Grimaud dreamer

Does anyone know of a mobile home (or more than 1!!) for sale within an hours drive of Port Grimaud on the Cote D'Azur?  The newer the better, and it will preferably already be sited. Many thanks

I am looking for a mobile home along the Cote D'Azur, no more than an hour from Port Grimaud and inland within an hour's drive of the coast. If anyone has a sited mobile home for sale, or knows of one, I would be grateful if you would get in touch.  The newer the better. Thank you

Thanks for this Peter.  I have had a look at your photos - lovely, some very interesting shots.

Hi Cendrillon Thank you so much for this information.  I had heard about the storms but didn't realise that the businesses had been hit so badly as not to be reinstated.  

Does anyone know of any mobile home rental businesses for sale preferably along the Cote D'Azur or Charente Maritime?

Thank you for this information Peter.  I have had a look at their website and have sent an email to them. Although I worked at the other side of St Tropez for seveal years I was unaware of the campsites at the Bormes les Mimosas side.  It is quite difficult to find out just by using the internet. Thanks again Jane

My husband and I are planning a move to France in the next couple of years, and as I have a background in travel and tourism and experience in the mobile home holiday business in France, we would like to purchase an existing mobile home operation on a site in France, however I have been unable to find out how/where I can find any such businesses which may be available.  Would anyone have any insider knowledge on businesses they know are for sale, or if anyone has such a business and is thinking of retiring in the next couple of years I would love to hear from you.

Thank you Sprogster, I will look again at that option (to rent before buying) if we do decide to go. I will keep you posted!

Hello Sprogster I think I have mentioned in a previous post that the USA, Canada or Austalia, do not interest me, are too far away from UK for return visits and I feel too much of a European - I would hate the USA, fabulous though it may be, and I am not sure it would be any easier to establish a successful business/career there either - nowhere is easy - not even in UK. Also, thanks Cendrillon for your comments about keeping my feet firmly on the ground and renting prior to buying.  This is an option we have considered but have ulitmately dismissed for various reasons.  I am a person who has her feet very firmly rooted in the terra ferma.  I know certain areas of France very well, have friends there and have no intention of uprooting permananty unless I am convinced that I am doing the right thing.  I am definately not peering through rose tinted specs. I would prefer to buy an established business in a sector I know, I also have work I do from home that could continue wherever we choose to live.  I, as much as anyone, appreciate the difficulties associated with the language barrier.  As for my son's opportunities once he leaves school - who knows what the next 15-20 years will bring either in the UK or in France.  Surely some young people manage to find work don't they???  Isn't Sarkozy reforming the employment laws?  Even France with its famous resistance to change must have to move on a bit.  The UK isn't that brilliant for young people trying to find work... The jury is still out anyway, I am still undecided so it may never happen for this family.  

There you go again Sprogster with your downbeat, negative viewpoint.  If you look at the article you can see they assessed over 100 countries and applied the same criteria to them all, of those surveyed on things from economy to climate amonst others, France came out top. As someone once said, you can prove anything with statistics and should the magazine have had an ulterior motive to make France top as opposed to somewhere else, no doubt they could have done so.  Most surveys you will find, are not conducted for altruistic reasons, but for commercial reasons.  This is the world we live in and as intelligent human beings we can make up our own mind how much to believe or disbelieve. Happy days  

Hello, I haven't been to the forum for a while, however am intrigued that my thread is still ongoing. It will be the first time my husband will have lived abroad, but as I said in earlier postings I have lived and worked in Alpes Maritimes and the Var, and also briefly in Italy.  I am still dithering although am now thinking that the things I am worried about pale into insignificance compared to the ones I worry about in the UK!!  That and France once again being voted top place in the world to live may well sway things France-wise.

how right you are Russet house - over and out

Yahoo with bells on. Moaning just don't do it for me....it just don't make me laugh at all. Write your book, then you can give up the good ole gites for good eh? I don;t quite know what point I was missing - you fair spelt it out

Hi Dave I think what you need is one of those ways of making a living that doesn't actually involve working, and certainly not one involving people.  I really do think you have gone into the wrong business. And why I wonder would you be so upset that your guests hadn't reported that the knackered old chair you had left in their property had collapsed?  From your own admission it needed replacing so why would you expect your paying guests to put up with it, and not only that but to pay to replace it?? Unless you are very lucky (unlucky in your case) your gites won't even be occupied for half the year, so presumably all those things you want to do can be done when you have earned your money from your poor unsuspecting guests.  Look on the bright side.  You could have to work 14 hour days in a coalmine, and those people can't go off and play either during their working hours.  

