James

Hello, In our cottage near Villedieu we bought ready made Gavray matt windows in hardwood and double glazed. We had to pack some of them out as all five windows all varied in size. They even have packing out wood to match. It took some going through to sort them out to suit our size but am very happy with them. We also bought the petit bois glazing beads to match the existing style. I fitted them then I stained them in the lazure chene moyen exterior micropourus wood stain available at Bricomarche. Cost was about 1000 euros including nice pewter twist handles. They do UPVC windows and also sell doors. Stairs etc. They have several stores but ours were bought at Gavray. James.

Hello, If I was you I would personally buy in France as the cost of transporting the items to France you could buy a new kitchen in France. We have a holiday cottage about an hour and a half from Cherbourg. We spent six months renovating and bought the kitchen with us from the UK. We bought 1, 600 oven housing unit, 1, 600mm pan drawer, 1, 500mm base unit, 1, 600mm base and 1, 1000mm base. Wall cupboards. 1, 600mm wall 1, 500mm wall and 1, 300mm wall. I think I have thought of them all. They were in pine. Named Arran. We bought a built in electric oven an hob and standard extractor for about £100.00 in the UK and so as it was a bargain we had it. It was in brown. The kitchen units and cooker we bought at Focus. The sink we bought in France as they are smaller than UK ones. We also bought 2 3metre lenghts of 40mm granite effect worktops with us too. We bought a trailer in the UK and so filled that up with all of the kitchen units and cooker etc as well as some bedside cabinets. The worktops went on the roofrack on my volvo 740 estate. In total we paid £750.00 including cooker. It was a 50% off sale in Focus at the time. Hope you find your perfect kitchen. All the best James.

Hello, If it is illegal, I will just pull out fuse number 25 to disable them. Whats illegal about having the day running lights on considering they are double filament bulbs? The rear lights are the same brightness with the lights on, even with headlights on or not. Or is it that the headlights have got to be on? In which case it would be on dipped beam as the main headlights have only got dip beam or main beam. Thanks James.

Hello, I only see volvos with side lights on. I have got a 1986 740GLE estate that has day running lights as standard and always on when you are driving the car. I think they are a great idea and would never think of pulling out the fuse to disable them as the previous owner had. I had to fit about 3 bulbs since in about 20 months but they are very easy to fit and cheap. It even has a bulb out warning system to say my light bulb has blown. I also like it when you have the headlights on and if you dont switch them off they go off when you turn the ignition off, so no flat batteries. I drove it around normandy for six months and did 5,000 miles while renovating our cottage near Villedieu. We will be moving to France soon and I will re-register my volvo if possible as well as buy a French left hand drive in France James.

Hello, What I do like about the subaru is looking at it it just looks like an ordinary small estate car in the city etc, the only give away is the 4WD badge on the tailgate. I also prefer the optional 4WD rather than the permanent 4WD as on newer models as the HI-low ratio on the older models is far superior to the AWD ones. I would certainly have one in Normandy but I would be very surprised if there was any subaru dealers. To the person with the AWD car that can go 160 miles an hour is it a volvo V70 XC XC = CROSS COUNTRY? James.

Hello, We lived in the Midlands and moved to a remote cottage near Aymestry Herefordshire that had a 1 mile off road track up to it. The cottage had no water, electricity or drainage when we bought it. We had a bore hole for water and had the mains electricity installed for £7,000 pounds in 1990. We had to get a four wheel drive and my Grandmother tried out a very old Land rover and also tested out a Jeep cherokee and found them too big and cumbersome. In the end we saw a 4WD subaru pick up truck for about £250.00 and found it truly excellent. We also bought a mark 1 subaru 1600 estate and that was unstoppable in the mud also. I was at school at the time and the school children used to call our mark 1 subaru the mean machine as it was fudge coloured and had front rally foglights and the exhaust always used to growl as the exhaust scraped the track. It also had real rally tyres on it, and was always covered in mud. The track used to scrape the bottom of the car as the ruts were so deep. If you used to get stuck you couldnt open the door as the mud had formed a wall at the side so you had to climb out the window. The holiday cottage next doors owners used to come up in an old land rover and one day we met them half way along the track and the gentleman he was, reversed to a part passing place and we thanked him and drove on. About 15 minutes later he turned up at our house as white as a sheet and shaking and said after we had gone he pulled away and his land rover had slid 25 feet down the common embankment and wedged it against a tree. It was lucky the tree was there as he would of gone 200 feet down a steep embankment. We used the mark one subaru to pull out the land rover. The subaru was spinning all four wheels but still pulled it out. We pulled it out diagonally to the track. No damage done. He thought he would need a crane to lift it out and was absolutely amazed that the subaru pulled his car out. He looked at our subaru in a different light and not long after sold up. The mark 2 subaru that we also had, had a hi and low ratio 4WD and I think is far superior than the AWD subaru as you can revert them to front wheel drive. Mud and snow tyres were essential. While the builders were coming they either used our mark 1 subaru to come up or used a 4WD dumper truck to bring building materials up. We had a temporary generator for a year while the wayleaves were sorted on the mains electric. It took a year to sort out as it had to go over 2 fields through a wood and be buried underground through an orchard. It was winter and we had to bring up a very heavy lister generator on a trailer and it took 3 four wheel drive vehicles to bring it up the 1 in 4 hill. The subaru pickup lead then it was chained to a toyota hilux? and then a land rover and then finally the trailer with generator. It took all day but it got up there. The toyota was wheelspinning as it had road tyres on it. The bore hole man had a range rover voque and we said dont bring it up but he was determined and got a call to say he had wedged and scraped all the running boards and shredded 2 of his new BF goodridge tyres. He was about to sell it and he said he did about 2 grands worth of damage. The builder also broke his thumb with the steering wheel spinning in his hands when the car dropped into a rut. We moved from the cottage after 3 years. We now have an old 1986 volvo 740 estate and will be taking that with us to Normandy and maybee re register it if possible, and also buy a left hand drive French car. I would highly reccomend a subaru, if you need a 4WD. James.

