Eslier

I seem to remember, back in 2002, that whilst it was widely publicised that new regulations were due to come into effect, the details of what those regulations would be was not forthcoming. I believe the details were not finalised until the last minute and everyone was somewhat in the dark ! I expect Andrew will be able to give you more details. A cover of any kind is not, however, an ideal solution as a sole means of security if you have a gite or gites as it is unlikely to be put back in place every time the pool is left unattended during the daytime. Far better to look into the options for a suitable fence and you can still continue to use your cover at the same time.

It will be held in the UK for about two months and then sent on to you in France. You shouldn't have to pay anything. It will come with a sticker on it with a message from the UK Post Office that reads words to the effect: "We're sorry you've had to wait two months for this letter but we felt it was necessary to wear our big British jobsworth hats and do nothing with it for a long while - don't blame us, blame the pillock who didn't put a stamp on it" I just hope it isn't anything important !

Astral: "Astraline Brilliant laque glycéro sans odeur" Very good paint and should be available in most brico stores. Use the Astral undercoat first. In fact, I have been very impressed with all the Astral paint I've used.

If the vendors are French then you would do well to find out exactly what they are or are not leaving, included in the sale price. It is not uncommon for items such as light fittings (leaving just bare wires), kitchen fitments and curtain poles etc. all to be removed. To many French people, they are only selling the walls floors and ceilings ! There have been many buyers in the past that have a nasty shock on moving in day.

ADSL is the generic name for "Broadband". In other words they are the same thing.

Having read through this thread I am a little puzzled as to why so many of you seem to handing out so much cash. Assuming a person is resident in France, the Carte Vitale will cover around 70% of the cost of all drugs and your top-up insurance (which it is most advisable to have) will cover the balance. At our local pharmacie we simply show our CV (they have already registered the details of our top-up policy) and we don't have to pay a centime. The doctor's form is also handed in at the pharmacie and the refund comes through, in two seperate payments, in full direct to our bank account. If you are just visiting France on holiday then surely you have an E111. This will cover the first 70% ish cost of drugs and treatment (although I admit it is a hassle to go and claim the money back if you are on holiday. If the cost is a lot then hopefully you've also got a yearly travel insurance policy (pretty cheap to buy now in the UK) from which you can claim the whole lot back from (except the excess) when you return home. The lesson seems to be to make sure you're properly insured.

This is where you need a good top-up insurance policy ! Sorry to hear about your problems but hopefully this will make other people realise why it is so important to have insurance.

In most gites, but not all, guests are usually required to leave the place clean and tidy. This doesn't, however, mean that it won't need cleaning again to a higher standard even assuming the outgoing guests have done a good job (which many won't). There is a huge difference in standards of cleanliness between diferent gites. Some can be quite grubby but many of the newer generation of gite owners are now offering much higher standards in furnishings, fittings, equipment,linen and of course cleanliness. You can always offer, if you wish, an optional cleaning service at extra cost but from our own experience, few are likley to take up this offer. To give you an example, our three bedroom gite takes two of us between two and a half and three hours to clean on a change over day assuming that the outgoing guests have left it clean. If they take up the optional cleaning service (which takes place on the day before their departure) then that is another three hours for one person. So that makes 8 to 9 man hours (or maybe woman hours) of cleaning. Then of course there is the laundry and ironing which adds another few hours.

Gill, I respect your views regarding "saving the planet" and I am sure there are many others who share those views. My view, however, is that most people come away on holiday to get away from the pressures of being made to feel they should lead their lives in a certain way. I really don't beieve it is my place to dictate to, or attempt to coerce people to behave in any way other than in a way that they feel is comfortable. As long as any guest's behaviour doesn't impair the pleasure of any other guest then we are happy to live and let live. On the specific subject of washing machines etc., I know what my average usage of electricity is, I know roughly how many weeks I will let each gite so it's down to me to make sure I charge the right rental prices to cover the use of electricity and all other utilities. It is a simple matter of budgeting properly. If our guests choose to use the washing machine three times each day and put their clothes in the tumble drier when the sun is shining outside, I might think they are mad but that's their choice and why shouldn't they. Whatever they do they'll still get a welcome smile and cheery conversation from me. Perhaps, Gill, you've hit on an excellent idea. Why not market your gite(s) specifically as being pro enviromentalism and conservation. There are probably people who would happily pay lots to stay somewhere that took this seriously enough.

Kate, I'm sure you won't have any problems. We had a similar situation last year with an old car of my son's. The car would go and wasn't worth repairing. We phoned the local "casse auto", told them where it was and that there was a photocopy of the registration document in the glove box. A few days later the car disappeared and we didn't hear any more - we weren't even sent an invoice which was a surprise. I returned the V5 to the DVLA in Swansea having ticked both the "scrapped" and "exported" box. I e-mailed them a couple of months later to be certain that it was OK, and they replied confirming the car had been deleted from their records so no risk of being done for unpaid road tax !

