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Beaujolais is a fairly light wine and the "nouveau" doesn't have a particularly good reputation. It's a good bit of fun though. If you've not bought the wine yet then it might be worth getting the Beaujolais Villages Nouveau intead. It has a little more fruit flavour (raspberries etc.) and is often slightly better in my opinion. I would suggest something fairly plain and simple for food that doesn't overpower the wine - lamb would be good. Nothing too fancy, avoid sauces if possible, just plain lamb cutlets, maybe with some tarragon, and fresh vegetables.

There is some substance to the "snob value" theory. Ferry fares have increases out of necessity and low cost airlines have opened up new exciting destinations to the low cost traveller. Consequently, places such as Normandy and Brittany are no longer seen by the budget UK holidaymaker as being a cheap option. Sadly, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about that. So, if these places aren't a cheap option then the people who do visit the region are the ones that choose to. To maintain local prosperity it is important that these fewer visitors spend more whilst they are here, which means attracting those with more money to spend. If we want to attract more affluent visitors there is a need for more higher quality accommodation to meet the higher standards expected. Perhaps the choice of words "a better type of visitor" was unfortunate but the essence of it was spot on.

Last time I was there, Cherbourg most certainly was on the "mainland". Has there been some sort of freak occurence that has caused the cotentin peninsular to break away and float off into the Manche ? With Dinard and Rennes airports both within two and a half hours drive of Cherbourg, and both these airports offering good services, you are still much better off than many.

The new booking engine is most certainly a big improvement on the old one. It would be helpful however if, when the dates and crossings list appears to make a selection, the original date entered could be highlited to make sure people don't book the wrong day by mistake. Prices are fair and comparable to Britany Ferries, but nothing to get excited about. For people with homes in France it is still much cheaper, in most instances, to travel with BF using the Property Owners Club discount. The Condor Frequent Traveller Club only offers discounts of up to 10% which is way off the 33.3% offered by BF. If Condor wants to improve the quality of service to passengers taking the longer crossings to France then they MUST do something about the awful microwaved food on board. Even the free danish pastries in the Club Lounge have usualy only just been thawed from frozen and are still cold in the middle. I think I had the worst cooked breakfast I've ever had on Condor Vittesse. What about some freshly baked baguettes with tasty fillings, some freshly cooked food and decent freshly brewed coffee ?

It is no big surprise that Flybe have pulled the plug on their Brest routes as many have reported flights only being half full or less. The official answer is that they will consider reintroducing it again next summer but that isn't really all that likely. Don't forget that Ryanair also tried using Brest and pulled out. The Rennes to Southampton flights that Flybe operate are, on the other hand, much more successful. Many flights are full or almost full and it seems they don't have too much trouble reaching that magic 80% of capacity figure. Not surprising really as Rennes is an important place and a large number of French people also use the flight for business trips etc. I guess with no flights from Brest, only one ferry crossing per week from Roscoff this winter, and a reduced number of TGV services from Morlaix / Brest, the British residents of this corner of Brittany are starting to feel a little isolated !

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.

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.

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.

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.

As a point of interest, the pompiers building is the old terminal building.

Sorry Jo, are we talking about the same place here ? Surely you wouldn't call 75€ per MONTH a "rip-off". You would be lucky to park for more than a few days at any UK airport for that amount ! Short stay is fantastic value too - up to an hour is free, and only 8€ for 24 hrs. For regular commuters you can get an annual season ticket for 500€ which works out at less than 10€ per week. They've even put a new exit barrier in now with the ticket machine on the right hand side for all the rhd cars that use the airport !!

There most certainly is, but it is quite a bit more expensive that the parking Extérieur. Details can be found at : http://www.saint-malo.cci.fr/fr/prestations/aeroport/services/?PHPSESSID=872a5f3290163ec2068cfded958c5cec (Scroll to the bottom of the page.)

To convert a gas cooker from town gas to lpg (butane or propane) you would need to change the jets. OK that's the easy part of the explanation. The jets you require must be exactly the right ones(correct size for different size gas rings etc.) and the best way of obtaining these is to contact the manufacturer and ask if they can supply them. You will also need some instructions to know which jet goes in which position as they are most likely to all be different ! Some manufactureres can be helpful where this is concerned and some are useless. You could make a start by seeing if you can find a French installation instruction manual for your cooker on the internet. If you can then you may find some reference to changing over the jets to run on lpg. If your French is up to it, you would probably be better off finding a SMEG service agent in France and asking them if they can order the parts for you. You are less likely to find the parts you want in the UK as so few people use LPG over there. You may well find you also need a special tool to change the jets which are often recessed. Try and buy one of these at the same time. The easiest part of all is connecting the gas bottle via a regulator, to the cooker. Parts for this can be found in most brico stores. Don't forget that Butane bottles can be kept inside the house and Propane bottles should be outside. Good luck.

Try ToAnFro (I think that's what they are called) at Honiton. They are based at the Jet station just off the A30 at the first Honiton turn-off. I rented a lwb van off them last January (whilst back in the UK for a month and needed to make a run back home to France). They were very helpful and the cheapest I could find in the Exeter area. Don't forget to make sure they give you a letter confirming that you have permission to take the van out of the country. They are quite hot on asking for that at Portsmouth these days. If you are only doing a quick hop, don't forget that you can still use a Brittany Ferries 24hr return even with a van. That's 24hrs from the time you arrive in France to the time you depart or the first available crossing after the 24hrs has expired. When I last did that it only cost me £70 with a cabin in one direction. Bon voyage.

I would recommend travelling via Plymouth / Roscoff for a number of reasons. Firstly, Roscoff is about the only port I've found where there is a large, relatively quite, car / lorry park within the port area where it is easy to stop and take your dogs for a walk immediately after you get off the ferry. There really is plenty of space. Secondly, if you head down towards Devon, there are loads of farm B&Bs who will be happy to take your pets. Many are in rural areas so no problem with the security of your trailer. If you find somewhere not too far from Plymouth you could get the early morning ferry to Roscoff and be well on your way through France by mid afternoon. With your cats, if you've got room in the crate you could leave a litter tray in there. If you by some of the expensive "gel" type cat litter then you won't get any nasty smells in the car. It really does work - I've tried it when bringing our cats over to France. We had no problems with our two cats and two golden retrievers. They just took it all in their stride - I suppose you wouldn't expect any different from a retriever ! Last time we did it (with the dogs only) they were in the car for about 26 hours and were absolutely fine with just three walkies stops! Don't worry about it, I'm sure your pets will all be fine. One last tip. When you get to the ferry port, if they ask to scan your pets then remind them they don't need to do this if you are on a one way ticket. The last thing you want is to have to get the cats out of their crate and risk them escaping in the ferryport ! Be firm if you need to, they can't insist on scanning them when travelling from the UK to France.

It is quite usual for the winter schedules not becoming available until September / October. I wouldn't worry however as you won't have any trouble booking a crossing in December as none of them will be anything like full. Sometimes in January however there can be problems with some routes as ships are wihdrawn for their annual winter service stop. Usually it is only the Plymouth / Roscoff route that is affected in any significant way.