Purdey

You don't say which route you are taking but  we  have stayed many times at this chambres d'hotes which is  about 5 minutes from   junction 20 of the A20,  just south of Argenton sur Creuse. It is run by Chris and Sarah and their e-mail address is [email protected]

We left the area on Sunday afternoon, a few hours before the storm, and had a phone call after our return to the UK telling us about it.  It caused a great deal of damage, apparently the body repair centres are full of badly dented cars and  the  rubbish dump has lots of wet roof insulation etc. An old garden table of ours was completely shattered and we have a few holes in our tiles. Luckily a friend or ours who is a builder has taken a look and dealt with it.

Did anyone experience the hailstorm last Sunday evening, particularly in the Mirepoix area, which caused so much damage locally to property and vehicles? 

Thank you for your replies though in the meantime I managed to find somewhere convenient through an internet search.

 Does anyone know of chambres d'hotes close to the A71 in the Bourges, Vierzon areas? 

Have sent you a pm  re somewhere close to Poitiers

On the hillside above our village in the Ariege is  the site of a cemetery dating from the  Merovingienne period - 6th to 8th century ( Cemetiere de Tabariane) The first dig took place in 1901 and each summer archaeology students come there to dig. Last year while we were there the villagers were invited to the site where the professor explained a little of it's history and what had been found. We saw three skeletons in the process of being excavated. To date 130 have been found along with various artefacts - necklaces, brooches, buttons etc. It was very interesting.

Thank you to everyone for your replies. I'm sure the gift will not be a problem and we look forward to attending both celebrations.

Yes, that's exactly it, not wanting to go over the top as we too gave the child a present when he was born which was much appreciated by the parents.

 We have been invited to a wedding in France which is a 2nd marriage, certainly for the bride and we are anxious to do the right thing, particularly regarding gifts. By co-incidence, we have also been invited to a christening. Is there a traditional gift one gives to the child eg money? We would welcome any advice.

Has anyone else not yet received their new E111 card? We were told that it would arrive by the end of 2005 but it hasn't. We renewed our old one at the post office last January so  it is now out of date anyway and as we are goimg to France in 2 weeks time are a bit concerned.

It would appear that all weather conditions landing is not possible at Carcassonne as last Wedmesday (9th), half an hour after the incoming flight should have landed, our flight to Stansted was cancelled due to 'adverse weather conditions'. We wonder where the flight was diverted to as the only other time this happened to us, the flight was diverted to Toulouse and we were taken there by coach. We were told that we had to go to the information desk to re-book flights. This was chaotic as  the check-in  and information area is very small at present due to work in progress. All the passengers from the flight were in this area as passengers for the flight for Charleroi (which strangely did manage to land at Carcassonne shortly afterwards) were trying to get to the check-in desks. We were told that there were no flights available to any of us that day and in fact we had to wait until Saturday for a flight from Carcassonne although we could have gone from Gerona or Montpellier on Friday. We were lucky as all we had to do was re-hire a car for three days (at considerable expense) and go back to our French house, open everything up again and do some shopping. It was inconvenient, we had to make lots of phone calls cancelling various arrangements but not the end of the world. However there were others who were 'stranded' and I was very sorry for them We have used Ryanair many times during the past six years, saving a considerable amount of money by being able to take advantage of cheap flights and we have always said that we wouldn't grumble if one went 'pear-shaped' as it did last week. However again I feel sorry for those who had to pay considerably more for their flight than we did - not a happy experience!        

We have owned our house in the Ariege for five years, between Mirepoix and Pamiers. We don't live there permanenetly but visit often, one or other or both every 6 - 8 weeks.  We love the department, it has remained relatively undiscovered  and feel that we are ideally situated. The sea is only just over an hour away, the mountains even closer and we are lucky to be able to use several airports and take advantage of cheap flights with Ryanair - Carcassonne and Perpignan being the closest. When we have wanted a change and see different areas  we have also used Rodez, Pau, Nimes amd Montpelier airports. Toulouse airport is also close. We also enjoy driving down in the summer. Obviously the weather is affected by the closeness of the mountains but as we are not there all the time I can't generalise. We  have no regrets  that we chose the Ariege and have experienced nothing but friendliness there.    

For the past five years as often as possible in 09 - Ariege, between Mirepoix and Pamiers

Does  anyone   know please of chambres d'hotes between Orleans and Vierzon close to the A71

Could someone please advise me of the average hourly or daily rate for a plumber in France

Thank you to everyone for your helpful replies. I hadn't thought about trains from Pamiers - that might be a convenient option.

Thank you so much, that was all very helpful - particularly the reminder about snow chains.

My son and his girl friend will be staying at our house between Mirepoix and Pamiers in January so that they can ski and snowboard. They are not beginners. They don't particularly want to  drive far  so please can anyone  tell me the nearest resorts to us and what they can expect at these.

My son and his girl friend will be staying at our house between Mirepoix and Pamiers in January so that they can ski and snowboard. They are not beginners. They don't particularly want to  drive far  so please can anyone  tell me the nearest resorts to us and what they can expect at these.

My apologies, the article on leaseback is in French Property News not LF magazine

There is an article in the current Living France magazine on leaseback with pros and cons and two examples of people who have purchased this way and of their experiences

We travelled out on Sept.19th and back on 3rd Oct. Both crossings on time and no problems.

I too should like to make a comment from the other side. We drive down to the south west about 4 times a year staying a night in cdh en route and have been doing so for the past 4 years.  Like Dick we only ever book at places which offer tdh. Apart from being too tired to want to bother going out to a restaurant, we have had some  very enjoyable stays with great company both of the hosts and other guests and  we have learnt a great deal from them. At first, we booked at French cdh, wanting to practice our French etc but lately have stayed at English ones. Getting older,  after a long drive it's nice not to have to make the effort to try to drag up all the elusive words and phrases. However we have really appreciated them all and consider the night in cdh as part of our 'holiday'

Does anyone know please of chambres d'hotes very close to A20 between Vierzon and Chateauroux