tonyinfrance

Thanks Gardian - I'll drop you a line......

Hello We are making our usual journey to Carpentras at the end of May but this time we are taking goddaughter number 9 with us for a couple of weeks.  She's 17 and very keen on horses - can anyone point me at horseriding facilities (or somewhere she can just look at horses) anywhere in the area? Thanks

Never-ending legislation and increasing costs of employment must make the restaurant trade a tough one to be in.  Even now most of our favourites are family run (which means a degree of patience is required since there's usually only one person working the dining room) but I suspect the old ways of home-reared chickens and pigs etc. for the table have largely disappeared.

Where did all Les Routiers go?  Used to be everywhere (or so it seemed) but now we struggle to find one....

Hi - we'll be house-hunting in the Ambrieres/Lassay area from next Saturday for a few days: can anyone recommend a gite or something similar within a half hour or so? Thanks Tony & Sue PS: we are the world's best guests!

Back in the 1980s I had a business meeting one winter in Geneva so I thought the drive would be nice.  I'd spent years driving throughout Europe but in my foolishness I hadn't given enough thought to the mountain passes - one night in the dark and cold I had to put on unfamiliar snow chains which I'd borrowed from our fleet manager - they were chunky steel things, difficult to fit and they were too big!  Got down the hill allright but I stripped out my rear inner wheel arches!  That was a wake-up call and no mistake.....

Hello - we're planning to come over this weekend to look at properties in the Gorron area:  can anyone recommend a hotel or gite locally?  We stayed in (I think) the IBIS in Mayenne last time but I wondered if there was anything a bit to the north.... Thanks  

Thanks Chris - fair point. Cooperlola - thanks for the Notaires link - very interesting and I'll look at it some more over the weekend.  BTW, no we're not into farming ouselves but we do like to see lots of cows!

Oh dear!  We'd rather avoid a preponderence of English people - I suppose we should have realised there might be a heightened rosbif  presence when we passed The Red Lion pub in a village not far from Gorron.  This being the case can anyone recommend an area which is not overly anglicised?

Guys - many thanks for your comments.  On our last trip to this area in May we focussed on the region around Gorron - seemed quite tranquil which is just what we want.  We looked at several properties through Gorron Immobilier and liked their service:  are there any recommendations for other agents in this part of the world? We'll also widen our search to look at some of the towns mentioned by Cooperlola above.  Meantime any hints and tips on purchasing in this region will be gratefully received. Thanks again Tony

I know there are lots of forum members in the region and your advice will be much appreciated. We've been looking for a house in the vicinity of La Fleche (about an hour south of Le Mans) as we know the area well but we haven't found the house we want (at least, not at the right price).  In May we looked around the Mayenne/Orne region and saw some good houses at significantly lower prices.  Now the question - is the weather much different here than in Sarthe?  We certainly saw much more dairy farming - which is our preference - but this often indicates more rain..... Thanks in advance for your thoughts Tony

Hi Pierre - I guess people do move but they seem to be in place longer in France than people in England.  Sue and I used to drive over to Hanover frequently on business in the 1980s and got in the habit of stopping for lunch in a tiny place called Rozoy at a no-star hotel and restaurant.  This was in the days of a good 2 course meal with a pichet of local wine for a fiver!  Oh happy days!  Anyway, after several years the owners disappeared and the place was never the same again....C'est la vie.

Guys - many thanks for the advice.  I have looked at Leboncoin and The Notaire sites and found them very helpful.  Also interested in your thoughts that the area north of Le Mans is just as attractive as the area to the south........we found a typical village restaurant in Les Clefs between La Fleche and Baugé some years ago and we've got to know the family so that's had some bearing on our first ideas about location. We're due in Mayenne / Gorron towards the end of next month to start the search in earnest...... Thanks again

Hi - after 20 years I've finally managed to persuade my wife we should have a house in France.  Our budget is in the region of Euros110k but there seems to be very little in this price range in our favourite area south of La Fleche.  Any thoughts? Meantime we've started a search about 45 minutes north in the Mayenne / Gorron region which looks much more active in our price range.  If anyone has suggestions re good agencies to talk with we'd be glad to hear. Thanks