Hello, Yes, the same applies to raw linseed oil and more than likely linseed oil. Always wise to read the warnings/instructions on the reverse. Keep it safe James.

Hello, We will be getting the villager AL stove as we dont want to cook on it only use it for heating. With regard to your stove back boiler, I think you said it was an A range flat top stove for cooking and heating. If this is the case then your back boiler is only 2.9 Kw or 10,000Btu's and would not heat 3 radiators unless they were only very small. A 10,000Btu boiler is only meant for heating a hot water cylinder as in the uk or to heat 1 average sized radiator. Regards James.

Hello Jsey, Yes I had thought about building an attached outbuilding but thought it only added a lot more hassle with having to use frost protection on the boiler. Ie for the boiler to fire up when it got down to 5 degress when we didnt have the heating on at night to stop the boiler from freezing up. Insulating the outbuilding as well and also wiring up an internal programmer in the house to turn the heating on so as not to have to go outside when you want to turn it on. A LPG balanced flued wall mounted boiler would be Ok but we have heard many people on living France say that they are expensive to run heating from. I also dont want to be in a rental contract for the gas tank. What we are going to do is see how we get on with the villager stove. There is a company in the UK that does wall mounted balanced flued oil boilers,I cant think of their name off hand. Just out of interest does any French manufacturer do any oil boiler thats wall mounted? Because that would save valuable floor space and might be another option if needed. I would buy in France if we find the villager isnt enough. Many thanks James.

Thanks very much, Will, for the info regarding tablets. This has put my relatives mind at ease, and yes, it does say Coversyl on the packet. Brilliant. Regards James.

Thanks for your post Mikey. Nice to hear that it will be warm with just the stove. We were thinking about installing central heating as my grandparents feel the cold terribly and come from a gas centrally heated house that is on most of the time during the winter. We will be just south of Villedieu. Regards James.

Hello Mikey, I realize that the stove may well be expensive to run but the problem with our very small cottage is a place to fit the oil fired boiler. Our cottage is 18Ft square downstairs and the same upstairs. The oil boiler would have to go in the open plan living room/kitchen and the cheap oil boilers that I have seen are a bright red so wouldnt look very nice on view. Even if they do balanced flued boilers we would still have the same problem for space. So we thought about installing a villager in the fireplace and saving valuable floor space. We even thought about installing a oil boiler in a cupboard with the neccasary ventilation. Our cottage is very well insulated and would require 4 radiators, with total output of about 22,000Btu's. We will be fitting a single panel radiator in the living room as well to counteract the heat going to the back boiler. I used to install gas central heating but gave up corgi membership. We may just see how warm the place is without radiators. Regards James.

We are moving over shortly into the Villedieu area and someone in the family has a heart condition and is prescribed PERINDOPRIL. Does anybody know if these tablets are prescribed in Normandy? Many thanks James.

Hello, We had a villager stove when they came out. We first had one in 1991 and found it excellent. We liked the sloping canopy and the curves. We moved from the stone cottage after 3 years to another house. We are still in contact with the new owners to this day and after awhile they fitted their own woodburner as their parents own a well known stove company. They said the villager is still in use to this day and looks great in their friends fireplace. We have a cottage in Normandy and are planning to move over and take a villager over with us. We like the option of a solid fuel grate to burn coal and also the option of adding a 30,000Btu clip in back boiler, which will run the radiators. As you know they are 14-16Kw and look really countryfied with the double opening doors and shaped canopy. Also like the flue damper/ general design. We decided not to have the factory fitted boiler as it may burn out after many years. With the clip in boiler we can replace it and have a stove for even longer. Regards James.

Hello, When soldering I cut the pipe with a pipe cutter then clean the pipe thoroughly with wire wool until nice and shiny then flux the fitting and make sure the pipe is inserted into the fitting all the way as some french 14mm elbow fittings have been faulty and are too tight for the pipe to fit into properly. Then I heat the pipe up using the blowtorch tip about 4-7 inches away from the pipe and after a bit I test if the joint is hot enough by applying the solder and if hot enough you will see the solder run around the fitting called capillary action. (If not hot enough continue heating) I then use enough solder so that it drips off the fitting, then I give it a very light brush with the wire wool to get rid of exccess solder. Let the joint cool down then clean the joint to remove all of the dirt and flux residue. If a joint dosen't seem to want to solder try fluxing it again while heating the joint and try soldering it again. If that does not work remake the joint. James