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In my experience, French builers, well French men in general, never have a problem finding somewhere to take a pee - and it rarely seems to be in a toilet !! Seriousy though, I wouldn't worry too much if it's just the builders you are thinking of. If you want something for when you make occassional visits then you could get a camping toilet (Portapotti) but you will still need to find somewhere to empty it from time to time which might not be too easy.

All part of the French way of life I'm afraid, and not uncommon as BJSLIV has already said. The amount of 10€ isn't much so I would just pay up and put it down to experience if I were you. It isn't worth losing any sleep over. If you are concerned that you might forget again then why not set up a direct debit ?  If you call into one of the FT shops with an RIB from your cheque book and an old FT bill, they will sort it all out for you.

It certainly is possible if you have enough capital to invest in the first place, and you choose the right properties in the right area. Depending on where you buy and what you have to offer you could expect anything between 8 and 20 weeks. Most people budget for around 12 weeks initialy.  The most succesful  rental businesses (which is what you would become along with all the cotisations etc. if it is your main source of income) invest quite a bit in marketing but this isn't a problem if you have three or four gites.

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.

There are only two things that you need to be sure of . . . First, income. If you have a good income, whether from  pensions/investments or from a source of guaranteed employment then everything will be much easier. If you are relying upon self employed income then make sure you have a very good business plan with realistic cashflow predictions and a decent amount of capital to carry you through the first year or so. Second, location.  Too many people fall in love with a particular house without giving enough consideration to where it is situated. This will probably be the most important decision you make. You need to consider transport links - distance to ferryports airport etc. You also need to consider whether you want to be near enough to larger towns or cities to make a quick visit. If you've never lived in a rural environment before then make sure you know what you're letting yoruself in for if this is where you choose to be. If you've got both these things covered then you're going to love life in France. It's natural to be aprehensive but sometiimes you just have to make that jump for things to happen  for you. I amd one of the many who have moved to France and love it. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll stay here for ever but I'll certainly never regret it. The very best of luck to you both.

I can sympathise, we diod exactlty the same thing a few weeks ago. I have made a vow that it's the last time I replace a cast iron bath. Having got ours out in one piece, we offered it to our neighbouring farmer who was delighted to come and take it away to use as a water trough for his cows. No problem moving it when you've a got a tractor with forks on the front !

The BF website has evolved and some things are better and others are not so good.  There clearly is more work to be done on it. I agree that it isn't too helpful when you are trying to book crossings at a busy time when some crossings may be full. Unfortunately for you, the last week of July and first two weeks of August are probably their busiest weeks of the year and Friday nights are the busiest of nights. Also, the Portsmouth to St. Malo route is the most popular route. If you aren't too fixed on which day you travel, try the Saturday night crossing from Portsmouth as there is usually hardly any freight on ferries arriving on Sunday mornings due to the driving restrictions for lorries. At one point early last year, BF did launch a trial "flash" booking engine running at the same time as the old one, which had it worked, might have been much better. Unfortunately there were a lot of problems with it and it was almost impossible to use with a dial up connection so was abandoned.

Try this one: http://www.brittany-ferries.fr/index.cfm?articleid=1105 Travel between Monday and Thursday; two people plus car; maximum 3 days in UK; total cost 150€ return.

Zeb100's posts were deleted because they were contrary to the Forum Code of Conduct which all members agree to when participating in the forum. The Code of Conduct reads: Users must not post messages which: Are insulting, abusive, racist, sexist, or derogatory in any way to others, whether they are individuals or companies, users of the Forum or not. This includes material sent via personal e-mails through this forum. Threaten, intimidate, victimise or harass others. It is surely the wish of all forum members that no member should be subjected to insults. Sometimes comments are made in jest but can be taken as an insult by others. For that reason it is sometimes necessary to delete offending posts. Zeb100 has received a "private message" explaining the reasons why his posts were deleted and is welcome to enter into a private discussion with the moderators about this if he wishes.

