Lilly

Bless you Cooperola, you are dead right it was in the the search all the time ( I blame OH for interupting my train of thought!!), but thank you for being kind and indulging me ,You have just saved me a trip to the shops. Lilly

Hi, Has anybody got the recipe from Teamed Up for her marscapone pastry, I have searched on here and can only find references to  it. I made it from a recipe on the internet a couple of years ago and of course it is'nt around now,so if any one can help that would be great.

Hi I have a newish rayburn here,somewhere I have the schematic that we were given to follow for plumbing ( looks like willy wonkers chocolate factory!!) We have no header tank but an expansion tank various oneway valves( sorry I'm not very techy in this department ) I will look it out and try to e-mail to you if you like, we run domestic hot water and central heating of 6 x 2 kw radiators,stays in over night, cooks meals that even my sceptic husband can tell the difference, the cats love the bottom oven together with teenage trainers (yuk) and has given warmth and comfort when during building, cemet mixing and leaky roofs were doing their best to see me off! My husband has that look of dispare when I get my "full steam ahead" stoke up the fire moments as he watches helplessly as it eats the wood pile but I know deep down that the cosy rosy smile I have after more than makes up for the back breaking logging session to follow!!!! We have used a company in Auch which we have found to be very helpful. Let me know if ou still need the schematic

Hi, Does anyone know if you need to apply for permission to build a stone wall, its more like landscaping and retaining a terraced area in the garden and not a boundary division I appreciate any infomation on this. Thank you

Try Paul Gee www.paul-gee.com in Auch don't forget that some of these type of Ranges may carry a tax reimbursement. I hope this helps.

Sorry just re read my war and peace, and have learnt I need to go back to school to refresh both my grammer and spelling  (I can spell monsieur really!)  sorry folks, I think I've just fallen foul of wanting to give someone all the advice and lessons that I learnt in one swoop and so have bored everyone else to tears  

Sorry to be a bit dense but what is a yurt? (yogurt/ yaht!) Just to put my spin on life here. It is not like the UK for living off the land and minding your own business and selling surplus skills or produce, I cringe when I watch River Cottage thingy as it appears to have no special kitchens and no licences, permits or siret numbers, no gendarmes to check on whos working with him. There is no fall back on the state should you not have sufficent money to feed your self or family or need medical attention the doctors money must always be paid out first before you can get it reimbursed my point being you 've got to have it in the first place. You will need to pay for your health contributions whether you are working for yourselves in a business or deemed to be early retired, you sound to be quite young ( Forties!) what will you do to contribute to your state pension and or provide for your retirement, as you won't get much if anything from the UK and you will need to get in the system here somehow, the best thing is to get a real job ( not easy!). The formentioned old lady at the market is proberbly a Farmer as in registered farmer and is allowed to sell surplus veg, fruit etc, farmers get alot of scope when it comes to topping up a meagre living ie; chambre d'hote, Ferme Auberg, selling produce etc, they don't have to full fill the same restuarant criteria to be able to serve food to people not staying with them. The key to this is having enough hectares, but being careful not to have too much as this I believe this causes more financial problems. Make sure if you are doing IT that where you intend to live has ADSL or broadband connections as a friend of ours who is an IT consultant has found it is not coming to his hamlet for an eternity and it is nigh impossible for him to conduct his full potential with out it. There are taxes on renovated properties when you have finished that are one off payments that spring out of nowhere and bring an out of season colour to your complection as panick sets in Bartering does exsist, when you have built up relationships, safe trusting relationships, this can take time, how can you judge what your nieghbours will be like when you are buying your property, if you are rural there may not be that many people in the immediate area that can or will exchange skills, how long then will it take to build up relationships at monsuir brico whatsit if you dont get the chances to make these bonded relationships. My advise is (contrary to the tone of this reply!) come, always try to live your dreams, but face and nail down the scary stuff  so that your dream does'nt go seriously wrong. Remember everything takes alot longer than you can anticipate not because of the french way of things but nine times out of ten its us that has to go round the houses to find the solutions. You need to have more money than you can dream of to support yourself until you reach the easier bits as a lot of people on this forum will tell you in the early days it is pay out, pay out pay out. I speak not as the wholyer than thou but as we have faced most of the issues that are on this forum ( save divorce and murder, working on it though!)have found ways round problems, changed our original intentions and learnt by our errors in alot of cases as I'm sure you will too and thats part of the challange. Good luck kind regards Lilly  

