The National Health service in France is based on a pay-as-you-are-treated regime with reimbursement of some or all fees according to various circumstances: For instance a Doctor’s visit will be reimbursed to 70% of the cost (if the cost is what the Government tariff sets) and you can get the other 30% reimbursed if you […]
If you are a foreigner in France and have private health care or home state cover for your emergency health care such as the UK scheme European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) these are the things you need to know about hospitals in France. Hospitals in France are clearly signposted in towns but can be few […]
Doctor’s surgeries/offices in France are privately established and doctors work as individuals or as part of a group. Depending on what healthcare insurance you have in France will affect how much treatment will cost since you pay first and are reimbursed according to your insurance. To ensure that you get the fullest reimbursement for […]
An email popped into my in box from my publishers the other day “You’re going to America”… Well they didn’t mean me exactly, they meant my book is being published in print (it’s already available as an ebook), but I can tell you I am no less excited about it. When I went on a […]
Hope your week was good and you’re having better weekend weather than me! We’ve had rain and thunder and lightning this week and it’s not feeling much like summer I can tell you. But, the garden is full of jewel like colours – and all the beautiful flowers and leaves are just too tempting to […]
Chez moi, we’re about to hit renovation mode and move on with a job that I’ve been longing to do – shutters! When we bought this old farm house it had rattling old windows which whilst pretty, did nothing to keep the cold wind out in the winter. They had to be replaced – all […]
I’ve been looking at houses in France, I can’t help it! I love my little farmhouse but, there are so many gorgeous properties on the market to tempt me. And some of you too it seems! I’ve had lots of emails from people asking for help not quite knowing where to start looking in their […]
This week I found a duckling that had been abandoned, it was prematurely born with hardly any feathers and couldn’t walk as it had very weak legs. You know what a sucker I am for an animal so I took it home and held it for hours, I didn’t think it would make it but […]
I learned a new French expression recently: Tenir le haut du pavé. It means to succeed in life but its literal translation is to walk on the high side of the pavement. What’s that all about I thought to myself. Well the saying dates back to the middle ages. In French towns, waste water (and […]
Gaspard de Besse robbed from the rich (who detested him) and gave to the poor (who adored him). Often compared to the British Robin Hood but whilst the latter’s roots are shrouded in mystery, there’s no doubt about the identity of the famous French outlaw. Gaspard de Besse Gaspard Bouis, later known as Gaspard de […]
When Linda Chamberlin from the UK met up with someone she met on a school exchange trip 22 years on, she little knew how much it would change her life. Living the good life in Nontron Linda Chamberlin left her home in a small fishing village in Cornwall, England, to move to France in 2010 […]