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Living in the Charente?...

Or do you have a second home in the Charente?...
.... Or maybe you just like this part of France?...

This is what inspired this site and launched the Home in the Charente service.

But what started as a website to offer information and advice...

Living in the Charente
... has turned into a full-time service!


What can we do to help you?
Do you need someone to do the legwork (and the phoning around) for your property search?

Do you want to find houses that estate agents don't have?

Or maybe you need a fluent French speaker to negotiate on your behalf?

Or perhaps you are looking for someone to take care of your home when you can't be here?

Were you answering 'yes!' to any of the above?
If so this site has been written with you in mind.

If you're just starting out, there are helpful hints and tips as well
as in-depth advice on living in the Charente.
If you have recently moved and need help or guidance, there are
plenty of services to call upon.

If you have been chewing over any problem and can't seem to find the solution, then let us know. If it's about living in the South Charente, chances are we can help!

(You will be in good company, too, as any of these people will tell you.)


For the fifth year running, France takes first in International Living Magazine's annual Quality of Life Index. No surprise. Its tiresome bureaucracy and taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world's best health care.

Every year, they rank and rate 194 countries to come up with a list of the places that offer you the best quality of life. This isn't about best value, necessarily. It's about the places in the world where the living is, simply put, great.

To produce this annual Index they consider nine categories: Cost of Living; Culture and Leisure; Economy; Environment; Freedom; Health; Infrastructure; Safety and Risk; and Climate. This involves a lot of number crunching from "official" sources, including government websites, the World Health Organization, and The Economist, to name but a few.


During the years that we have lived here, we have lost count of the number of times people have asked us where they can find: books on the Charente; maps of the Charente; information on restoring property in France; wine coolers; wine racks; bird feeders; and so on.

So, to try to help, we decided to find a way of bringing these sorts of things to you. With help from the good people at Amazon, you can now browse through the Home in the Charente Store. We have stocked the Store with all sorts of items that we have either been asked for or we thought were interesting. If you are looking for something in particuar that you cannot find, please do drop us a line.


This site is independent of any property or travel companies and is here simply to help with your move to the South Charente and integration into the Charentaise way of life.  Access to the site and the advice is completely free and we welcome enquiries and feedback.

Each page covers a wide range of topics to help with looking for your property in France and when you have found your dream home there is advice on moving to France and living in the Charente.

Living in the Charente

Site Guide:
Finding a property - with or without estate agents
        Moving - from your first trip over, to waving off the removal van, including:
        Travel - how to get here and what to bring and lots more
       

Moving with animals - and the documentation you will need to bring
        Accommodation - while you look around
        Buying a house - who does what and things to look out for
        Removals - self-drive van or bring in the professionals?

Improving - dedicated to moving your project forward, helping with:
        Shopping around - where to find what you need
        Regulations - ...legally!
        DIY dictionary - a useful list of DIY words & phrases

Living in Charente - all about the area and the services available:
        History of the sud-Charente - some useful snippets
        Out & about - a what's on and where to go guide
        Shopping - basics, bargains and baubles
                       including a guide to French Clothing Sizes
        Schools - finding your way round the education system
        Cars - registering, trading-in, buying what you want
        Marriage - what to do if you want to tie le knot
        Retirement - drawing your pension and making life easy
        Hospitals and health care - a look into the French health service
        Language - cracking those conjugations...
        Weather - with links to keep you up to date with the latest                forecasts...
       

Working - how to earn a living in the Charente
        Taxes - a look at Local taxes and the TV Licence
        Running a Business - what to do and where to find help doing it
        Running gites and chambre d'hotes -some helpful hints and resources