What were the symptoms of lyme disease, I have just removed (2days ago) a tick at the top of my inner thigh (Much to my husbands horror!!) let alone my screams could be heard over 14th July festivities, now I have found a sore red area in the same place. Is my leg gonna drop off or what? thanks you for your response I await it in nail biting anticipation.

Thank you for your kind replys and pm's. In answer to your question Quillan, I was given the room price on the telephone which increased by 10 euro according to the plaque in the bedroomno mention of children in room prices, there was no board outside the building and I didn't ask how much extra it would cost for the boys but that worked out to be an extra 50euro on top of the room price. I belive their nationality to be French and German and young but not local to the area they were in by their accents, they were indeed pleasant enough and I think fairly new at Chambre d'hote. I did get a proper bill which only divided the overall room price and the tax de sejour. Please rest assured I know very well that this is not indicative of most chambre d'hotes  its just a long time since I've used one and I wasn't sure about what costs children in room rates were levied . I found them by looking for chambre d'hotes near cordes sur ciel / Albi and it was quite difficult to locate some in this area the same ones came up.The first couple that I tried were full, so impatience ruled and time was pressing before we left to drive down. We went to the French open moto championships in Albi , flippin hot but it made a change of scenery and well I'll just put this down to experiance and scrutinise the ceilings in future!!

Just thought I would post my experiances this weekend to see what reactions I get, to see if my own expectations were so out of line. We at short notice booked a Chambred'hote near Albi for 1 night for us and 2 children 11 & 14 boys, we had a bit of a discussion about the sleeping arrangements as I had asked for possibly a family room, it was explained this was possible, I had seen the costs on the web site of the room prices whilst higher than I really wanted this was the third I had phoned and the others were full,there were no indications of the cost for children but I "assumed" that it would be along the lines of 15euro per child or something like that. Well the bed was not made when we arrived at 7.30pm  and the linen given to me to make the bed, no great problem really but there was only the 1small canape bed for the 2 boys to sleep in again not the end of the world but the room was quite expensive and we had already descovered that it was badly done up  DIY gone mad and very small, the shower did'nt work and there was no opening windows in the bed room, it was a loft room above a garage. Pillows were 1 each and had seen fatter days and the bed cheap and hard, the top sheet was a duvet cover with no duvet ( too hot anyway), the ceilings had been covered in calico to cover the undersides of roof tiles and did'nt quite fit. the photos looked  ok  and just goes to show how they can hide many a fault, overall the room looked quite pretty but when you arrive and see it, " that'll do they won't see it" dose'nt cut the mustard I'm afraid. Breakfast was seriously lacking the table was not laid at 9.15 in the morning and we had explained that we needed to leave reasonably promptly. Breakfast consisted of 2 slices of bread one type of jam and a cheap yogurt, and one cup of luke warm coffee the total bill for this was 140.00 including 50euro for the boys this made my toes curl up but we paid and left as confrontation is not my fortay and we were hoping to have a nice day out, this was the first break we have taken in 18 months of renovation including week ends as we have got a major project on. I know the base fault lies with me not confirming the price for the children and therefore rest my case. I write this for many a reason one being " How not to do B&B" and to see how you may charge in this instance, I look forward to your imput.