Gabby, I expect in your heart you already know the honest answer but you'll probably need to put a few things down on paper to get it straight in your mind. Firstly, how much will it cost to "run" your horses. There's feed, hay, electricty/heating in the stable, vets fees, running a vehicle big enough to tow the horse box, maintaining and replacing tackle, and probably lots of other things I haven't thought of but you will. My guess is that this alone will make a huge dent in your 23,000€ pa. Secondly, do you honestly think you will be able to move into your property without dipping into your savings to carry out "essential" work. Many people find that they spend far more on their properties than they initially budget for. There's a big difference between what is acceptable as a holiday home and what you will accept to live in. Don't forget also to budget for your moving expenses. Thirdly, how much do you expect to make from running your gite. One gite on its own, without a swimming pool, is unlikely to nett you more than about 8,000€ per year (after running costs, advertising, tax etc.) and maybe a lot less. Fourthly, remember that you will still have all those boring bills to pay for that you have in the UK. Electricty, telephone, heating, rates (tax fonciere / habitation) rubbish colection, water, kids etc. You are unlikely to feed your family for less than you do in the UK but you should find that you can eat better and more healthily for the same amount of money. (Better allow a decent budget for wine though !). Finally, consider being in a situation wether you have to live on a very tight budget and make some sacrifices. You may be happy with that but what will your children make of it ? When they come home and tell you that all their class is going on a skiing trip wit the school, will you be able to afford to allow your kids to go ? If you can answer all these things honestly and still feel you can make a success of it then go for your dream. Good luck.

Before trying to haggle on price you should be aware of the other side of the story. Generally speaking, if an artisan is prepared to reduce his price, this won't be at the expense of taking a cut in the profit he is going to make out of the job. His first consideration might be "can I cut back on the quantity or quality of the materials ?" His second consideration will be something like "can I rush this job though in two days rather than three - even though the quality of workmanship might not be the same ?" Now if you are prepared to accept these compromises then, by all means, try and get the price reduced but please do so with your eyes open. What you will find, in France, is that most artisans take a huge pride in the quality of their workmanship and often aren't interested in cutting corners. You will nearly always get what you pay for. If, of course, you only want, or can only afford a 20,000€ swimming pool then that's fine you will be able to find someone who will give you that. BUT don't expect it to be the same as the one that was going to cost 35,000€ because it won't be. Having said all that, I am sure there are some people out there who see the Brits coming and believe it is an easy way to make money. To avoid these people, only use local companies or artisans that have been recommended to you. I hope you manage to find exactly what you are looking for.

Take a look at www.moneycorp.com (a very good commercial exchange company) and sign up to receive their daily market brief by e-mail each day. If you read this on a regular basis it will give you an insight into the market forces which dictate the exchange rates. They are currently predicting another cut in UK interest rates around November which, as we get closer to that becoming reality, will be likely to cause sterling to fall against other currencies.

Chris, I can't tell you what's wrong but I can clear up a couple of your points and maybe give you some things to check. Firtly, it is a LNB ("N" not "M"), and having a dual or quad output LNB won't help you. These are used to provide seperate outputs when more than one digibox is being used or if you are using Sky+. Secondly, the UK tv channels are broadcast by Sky on Astra-2D which is where your dish needs to be pointing. Pointing it towards Hotbird won't help if you want to watch BBC1/2 etc. Thirdly, the first thing to check is what you "signal strength" and "signal quality" is like which you can do so from one of the sky menus. The "signal strength" needs to be up around 70%, if it's not then your dish may need some re-alignment. "Signal Quality" should be 90-100% and if it's not then you may be able to improve it by rotating the LNB in its mount slightly. It probably needs to be scewed to approximately between one and two o-clock. You may need to have someone inside watching the visual meter display as you are up the ladder adjusting it. Fourthly, check that you haven't got water into the F-type connector that connects the cable to the LNB. If this gets wet inside then it can affect the commands that tell the LNB to switch between high and low band signals. Finally, there could be a problem with your digibox not sending the signal to switch between high and low band signals. If you have a Panasonic box then there is a known incompatibility problem with some LNBs. If this is the case then there is a relatively simple fix for it - you can find the details here: http://www.satcure.co.uk/panasonic.htm Good luck

In short, if you are resident in France, yes you should have registered before you started trading,although it is unlikely that you need to become TVA registerd. There are strict penalties for trading without being registered although these penalties seem rarely to be applied. You should however now take steps to ensure that you are trading legally. To ensure that you do things in the most beneficial way it would be wise to consult a French accountant. In you area I would be happy to recommend Account Revision of Rennes. They have an English chap employed to look after English clients in Normandy. His name is Steve Beckwith and and can be contacted on 02 99 09 12 08 or by e-mail on [email protected] He will be able to visit you and sort everything out which means you don't ever have to go to their offices.

