JJ

Steve, Once again, many thanks for that. I may just send you a PM when your system is up and running. Cheers.

Teamed Up Yes the swimming is mine, but there is a clue in my website www.gites.gb.com The primary reason I have a pool is for my gite business, which is forms part of my income. and before you ask, no I did not get any grants from Gites de France, it was all my own money. I very rarely get enough time to use my luxury pool! And this is not some fancy holiday home because I have too much money, (I wish) I actually live here. Rant over, my point was about government grants being offered as an incentive to people to use environmentally friendly energy, which at the end of the day might help us all. I use this forum a lot, but personally I do a bit peeved when one asks a simple question and you get derogatory or not very helpful replies. I know we all have a right to our own opinions, but come on guys, let's try and help each other, not slag each other off. Life is too short.

Ian and Steve, Many thanks for all the info. One question I forgot to ask was about financial grants in France, are they available? Many thanks.

We are considering installing a central heating system in our house. We have been looking at Geothermal Heating, has anyone out there got it already, and if so what do they think of it?Installation, running costs and general pros and cons would be helpful as all we have so far is the sales blurb. Any recomended installers/systems as well would be most helpful. We live in Dept 17 Charente Maritime. Many thanks in advance. JJ

We are considering installing a central heating system in our house. We have been looking at Geothermal Heating, has anyone out there got it already, and if so what do they think of it? Installation, running costs and general pros and cons would be helpful as all we have so far is the sales blurb. Any recomended installers/systems as well would be most helpful. We live in Dept 17 Charente Maritime. Many thanks in advance.

Ian, Many thanks for the ideas, we have an accordian shop in Gemozac, they would be a good place to start. I will also check out the Mairie. Regards.

Gill, Many thanks,will give it a try.

Ian, Many thanks for your reply. Lots to think about. I have not yet tried the link. The sound of agility and obedience sounds good. My dog is a very energetic and agile Parson Russell terrier. Regards.

 Does anyone know of any dog training classes near to Gemozac Dept 17. French or even English (some hope). Many thanks.

Does anyone know of any dog training classes near to Gemozac Dept 17. French or even English (some hope). Many thanks.

We live nr Gemozac, Dept 17, and are looking for a Piano Teacher who can teach our 7 yr old daughter. French or English as she is competent in both. We would prefer it if the teacher was able to visit our home for the lessons. Many thanks.

Greetings, We live in the southern Charente Maritime 17 (Gemozac), we have a female Parson Russell Terrier from pedigree stock, and we are thinking of breeding from her. She has a wonderful temperenment, and so we would be looking for a suitable mate. He should also be a a Parson Russell, preferably with long legs and a good temperament. Ideally he would be short haired as our bitch is broken/rough coated, and we would like a mixed litter. At this stage we are are in the "considering it" stage, but if we could find the right dog may well be very interested. we are not proffessional dog breeders. All replies gratefully recieved.

The thread of this subject seems to be going off at several tangents. But as far as the original post I think it would be a good idea to have a new forum about Selling French Property. There was a survey I saw in the Telegraph some months ago which stated that just of 50% of Brits who start a new life abroad return to the UK after two years, this is not just from France mind you. In view of these statistics,there must be some merit in a forum for selling up, but with the obvious safeguards for "no advertising" one only has to pick up and read an article in FPN to see that almost every article is trying to sell something. As far as the quote "especially now everyone is getting out while they can!" well I have seen or heard no evidence of that.

As far as the riots are concerned I was a serving UK police officer in the 70's and 80's where we saw quite a lot of riots on the UK. Surprisingly a lot of the causes were the same as we see in France today, although our tactics were not so heavy handed the problems were not over in a few days. Racism is alive and well in all societies, perhaps we should not forget Mr Le Pen a couple of years ago, where I live 92% of the vote was for his right wing party.    

Michael, Firstly, many thanks for talking to Aquasensor. Having read the incredible, but not surprising reply from Aquasensor, there appears to be only one way forward. As you have already communicated with them, could you seek clarification from them on a personal basis and then post their reply to this forum. Of course , you may be one step ahead and have already taken this action. Cheers.

Hendo/Andrew, Sorry if I have confused the issue with my last post. Can you clarify that one cannot use an immersion alarm in conjunction with a summer cover? The bubble wrap type on a roller that a lots of us have. I know lots of people who do. So this is important. Many thanks  

We too have a 2005 Aquasensor, and yes to comply with the regulations the alarm must have the required depth of water 24/7, so emptying the water level to below the skimmers for winter is not an option, unless you have another approved security measure. I am personally shocked by the amount of other pool owners I know who also have Aquasaensor alarms who do not not bother to switch them on! I even heard of once case where they bought one, but it is still in the box. I also know of a few pools with no security whatsoever. I am slowly realising the the Aquasensor on its own is not enough, and that some form of cover or fencing is required in addition. I know that this subject has been talked about on many occassions, but security is a very important issue which quite a few seem to ignore.