My Father lives here with us and has a form of senility, it has had to happen on occasion that he has gone to our local hospital / convalesance ( can spelt it!! oh god I need brain stimulation!) home, which is unlike a normal hospital, it is superb and the care has been great there is also a head nurse who speaks english so if necessary she can help my father when I'm not there, he has mastered some basics probably from memory 40 years ago but however can managed Oui and Merci. Our Doctor has managed to arrange this in the past and I understand the mairie can also be approached. It is worth a try and as previously said you know the care will be correct. kind regards Lilly

My Father lives here with us and has a form of senility, it has had to happen on occasion that he has gone to our local hospital / convalesance ( can spelt it!! oh god I need brain stimulation!) home, which is unlike a normal hospital, it is superb and the care has been great there is also a head nurse who speaks english so if necessary she can help my father when I'm not there, he has mastered some basics probably from memory 40 years ago but however can managed Oui and Merci. Our Doctor has managed to arrange this in the past and I understand the mairie can also be approached. It is worth a try and as previously said you know the dare will be correct. kind regards Lilly

We have recently done the same thing, I would let the exterior beam weather a bit first, if its oak it will tone down quite quickly because of the natural tannins, then we have used an exterior grade oil available from good wood supplers this leaves a natural finish and will protect from the weather. As for the internal beam try on a spare bit  the same oil as it has a slight colour you may find this is enough if not a light oak wood stain should do it depending on how dark the others are followed by the oil 2-3 coats . good luck Lilly

I can't help with the location part of your question but for the mortgage, I personaly feel that some of these brokers that advertise are unqualified and to a large extent unregulated and can give un founded advice with no come back if it should prove to be detrimental, try in the first instance the banks like Abbey National, Credit Agricole etc ( if I am allowed to mention specifics!!) as they can help give you all the advice relating to a Morgage in France as whilst they a fundementally similar there are some legal differences that I  know these brokers do not inform you of, due to lack of knowledge or god forbid neglect. This is not meant to be scare mungering as a mortgage here proved to be very practle and relativly staight forward to aquire if a little lengthly just make sure you know what your mortgage entails like tie in periods, how long the mortgage will run for after you have paid it off, early repayment penalties, any assignments (in our case a large sum of money deposited in a life assurance bond!which we were not notified of exsisting until after the signed compromis de vente and thus funds had to be found\borrowed tout suite!As this did not fit the clause suspensive of a mortgage needed as the bank would give us a mortgage!) you know the rules sign nothing if you can't read it, assume nothing. This incidently for us was 3 years ago and still has me growling

Our builder is not putting morter in between ( vertically) as he says that this is to allow air flo for full thermal insulation, and incidently although they are inside they being mortered!!

Just a thought and not exactly the answer perhaps but, what if your child went to the primaire ( primary school) and effectivley redoubled the last year before going to the college this would give him/her the opportunity to learn french as they do at school and make friends to perhaps go on to the college with and give a bit of settling down time before the demands of big school set in and at the same time you could arrange extra external french lessons here in France, whilst any french you can learn in the UK is beneficial I believe that with accents and colloquelisms you will learn oodles more here. If this expensive French school in Cambridge ( I used to live there also!) would allow you to take classes and allow your child to sit in as they are like sponges I'm sure they will pick a fair amount. I hope this helps.Incidently My sons schools' did not insist on any pre scolaring in French, however useul this would be,my point is it was not obligatory and let alone to specify what type of class with which organisation.

Hi we inherited one just the same, I used the original blue harpic in the dark blue bottle you can get it in le clerc it took a few good attempts of leaving over night and some elbow grease and it doesn't damage the fosse , just in case i fed the p**p munchers with a couple of 'off yogurts!!and all is well.

An odd situation has arisen for our friends who were just about to sell their house, the buyers are likely to pull out because they have got spooked as they are married without children and because if they were to die at the same timeshe under no circumstances would want her brother in Australia to inherit house and chattels needless to say they were intending to move and retire to France it would seem from what I have heard that he would be the next inline of succession, does anyone know if there is anyway to insure that this wouldn't happen, I do feel that the answer is likey to be the same as for children but I thought I would check  p.s these buyers after 6 weeks of negotiations and termite reports etc asked this question at the signing of the compromis!!!! The termite report was carried out on the instruction of the Agent immo so to not complicate the compromis b******s i think. Needless to say the compromis has not been signed.

