far away. I know of a few Brits who live close by to the town (one being Andrew of this parish - and I have visited his tobacconist shop on a few occasions!) but there are none that I know of very close by - but that is of concern to me. Flo’s brother lives not too far away, in St, Sulpice, and her son lives near Aix en Provence. I have no children of my own so the move, for me, will be an easy one!
Cant wait to be honest…
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It’s really good to know that RA is covered so comprehensively in France. I understand that it takes a while to get registered though. My consultant would probably organize a few months worth to tide me over until I was in the system.
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Apart from lack of rheum specialists the care here has been great, including physio and podiatrist. But on moving over you have to be super-organised. Generally the NHS will only give you 3 months supply of drugs, and you can only start the registration for french health service once you have been living here 3 months…so you will need to organise getting prescriptions quite quickly (cost is not an issue as once your registration to health service is acknowledged you will get costs paid back eventually). And remember to get your full medical notes before you leave.
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Jane… I think I am correct in saying that folk have to have a Health Insurance Policy in place before they make an application to join the French system… ???
Or has that changed now…???
That’s the theory…I was never asked. Which was lucky as we hadn’t bothered. I think in many cases it’s accepted that in your first 3 months here you are still quasi UK resident, so are still covered by your UK EHIC, so they don’t ask. And I was on CPAM’s doorstep at 3 months plus 1 day.
We had health insurance in place but were never asked either. I’ve always thought it was a requirement…it’s a bit confusing really as most of us, if asked, would recommend new arrivals to take out a policy.
Funnily enough… for the 3 people that I took to CPAM… they all were asked and all told that they MUST have it…
But that was a few years ago… hence my query today… I would not want the lack of a policy to block an application…
Hi Jane
When we looked in France for a property back in April 2018, the agent said the house we liked was in St Claud and on visiting we instantly liked the friendliness of this little town. However, the actual property For viewing was about 6kms away and very rural. We fell in love with it and move in October, it’s very close to Les Paradis. I understand that there are a few English speaking GP and one British lady GP close by which may help with your health issue if your French is rusty. Confolens has a very nice hospital, had experience of it on a trip in June but language was an issue as my French is VERY limited. I hear good things about Hospitals in Angouleme. I hope you find what you want property wise and best wishes on your health.
It really does sound like 3 months and 1 day is definitely the way to go. I am far too attached to my drugs to imagine being without now.
Thank you Elle,
St Laurent de Ceris is one of the small villages we are visiting in September. When we were in Saint Claud before we thought it was very friendly, one of the reasons we are looking nearby. The other reason is totally irrational and not to be emulated when making decisions on where to live but we saw the best sunset of our 50 odd years there, so much so that we pulled over and sat on the car roof just sky watching for absolutely ages. It has stuck in our heads for years now.
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