Greetings, we are just about to take to let our gite out for a 3 month winter let, but our current terms and conditions do not seem to fit the bill. Has anyone got a draft contract for longer lets that they would not mind sharing with us, or could somebody point us in the right direction. Many thanks, all contributions gratefully recieved.

Greetings to you all. We live in a commune of 245 people near Gemozac, Charente Maritime, Dept 17. We cannot get ADSL at the moment, every time we contact France Telecom, they type in our number, and the compute says No, well "impossible" actually. We are unable to get any proposed dates either. We have asked at our Mairie, who do not seem interested. So Has anyone out there got any ideas on how we can go about speeding the process up. Many thanks.

Alan, Yes you can fit them yourself, one then posts of the fiche to the company for registration etc. With your pool size, one should be enough. Winter does present a problem with these alarms as to fully comply one must keep it on the the appropriate water level, there has been discussion about this dilemma on this forum before, but I cannot recall the exact posting concerned. POOLGUY aka Andrew is always very helpful on this subject. I totally agree with you re some installers, ours were and still are a nightmare, and they were recommended! Good luck.

The cheapest option as far as I know is the Aquasensor Premium, which retails for about 700 euros.  You pay extra for solar power and a remote alarm unit. The premium uses a normal 9 volt battery which has a life of 2 years according to the manufacturers. So the extra for solar seems not to be worth it. They are easy to fit, the testing and setting up should take less than an hour, but be warned depending on the size and shape of your pool, you may need tow alarms. As a general rule a 10m x 5m rectangular will need one alarm. Any reputable pool suppliers should be able to get one for you. there is a French website www.aquasensor.com We fitted this alarm earlier in the year and it has been fine, unlike the 2004 model which was very unreliable. Bottom line though is that whilst this alarm does conform, a lot of people prefer the security of a fenced pool, the alarm can take up to 12 seconds to go off, which after getting to the pool may be too late. I did not want a fence so opted for the alarm. Hope this helps.

Ty, The scam has not yet taken place, what is suspected is that these people seduce you with a booking that sounds too good to be true. They then send you a worthless cheque or money order for the full amount, then, after you have paid the cheque into your account they cancel, asking for a full refund, which you give them from your account, before their worthless cheque has been processed. Alternatively they send you a large cheque or money order worth more that the booking and ask you to refund the difference. There has been quite a bit of discussion about these scams on the gite owners forum during the summer. They have beeen labelled as Nigerian Scams as they seem to eminate from that particular country. They are on a par with the many other e-mail scams like when you get informed that you have won 1.5 million euros in a lottery etc etc Hope this helps  

Dear All, Many thanks for your comments. Go with your instincts is always a good idea, if something seems to good too be true, then there is normally a catch. My concern is that someone, somewhere may be taken in by these people. If I believed everything I got through my e-mail I would now be a multi millionaire and have a very long sexual organ, neither of which are true of course. Regards,

Dear All, Below is a copy of an e-mail I have just recieved, it is the second one from the same e-mail address, has anyone else got the same, is it one of those Nigerian Scams that I have read about on this forum earlier this summer, or am I just being synical? The reason I am so suspicious is that the first mail was addressed to undisclosed recipients. Many thanks Hello, Thanks so much for the mail Could you kindly let me know if you can get us room for 3 couples. we are staying for 3 weeks. we will be having our anual business conference which will be starting by october. The conference starts by 26 october but the scheduled arrival date is 25th, a day before the conference.We will be staying 3weeks for the conference and will be leaving by 15 November. we shall  make all  payment sort out before our arrival and the total amount due for payment is required. Payment will be sent to you by our sponsoring company for the trip. Kindly let me know if you can make reservation for us do let me know the total charges for the reservation. Looking forward to hear from you Thanks C. Williams

A couple of days ago my 8 yr old daughter was bitten by a near neighbours dog. She had just got off the school bus, ans there was no provocation. She recieved 3 puncture wounds and bruiising to her upper thigh, and a hole in her jeans. She was also very traumatised by the incident We phoned the local Gendarmerie, they were not interested, they advised us to contact our local Mairie, which we are in the process of doiing. (Only open 2 afternoons each week) My main concern is has this dog bitten before? and will it happen again? The owners have assurred us that the dog in question will be kept under control at the school bus drop off times. Can anyone enlighten me as to the legal situation, I do not want the dog destroyed I am not after revenge. But I do want it recorded officially. The legal situation is clear in the UK. Please can anyone help.