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[quote user="Jazzer"]Do  the French operate budget accounts for fuel purchases?[/quote] Yes - Point Vert do. We usually buy our fioul from them and each year they send us details of their monthly payment budget account scheme. I don't personally use it and I couldn't tell you if it costs any more that way.

I've used the http://www.talabardon.fr/ before and it is very good. Nothing flashy but full of French character. Book a sea view room if you can and the tide comes in directly below your window. It's easy to find right in the centre of the town in the Place d'Eglise. As for restaurants, you're not going to have much choice I'm afraid. At 8.30pm on a Tuesday evening in late September there's not likely to be much open. You'll just have to take a walk around and hope you can find somewhere. To be honest, if it were me, I would eat in the restaurant on the Pont Aven before arriving and then just go out to a bar for a drink on arrival in Roscoff. When the ferry arrives, you might be lucky and get to drive off quickly but often it can take a while to disembark. As you drive out through customs, keep in the right hand lane and don't follow the signs and all the other cars out of the port. Go straight on and take the exit up towards the Casino, turn right at the trafic lights and take the coast road around into the town. This should get you ahead of most of the other cars. Drive through the town and hopefully you will find somewhere to park in the Place d'Eglise. It will probably be nearer to 8.30pm by the time you have made it into the town and checked into your hotel. Hope you have a good trip. I've always enjoyed spending a night in Roscoff - it's a pretty place.

You'll know when it happens because you'll here the guns going off and the bells around the dogs necks. Where, could be anywhere. If you are in an area where they hunt then they could be a km or so away or they could be in your garden. Generally, I think, hunting is between September and March but there are exceptions. You'll get to know the days - weekends of course and usually a couple of other days. Morning are usually more popular but afternoon hunts can be a bit more worrying when you've seen them all in the bar at lunchtime ! We have three cats and try to keep them in when there is hunting going on but cats are usually fairly astute and know how to keep out of the way. We've never had a problem. Our farmer neighbout reckons a cat has more chance of being killed by a fox than being shot by a hunter - he's claims to have lost two cats to foxes.

As long as you only let for a period up to six months then you will be fine as this can be covered by a holiday let contract. Unless you want to convert it to a standard three year contract don't under any circumstances allow your guests to stay beyond six months as, by law, it will automatically become a formal let. French Property News would  be a good place to advertise as this is read by most serious prospective buyers.

Having done this area escorting school trips on a number of occassions I would say Utah Beach - the museum there is very good with an excellent AV show, and the beach area is unspoilt. Following that, head just a few km inland to St Mere Eglise to see the parachutist hanging from the church tower (you must watch the video of "The Longest Day" before your trip) and the American Airborne Museum. All very moving and plenty to see.

There is an English church (Anglican) in Dinard.

[quote user="Shelly"][*-)] Is the Brittany ferries club worth joining? [/quote] Yes definitely if you will be making two or three crossings per year. You can save the cost of membership in one sailing at summer prices. It probably won't be too much help to you with a 7.5T lorry however as they will charge you the freight tarrif against which I don't think your membership discount will apply.

Try http://www.cheznous.com

This thread is becoming very confused. It might be better not to try and make comparisons with the UK as the system is very different there. WillC has already given a simple and clear explanation (and he wasn't the one who mentioned anything about £12 per hour). As he stated, if you employ a registered tradesman (whether categorised as an "artisan" or not) He or she will be likely to see not more than around a third of the amount charged go into his or her own pocket  and possibly much less. Unlike in the UK, high minimum social charges are payable even if you have a very low income. Let's take an  example of someone, maybe a gardener or similar, who charges his time out at  25€ per hour  and manages to work for 1000 chargeable hours per year. This means he will have revenue of 25000€ per year. Of this amount, around 8000€ will be paid out in social charges, tax and health top up insurance etc. Another 1000€ will go on insurance (much more for an artisan) Vehicle running costs for the business will be around 4000€ Equipment renewals, repairs and running costs will probably be around  2000€ Misc; business costs such as satationery, computer, internet connection, telephone,mobile etc. another 1000€ Accountancy costs, bank charges etc. another 1000€ That all means that, after all these costs are taken into account, our man has earnt around 8000€ for himself. Now, although he has worked for 1000 chargeable hours, if we take into account admin time, time visiting prospective customers and preparing quotes, time spent travelling etc. this is likely to account for another 500 hours in the year. So, if he works for 1500 hours in a year for a total of 8000€ that works out at just over 5,30€ per hour take home pay. I hope that this example will help many of you understand that when you are quoted 25€ per hour by a tradesman, far from being ripped off, you are actually getting a very good deal ! Incidentally, how many of you have ever taken your car to a main dealer in the UK for a service ?  If so, have you ever asked what hourly rate their customer friendly fixed price servicing costs are based upon?  If you had, and you were told the truth, you would find that the hourly chargeable rate for a qualified mechanic is somewhere around £150 per hour.  In practice, few people ever realise this fact and happily pay the going fixed rate for a service and are none the wiser. The charge can, of course, be justified when taking overheads into account but it makes you realise what good value many other services are.     

Try Bellier in Combourg which is pretty well situated between the two locations. http://www.voyages-bellier.fr/

Is anyone able to clarify the legal implications of doing this ? If I take someone in my car, and they pay me money to do so (as a contribution to the cost), would that be deemed as "hire or reward" as far as my insurance company is concerned ? If so then my insrance would prsumably be invalid whilst the passenger was travelling in the car. Also, as a resident of France, I am concerned that the minute I take money off someone for such a service that this could be seen as working "on the black". If this is the case then both the driver and the passenger would technically be breaking the law and subject to huge fines. It would be useful to clear up these issues for everyone - does anyone have the answer ?

Definitely NO Save yourself a lot of trouble and buy one when you get here. Get one with an electric oven and a gas hob (maybe with just one electric plate for backup). Unless you are able to get town gas then the gas hob will run off bottled gas which is very economical (new ones in Franc eusually come with both sets of jets). By only having the oven running off electric you won't be putting too much strain on your limmited electricity supply.