This had me sniggering,, earlier this year we when booked a two week break to Republican Dominica having realised that this was likly to be a seige like destination thought as all us (insurance mad brits do) better get hols insurance as this is what you do!! however the story went thus.. I went to the travel agent who said "you won't need it as your covered with your house insurance", so I went to our insurers to confirm that I had travel insurance with them as part of the all singing and dancing contract we've got, I was told well yes in case of accident or illness we're covered, what about luggage ,cameras etc? the response you won't need that you're going on holiday so relax you're going to have a good time the main thing is that you and your family should they be ill or have an accident or god forbid die you will be seen alright after which he went on to describe how in the middle of the night he helped someone who's husband had dropped dead. By now I was quite agitated not looking forward to going as if we lost everything in luggage I would be broke!!! sauntered back (after lunch!!) to the travel agent who realising I really did want travel insurance said he could do it but did I realise it cost extra!! well at the grand cost of 80euro for all of us, left insured. Yes we did have a very warm (minus 15 here !) 2 week break ,didn't get robbed or mugged, didn't drop dead and did'nt loose the luggage, but it was a seige like experience that took us 4 days to feel safe on the private beech, did not leave the hotel complex as the rep told us its too dangerous even in day time, this year i've got my sheepskin boots and a thicker jumper.

Hi, we also live in a preserved area and had one or six planning "issues", how ever all is well now! We had an interview with The architect de batiment de france in Perigueux nervous as hell before hand ( he held our lives in his hands!!)It was very plain sailing and he was very approachable and we got the small changes changed into what he wanted to see with him making sketches and voila we agreed (he is god afterall!!) My point is you should be able to have an appointment with your regional architect ask at the prefecture or sous prefecture what days he is local to you and go and discuss your requirements and he should also be able to tell you where you are going wrong.

Since you have got me salivating and I can't wait to order one these famous books, please, please  could you let me have the recipe??? As I have got some friends coming for dinner and I want to prove that the Anglais don't boil all meat!! Thank you in anticipation Lilly

We are having geothermie installed soon, there are some makes better than others so do your research also as regards rebates it works like this, in this area you get up to 50% rebate on the actual machine and capture not on the water boiler or any thing that could be used by a different system ie: underfloor heating so it is not quite the discount that it would first appear also as long as you have registered for tax it is either a rebate off tax owed or a cheque if you do not need to pay tax due to no tax payable. We are doing all the manual labour of fitting pipes and radiators and underfloor systems and leaving the capture and connections to the experts to help keep the initial costs down but it is still an expensive operation it works out about the same as a fuel system after the rebates!! Still hopefully cheaper to run!!

I moved over two years ago on the hottest day on record with a trailer two dogs 1 cat and 2 rats (and two kids and hubby!!) I can't help with easy places to stay as we took too long a detour to recommend to you! but usefull advice is .....1.Don't over load your trailer as with a hot car and hills ( beautiful they maybe ..from a distance)steam train like sounds emit from the engine and lots of conking out even with a newish Sharan tdi and the animals all 8 of them get hot even with good climate control because the sun beams in to your green house on wheels. My advice is travel at night and early morning when possible. 2. Don't under estimate travel times as it is very busy here now. 3. Take freezer blocks for animal travel cages and to keep water cold as warm water does nothing for hot animals. if I think of anything else I'll post it, have a good journey and I wish you all the best in your new life here.

In answer to your last question if my experiances are anything to go by as I have a 11 year old and a 14 year old that have now been in school for just over a year, we waited for four months until the start of the new year but to be honest if we had bitten the bullet to send them to school even for just a short time it would have just given them the basics.The best initial learning they can have is to mix with potential new friends and become familiar with their surroundings of the school. In my older sons case he ended up going to school for the final 8 weeks of term this was a valuable time of familialisation (help where is spell check!!) and learning the easier bits of the language, so in a nut shell send them after an initial couple of weeks or so of arriving to a new country and it will only aid the new start of an actual year (In my opinion!)

If I remember correctly it is not the seller that pays the commission to the immobilier but the purchaser, it might well be that he would not recieve the amount advertised but he could agree a amicable arrangement with the agent first ...perhaps!