[quote user="SaligoBay"]Never mind.  Read "Angels & Demons" instead, it's much better. [/quote] Yes, couldn't agree more. I enjoyed the first book but "Angels and Demons" (which is a prequal) was much much more gripping.

Michael, your immersion will be controlled by a relay mounted in your standard fuse board. This receives a signal from your electricity meter at the times it should switch on or off. There is, however, an overide switch which enables you to run the immersion heater at any time of day. Obviously it will cost a bit more during the day but it resolves the problem of unexpectedly running out of hot water. It doesn't work in the same way as in the UK where you have a seperate supply and meter. In France, a hot water "ballon" is very well insulated and efficient. Sometimes, it can be better to leave it switched on 24hrs per day as it could cost more to reheat after being switched off for 16 hours than to just keep it topped up the whole time.

Jenny, I would advise you to be very careful. There are a number of "professional" web design companies around who will claim to offer you exactly what you are looking for. I have seen some sites which have been created by various companies which, to my mind, fail miserably to do the job. I think the main problem is that many of these people are IT specialists who don't really have much artistic or marketing ability. Consequently the end result will only be as good as the brief given to them.  There are, however, undoubtedly companies who do have the ability to give you what you want so shop around and look at some of their previous work. To get the best, you will probably need to enter into a contract which will provide ongoing development of your website over a period of time. It is rare to get everything exactly right first time and many things change so there will be a need for regular updating. I'm not sure that I would agree with you about the need for on-line booking and payment facilities. In my experience, clients quite like to have some personal contact with the owner as it makes them feel happier about parting with their money. Having said that, I'm sure there are others who would disagree with me. If you do decide to look into this further then I would start by investigating the best method for accepting credit card payments. You are likely to find this is quite costly and there is also the risk of chargebacks. Good luck.

Your most important consideration should be location. If you want to fill a reasonable number of weeks in your gites then you need to be certain you are buying in an area that already attracts a lot of tourists. If this is the case then the property itself is the second consideration. I would say there are three things that you need to look into. Firstly, noise: you need to know whether the farm generate any noise at, what to your guests might be, unsocial hours. Secondly, smell: dairy farms can get a bit smelly in hot weather which might not be a problem to country folk but some visitors might be unhappy about it. You would probably need to make it clear when advetising your gites that your property borders a working dairy farm so that people are aware of the potential problem. Thirdly, planning. If you are in an agricultural area, don't assume that you will automatically get permission to convert outbuildings to residential property. A visit to the local Mairie will give you an indication if this will be possible, but you should ask the Notaire to insert a clause suspensive into the Compromis de Vente which gives you a get out clause if permission is denied. Whatever you do, don't take an agent's word when seeking answers to any of the above - do your own research. Finally, be realistic in your plans. Renovation works will probably cost double what you think and are bound to take three times longer than you expect. There are many gite owners who struggle to let around eight weeks per year  whilst others  manage up to twenty. Be cautious and only reckon on a maximum of twelve weeks when doing your cash flow calculations but remember you will need to spend money on advertising  to maximise your potential. Good luck.

Kimberley, you could try advertising on either the Total France website or AI forum for your area (assuming there is one). Both these offer members the opportunity to advertise vehicles for sale. Providing your van has a current UK mot and road tax, and you have the V5C document you shouldn't have too much problem finding a buyer. Rememver however that if either the mot or tax have expired then the vehicle is not road legal in France so a prospective purchaser would be put off as it would be illegal for him or her to pick the vehicle up and drive it home. It is much better, therefore, if you can find a buyer before these run out or the only alternative might be a trip back to the UK.