ChezShells I do clean the shower before I leave, providing I had found it in a clean condition when I arrived.  I wouldn't feel obligated to clean the place for the owner if they couldn't be bothered to clean it for me.

Thank you all for your responses.  Not sure what social taxes are though could someone enlighten me?

The Charente and Vendee are unknown quantities to me, so better the Devil you know!

Yes it is great fun looking.  As I mentioned in earlier postings, we would possibly look for a plot of land - some great ones available at the moment but time not right for us - in order that we can build a house in a decent-ish location and possibly get something bigger than we would if we bought a house.  I am not averse to a village house and they are within budget, or even a modern house on a domain, again in budget.  If we were to move to the Vendee as suggested by another postee, we could get so much more and get my dream home, but I am not sure it would be right for all the other reasons, so the house is where we may have to compromise.  Grimaud, as I have previously acknowledged, is perhaps out of reach for what we want, although again a village house could be possible....it all depends on what compromises we want to make. 

Owens88 No, we weren't a massive party - there were 3 of us.  Two adults (one bed) and one child (one bed)!!!  All the other villas I looked at included linen and pool towels.  I would expect linen to be included to be honest in a villa rental, but I have never rented a gite so unsure of the protocol!  I can understand the reasons for the charges as it must stack up to quite a lot both in terms of time and money to launder them.

Owens88 Your photos are just what I envisage as good website photography -  you show the accommodation but also give a bit of 'atmosphere' with shots of lifestyley type images....and they are good images. The colours are good, they are clear and they are in focus...fab!!  I am sure you win out over gite webstites with inferior images when people come to make bookings.

I have never been to the Vendee but believe it is beautiful - I once saw 'A Place in the Sun' that featured Ile de Re and I must say it looked fabulous.  The roads on the Cote D'Azur are absolutely horrendous in the summer months I agree, but I have to look at it from a business perpsective and see it that these people will hopefully be my bread and butter so it is a necessary evil really, to have to put up with it.  The Var is my region of choice because I love it and it is where I know, and I already have social and other contacts there.  It also provides all the infrastructure I want.  I know it is horrendously expensive and it may prove that we won't be able to go there, but you know you don't have to be a millioanire to live there - my friends there are ordinary people, making a living and enjoying the lifestyle. Although I am focusing on that region I am also considering Alpes Maritimes and have also looked at the Italian Riviera - I like the sun!  If it were just myself and my husband, we would go anywhere, give it a try, move on if we weren't happy, but my son is my main priority so it has to be right - I don't particuarly want to move again once we make the move to France.

I keep reading about how expensive France is to work it - ie the taxes etc.  I am out of touch with things in this area and wonder if anyone could enlighten me?? for instance what is the basic rate of income tax? how much can you earn before a higher rate kicks in? any other information would be more than welcome.

If I were looking for a gite to rent I would be particularly drawn to one which offered towels included in the price.  If coming from the UK and flying a budget airline, especially Ryanair who have a 15kg limit to luggage with no pooling amongst party members allowed, the luggage restrictions don't really allow room for towels and linen.  Whilst I would expect linen to be included I would usually expect to pay for towels apart from perhaps pool towels.  One villa I had decided to rent then told me there was a £100 (UK based owner) charge for linen hire.  It was a deal breaker!  However other Europeans or Brits who drive, may feel differently.

Montcigoux thank you so much for taking the time to write such a comprehensive posting.  It is positive and gives a balance to some of the other earlier postings which were starting to scare me a little.  I have no experience of the French education system really, so very good to hear that you actually thought it was better than the UK, and that I won't lose touch with my precious boy!!

Hello AnOther It wasn't meant to be a serious remark - more tongue in cheek than anything and just responding to Fi's experiences.  I understood what she was saying as if you have experience of different nationalities and the way they leave rental properties the Brits don't always come out top...but it is a generalisation, some are great.  Lets not get too heavy about it eh?