gail17

Hi Tresco Sorry, a bit belated but thanks for these other pics, so nice to see them. Gail  

Hi Thanks Tresco for the beautiful pictures, a lovely reminder that it really is time that we booked our next Eurotunnel crossing!  Those our our nearest beaches as well.  Although we do have to visit the area mostly during the summer we have managed to come out of season a couple of times and it has been wonderful.  If you do get a chance to post any more pictures of anything relating to the area, including inland under 'photography' it would be really nice for us and maybe others in our situation. We are not able to visit as often as we would like by far.  Many thanks again. Gail    

Hi Agree with you there Blanche Neige.  We were at our house in France, as you know we live in a small rural hamlet, for Christmas 2005 and our neighbours kindly invited us over to their house for Christmas night. We have two boys 14 & 10 who were amazed that all the children of the large french family spent the entire night on the playstation.  Our boys without doubt enjoy games/pc etc but as a rule Christmas night is still treated as a real family affaire, if you get my gist.  Our french neighbours were absolutely great and made us feel really welcome but it does just show that regardless of whether in France or the UK technology does play a large part in children's leisure time. Gail  

Hi Dick   No, to be truthful with renovations etc and making as much of our time over there a TV just hasn't been needed. We only manage around 6 weeks over there so a TV has taken a back-seat. Gail

Hi Dick Yes, we have sent two signed slips off the bottom of their official letters, one in April 2005 and a further one in March 2006.  We thought that we had indicated that we did not have a TV aerial etc, but maybe our french is worse than I thought!! There is a phone number on the letter so I will have to hope that my husband is brave and phones them, I'm still struggling with the phone!  Thanks Gail

Hi We have received our bill for Taxe D'Habitation and we have got a reduction of around 32% for this year, we are resident in the UK and only take holidays at our place in France.  It was a pleasant surprise but we still have to query the fact that they are asking for a fee for the TV licence and we don't as yet have an aeriel. Gail    

Hi Zeb Thanks for your reply.  I have just been on the site you suggested and it seems pretty good. We may give this method a try this year and see how it goes.  Gail          

Hi We have now received our bill for Taxe D'Habitation, it is due by 15 December.  One thing we have noticed however is that it has included a payment for the TV licence even though we signed and returned a form to say that we did not have an aeriel on the house.  Can someone let me know if this is correct or are we liable to pay for a licence? I'm sure this may have been covered, apologies for the repetititon however it may be helpful if someone has been in such a situation and how they dealt with it, i.e. is it easier to just pay the bill and query a refund  or contact them before actually sending off the payment. Many thanks    

Hi Thanks for all your replies, no sign of it yet here in England for our house in 17.  Maybe it will show up shortly at least it does sound as though maybe ours is just a little delayed and not lost in the post. Gail    

Hi Athene Thanks for your reply and info about another vet in Jonzac.  One thing I shoud have asked is that is it necessary to make appointments at french vets?  Our local UK vet has two branches so to speak, one where it is necessary to make appointments except in the case of an emergency  and the other which I must admit I prefer is open at specific times and you are fine to just arrive and be seen.  Our little pup is due to be chipped around the 6 November as our vet here said that he was too small before then.  The possiblility of a tatoo wasn't even mentioned to us by the vet.  Thanks again Gail   

Hi Emma Thanks for your reply.  I've pm'd you but not sure if you will have received it as it said it had gone to admin.....?  If you did not get my reply could you let me know and I will resend it. Many thanks again. Gail

Hi Thanks Cassis, we are in the UK so maybe that might make a little difference but I'm not sure.  I may well leave it a little longer and then try and look into it.  Gail  

Hi Thanks for your speedy reply, no we have paid each of the taxes for a number of  years.  Originally bought the house in 2001. Gail  

Hi As far as I can gather our Taxe Foncière is always due before habitation, but as yet we are still to receive the bill for the Taxe d'Habitation.  I just wondered if anyway had noticed if theire bills had arrived a little late this year.  Thanks      

Hi I wonder if anyone can help.  We have bought an adorable little puppy.  As far as I can gather it means that once he has had a Rabies vaccination he then has to wait for 6 months to be checked again and if all is ok then we can come across to France and return to the UK.  Once we do come over to France it appears that we have to have him tested for ticks and tapeworms at a french vets within 24 and 48 hours of us leaving france and arriving in the UK.  Our house over in France is close to Pons, does anyone know of a vet fairly close to Pons area that they could recommend.   Many thanks.   Gail  

Hi Many thanks for the information, it seems a really useful. Gail

Hi We are due to arrive shortly in France for our long awaited stay.  Can anyone please let me know what the water restrictions are in 17?   Many thanks Gail  

Hi What is it that needs bringing?  We're not in a van but have a fairly large trailer?  

Hi Many thanks for your replies.  We have looked into matters with DEFRA and all seems ok.  Is there anyone who can recommend a vet,  either Saintes/Cognac 17 area or Calais.  PM me if you would prefer. Gail  

Hi We are planning on buying a puppy,  we have looked into the requirements for taking it out of the UK and over to France for holidays, and think we are ok on that. We will have to buy him after this year's holiday in France as we have been told that he can't re-enter the UK 6 months after his positive rabies blood test.  We have, however heard that prior to bringing him back home it is necessary to have him treated by a vet against ticks and tapeworms.  Can anybody let me know if they know of any specific vets in Calais that they may have used (handy for the Port) and also is there any thing that we need to arrange re rabies with a french vet? Hoping you may be able to help? Gail        

Hi KatieKopyKat Thanks for the guide, I'll have to tot up the approx measurements now.  Kind regards Gail  

Hi Nick Thanks for your reply.  I have been given the name of a local person.  When we are over next we will try and get in touch with anyone who may be able to give us an indication re costs etc. Gail

Hi Hope that some of you builders out there may be able to help.  Our property needs fencing/walling in.  Currently the garden just continues right out onto the grass verge at the sides of the roads, we are on a corner.  As far as I can gather the boundary has to be a certain number of metres from the centre of the road.  Anyway we are trying to get some sort of a comparative cost for fencing, I assume concrete bases and the wire type fencing or breeze (sp) blocks then rendered. We would ideally like the same stone that the house is made of but I can imagine and to buy stone would be very costly.  Any indication i.e. price, per metre would be really helpful. Thanks Gail (renovation has proved to be such a learning curve! I can't even wire a plug without a pic to follow!! - what fun though!) [8-)] 

Hi Emma Thanks for your reply, think we'll just wait and see how things are when we are over. The sun is lovely here today, probably still not as warm as in 17, but never mind so have cheered up little.  Not long now and I'll send an email off for a copy of the Vacancier Haute Saintonge from the tourist office, I think the 2006 one may come out around May time and I can spend a little fun time deciding on what we can see and do when we are over apart from working on the house! Kind regards Gail    

Hi Emma Thanks for your reply.  The commercial centre that I read about also mentioned Gemozac so it maybe that it is planned for closer to Gemozac than Pons?[8-)]  Just wondered if you knew of any restrictions re bird flu, it's just that where we are there a quite a few neighbours who have chickens etc wandering here there and everywhere? The news seems to have quietened down a great deal about it here after the initial find which I think was somewhere in the SE? Hope you had a Happy Easter. Gail