In general, mortgages and loans will be considered according to your current level of income. Banks will not be prepared to take into account any income you may get from letting your gite once the work is completed. As Patrick said, there are some incentives if you go through Gites de France such as grants that can be made available (used to be up to 50% of the renovation cost - not sure if it still is). This does, however, tie you into a contract to let through GdeF for, I believe, a period of ten years. If your gite is in an area popular with EU visitors then this might prove to be a good thing but rental rates tend to be considerably lower than you could achieve by letting direct to, say, the British market. When I looked into it, GdeF took a 20% commission of the rental charged for the property but if you offset this against the fact that you wouldn't have any advertising costs that's not too bad. You just have to make your mind up whether you want to be tied into a long term contract.

We searched all over for such items in France and failed to find them.  Now we pick up a bulk supply of nappy sacks in Tesco when back in the UK.  We did find nappy sacks in Bébé9 last year and they told us they were new - just arrived. The packs were quite small and not that cheap. Haven't seen nappy sacks in any of the supermarkets though.

I'm fairly sure you will find that the TVA relief is only applicable if you opt for long term lets (minimum three year contract). Holiday lets (anything up to six months at a time) do not count. For holiday letting, you do not have to register for TVA unless your income is greater than the TVA threshold which I believe is currently somewhere in the region of 72k€.

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.

Bonz,  are you currently living in the UK ? If so, you should consider the fact that your pension / income will be from the UK and it may be better to take out a mortgage there so as to avoid any difficulties due to currency fluctuations in the future. You will find it much easier to raise a mortgage or remortgage against your home in the UK which you could organise in advance so that you have the money in the bank ready to buy. If you still wish to investigate the possibility of a French mortgage, you could start with Credit Agricole Britline www.britline.com where you can chat to an English advisor and also arrange the opening of a French bank account.

If you have submitted tax returns in the last two years from your French address then this is all the proof of residency you need.

It can take a couple of weeks to enable the ADSL line and in the meantime it isn't unheard of for Wanadoo to start charging you for calls. You will know if ADSL is connected because the ADSL light on your modem will light up and stay on - not blinking. Assuming you have verified that ADSL is connected to your modem . . . If you are using the Wanadoo Espace software then this may be where the problem lies. The best thing to do is firstly, unplug your new adsl modem from the computer. Secondly, go to Control Panel /Add or Remove Programs and delete all Wanadoo software. Thirdly, plug your modem back into a spare USB port - if nothing happens then that's fine, if you get a message saying new hardware found then follow the instructions for loading the driver - using the Wanadoo CD if necessary but do NOT reload the Wanadoo Espace software. Fourthly,  again in Control Panel, go to Network and Internet connections. Select Internet Options and then click on the connections tab. Click on set-up and configure your internet connection the account details and password information provided to you by Wanadoo.

Paris is always delightful whether alone, as a couple or in a large group.  You should find it very comfortable on your own. Obviously you should take the usual common sense precautions you would adopt in any city but as a seasoned traveller you clearly don't need reminding of that. Try and book a central hotel (1st or 6th arrondisment are good areas) so you can walk to everywhere. Go and enjoy you won't be disappointed. Don't forget there's much much more to France than Paris however . . .

I took a Ryanair flight last year where they did a similar thing. On that flight it was the back six or seven rows that were blocked off. At a guess I would agree it probably has something to do with making the turnaround quicker.

Not so sure about "lucrative" Rob ! If you go for long term rental, then say, for example, you get around 500€ per month but the tennant pays all the bills for electricity, water etc. and also pays the Tax d'Habitation. If you go for holiday lets then you might get 12 weeks at an average of 500€ per week which is the same income but don't forget you then have to pay all the bills, it's likely to cost you in the region of 50€ per week for someone to do the changeovers etc. and then you've got marketing costs. You'll be lucky to see around 60% of your holiday let income as profit. If you've got a pool then your average rental rates will be higher but it's still not going to be "more lucrative".   Holiday letting is not easy for absent owners but can help pay the bills and at least you have use of the house when you want it.

Found them (called "porte baggage") at . . . http://www.manusec.com/pdf/portebagage.pdf [URL=http://imageshack.us][IMG]http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/1954/luggagestand6vc.jpg[/IMG][/URL]