Yes you can use your Makro card in Metro France. You will need to present it when you go in and obtain a temporary hand written card. If you are VAT registered in the UK then take some proof of this as they will allow you to buy goods without paying the TVA. To register for a Metro Card you need to be a registered business with a siret number. Just take all your registration documents along to the store and they'll sign you up. Metro isn't too much like Makro. It's much more geared towards the catering and hotel trade. There are far fewer non-food items.

Stuart, it's more likely to be a problem with your computer. Try deleting all your "cookies" as this can often be where this sort of problem stems from.

Remember that water pressure in France is much higher than in England. Many systems that are fine in the UK won't cope over here. Our French plumber told us he has made a lot of money from English clients when their joints burst open a year or so after installing them !

Yes, fairly normal I'm afraid. The other week we had some guests arrive at 7pm on Saturday evening and by 10am the following morning they were in the laundry room putting a load on to wash and subsequently did at least one wash per day for two weeks. To be fair, when they left, they left the house cleaner and tidier than anyone else has this year! We're on TEMPO electricty so the cost is fairly minimal at this time of year. I can't say that our electricity bills are a problem - in fact they're less for four houses than we paid for just one in the UK !

There are no laws (as far as I am aware but someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that stipulate you need to know the names of your contractual renter's party for gites. Clearly you need to know the personal details of the person you have entered into a contract with but beyond that one person there is usually no further need to know more. Tax de Séjour (tourist tax) does exist in some areas but in general most areas where gites are located will not be affected by it. Tax de Séjour, where applicable, is a local tax administered by the commune. My view is that being on site I'll get to meet everyone anyway and will usually be introduced so they'll tell me their names anyway. If I made them fill in all the names on the booking form there's no way I would know that they haven't just made up the names anyway. The point you make about children is a very good one. If one thinks too hard about that then you would never let properties on the site where you live anyway. You can hardly insist on a CRB check for every guest ! It is a concern however, especially when you have lots of young children in a shared pool. I suppose we all just hope that the worst never happens in our back yard. I have been aquainted with people, in the past, whom it has later transpired have molested children and believe me you would never have expected these particular individuals of any such behaviour. One (a headmaster of a Cathedral School) had a lovely family with two young kids of his own. Once caught however he found himself spending his holdays at Her Majesty's pleasure. Scary !!!!!

As a gite owner I welcome your suggestion. Customer service expectations have changed a lot in recent years and if we the owners want to prosper, we need to listen to what our clients want. Sometimes it is hard to listen to what one doesn't want to hear but it is important to take in as many opinions as possible to get a balanced view. I agree that there do seem to be some owners around with very strange ideas operating not so customer friendly policies. At the same time, I can understand the need to let off steam from time to time - but as you rightly say this should apply to both sides of the equation. We have tried hard to provide the facilities our guests want, make booking as easy as possible and have as few "rules" as possible. This has been successful for us but we mustn't take our eyes off the ball and we know we need to continue to improve our service to ensure we are still doing just as well in five years time. So yes, why not have a "holidaymakers" section.

Check the little white cup under the expansion valve of your chauffe eau (assuming you have one). This is another waste trap and will dry out leaving an open pipe to your fosse. (Just like your washing machine trap only smaller.) Turn the tap above it and release some water into the trap.

Our largest gite sleeps 14 but we often find that we let it to smaller groups of, say, 8 people. We provide bed linen and always make the beds up - ALL the beds regardless of how many people are staying. If our guests want to sleep in every bed then that's up to them, they've paid the full amount which would be the same if there were 14 of them. If they have some friends turn up and want to stay the night, why shouldn't they ? They've paid for the use of 14 beds ! All I care about is that we have a contract with one person. I really am not interested in the names of anyone else - why should I be ? We have one all inclusive price for rental and its up to me to get my pricng right so that I don't have to worry how many sets of bed linen need laundering or how many people are taking showers. That's my problem, and the last thing that should be the worry of our guests when they are on holiday. There are some rules etc. that it is necessary to have but surely it's best to keep them to an absolute minimum. I really can't see the benefit in lots of unnecessary rules just for the sake of it. However, to all those of you that like your rules, please keep it up because we've had a lot of laughs when we hear reports from our guests about some of the other places they've stayed !

I was advisd by a professional to buy "Astral" paint. I paid 45€ for a 10 litre tin of Astral Monocouche emulsion and I have to say it did exactly what it said on the tin and covered in one coat - excellent. It was one of those square tins so I was able to dip the roller straight in it. I've bought "one-coat" paints in the UK before now that have needed two coats so I was particularly pleased with the Astral stuff and consider it was good value for money.

Save yourselves a lot of trouble and find a wholesale garden centre in your area. Last May we purchased 100 geranium plants for 45€. The choice of types and colours was excellent. We used a mix of two different coloured lierre doubles in our window boxes and they are still doing well. We also purchased bedding plants at 35€ per 100 which have also done well.