I live not too far from you and agree with what you say. I travel over to the coast regularly but have never seen an area west of the N10 that compares to the place I live.
I think you made a mistake when describing your location, you rented a cottage in the Charente by accident both that department and Charente Maritime are (were) in the Poitou-Charentes region.
thanks Elle. I think you make a great point about sensible planning assumptions versus actual reality.
what looks good on paper rarely ends up as the outcome 
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We were in the Minervois between Beziers and Narbonne in the early noughties but in 2008 we moved up to Brittany for personal reasons, because I have a friend of 40 plus years standing living here and to be able to afford some land which is rather more expensive in the Languedoc.
My wife misses the heat and the vineyards on occasion but in general we are very happy living in the Morbihan.
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We did the classic, went camping holiday to the Chartreuse fell in love with the region and eventually bought an old farm with the same view as from the campsite 
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-Rent first to make up your minds is a pretty good idea,
-Your budget is fine but of course, prices vary in France…here you go 2 links where you can check prices of m2 by city/region or department:
I live in department no.38-Isére (Region Rhone-Alpes) very close to Grenoble.
It is a highly industrialised region and Grenoble is the second research centre in France after Paris.
Every year, during summer, is +30 degrees, plenty of lakes, and of course mountains:)
in April is already 27 degrees, lots of sunny days ((I have bananas trees in my garden!)
Winters are snowy but dry, which I found as a big big plus.
We moved to Isére because we found work, but we rented an apt for a year just to be sure we really want to live here.
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We started by identifying the region. We had holidayed in many parts; loved Normandie and the Loire especially. “Not too hot” was the main criterion! We decided on the Val de la Loire, South of the river. Then it was a case of deciding whether it was countryside, hamlet, village or town, and looking from there on.
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Hi everyone, I am brand new on the forum and have been very impressed by the huge span of topics discussed. We make our first house hunting trip to the Charente in September and are very excited.
The only thing is lots of friends are doing head shaking and saying “Oh you need to wait till you see what happens after Brexit” etc . Any thoughts?
Thanks Jane
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There might be more than one obvious answer to your question. If I was buying a home in France I would be rushing it through so it was bought, signed off and occupied as soon as possible. If I was looking to buy a holiday house I would probably wait to see what exactly the future holds.
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Hi Jane
If its for a permanent house - the sooner the better, me thinks!!
We decided last October that we wanted a different pace of life away from British Corporate rat run and France fits that bill. In April we found a House near Ventouse, Charente, another trip in June confirmed it was right for us. We sell up two homes in South East England move over to our new home in mid October and we can’t wait. Good luck with whichever route you follow.
Hi Jane - tell me more about your house hunting trip. Have you narrowed down specific towns - driving or flying, hotels or renting a house? 
The area we are looking in is kind of around St Claud. We have a house near Newcastle upon Tyne which we are selling, we want to be able to fly to Limoges which most of out family can fly in to. Everyone is a bit scattered.
This is to be a permanent home rather than a holiday home. We want about an acre but not more as I have rheumatoid arthritis and I know my own limitations! A warmer climate is the main reason for our move, my french is a bit rusty but ok when I get going again.
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If that’s St Claud in 16 I drove through there earlier today. It was certainly warm!
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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!