Rita

Hi Nick, Thanks for the information. I would appreciate any further info you can give, ie. how many dishes are we likely to need? any idea of costings for 4-5 bedrooms? Is it possible to get these countries terrestrial stations? Thanks for your time, Rita

Hi, I also got this e-mail message from Speedferries. If you look on their website under the special offer it actually states it is a limited edition of 25 tickets per customer and to be booked in October 2004. This is great if you know when you are going to be going backward and forwards next year as you can book now and ensure all of your trips are at the £50.00 return rate. As I say great if you know when you are going next year but if not will still have to book as early as you know after O ctoberto get the better deals. Rita

Know that in Hotels they often have Satellite TV in each room and obviously these can work independantly of each other. My question is: Can you do the same in a B&B? How easy is it to do? and what would be type of cost implication? We would like to put Sat TV in each room, which hopefully can get different nationality ie.French,German,Dutch,Italian,Spanish,English programmes and obviously work independantly of each other like in Hotels. Has anybody done this? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks Rita

David, Both my Hubbie and myself were also intrigued with the Building Blocks. Especially as we will be moving to France before the year is out, and we want to do up a couple of the outbuildings that already have CDU. Would be good to know if these are available! where from and how much?   Cheers Rita

Is it just me or are any of you also having problems with searching for subjects since the new forum format.  I put in the word or subject I want to search and seem to get all sorts, some not even relating to what I am searching for. Also if I try to go to the next page it just freezes and states done but with errors on the page.  Did we lose all the archives when we transferred to this format? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Rita

I can also only see a small square box with a red cross in it! I was looking forward to seeing your old barn as have been intrigued. Rita

I have been thinking the same thing, perhaps the Moderators can let us know if this is the case?

Thanks guys, that has given me food for thought I will start looking again but will be a bit more informed this time. Cheers Rita

Will be buying a new computer soon prior to our move to France for good. However which one? I currently have a PC which has XP,Pentium 4, CD/DVD Rewriter however a few years old and I would like to update it. I have thought about just getting a more upto date version of my PC with a TFT screen this time. Also like the idea of a Laptop so can bring it with me when/if we visit here and because we will  initially be living in a caravan on site or renting until our place is habitable, Centrino seems like a good idea but obviously it has its limitations regarding signals. Also like the look of Apple but don't really know much about them. Any computer buffs out there that can help and give me some advice? Please Help! Husband is getting fed up because I cannot make up my mind and as far as he is concerned Computers just make very good paperweights!!!! Thanks Rita  

We also watched the show as we have been planning our move for over 18months so thought we might learn something else. Well just shows how wrong you can be!! We visit at least every other month if not more,work allowing. We keep practising our French and it is getting better however still not fantastic. Could not believe that they did not even appear to have a French Dictionary or Phrase book with them especially when they were trying to register their children for school. We take ours everywhere and believe me it has really helped. We have visited at least 4 different areas before deciding which one suits us, perhaps easier for us as our son is 22 and staying in the U.K when we move, so no school worries. We visited a couple of weeks ago and put an offer in on a property however still waiting to hear from the vendor if he will accept, so keeping fingers crossed. Needs renovating and will need to stay in caravan (Oh the cold!!) on site or perhaps rent a gite during the winter whilst we get it habitable. Hubby still working in the U.K one week here and every other week in France (keeps the money coming in). I really hope these people get on with their Hotel thing as it seems a shame to have put the children through so much to have to return to the U.K. Would be good to know how they are getting on now. So is anyone knows these people perhaps they will enlighten us nosey parkers!! Rita

Hi, We have been using a guy called David McDonald regarding mortgages he has been absolutely brilliant he really knows his stuff. He is based in France and his e-mail address is:[email protected] Just e-mail him and tell him Rita says Hi! By the way I have no affiliation with him other than he helped us with our Mortgage and I do not gain anything by recommending him, however I know what a mine field this can be. He is currently on Holiday at the present so please be patient with him. Hope he can help, Good Luck. Rita

Hi, Just wondering where the house is! as we have been with some unscrupulous agents in the past.

Hi, This may sound like a daft question but was just wondering if ALL B&B/CDH do evening meals or do some just do the breakfast? Rita

Hi, We have been using a guy called David McDonald regarding mortgages he has been absolutely brilliant. He is based in France and his e-mail address is:[email protected] Just e-mail him and tell him Rita says Hi! By the way I have no affiliation with him other than he helped us with our Mortgage and I do not gain anything by recommending him, however I know what a mine field this can be. He got us a great rate of 2.75% and this is putting down 20% deposit. I know I recommended him to someone else a few weeks ago on this forum and they were really pleased with his service. He is currently on Holiday at the present but he is due back the middle of this next week. Hope he can help, Good Luck. Rita

Thanks so much everyone! Glad to hear it is ok to go with Non-Smoking as I am an ardent non smoker and my husband is an ex-smoker(don't want to encourage him to start again!!) Can't bear the thought of having the smell of stale smoke in our home. I used to run a pub and it was flippin awful especially when you went into the bar first thing in the morning, YUCK!!! Rita

Hi, I have found this site a valuable place for information however I have done a search or this subject and cannot find anything other than on moles or food. If it has been posted before I apologise. Do any of you in the know suggest that there are rules on this in B&B's ie do you allow smokers or not? and if you do do you have designated smoking areas? Thanks for any info. Rita

LAST EDITED ON 08-Jul-04 AT 10:20 PM (BST) Hi, We have been using a guy called David McDonald regarding mortgages he has been absolutely brilliant. He is based in France and his e-mail address is:[email protected] Just e-mail him and tell him Rita says Hi! Hope he can help Rita

Hi, We have been using a guy called David McDonald for our Mortgage he has been absolutely brilliant. Don't know if he can help with this one but it may be worth a try. He is based in France and his e-mail address is:[email protected] Just e-mail him and tell him Rita says Hi! Hope he can help Rita

Sorry forgot to put:- Whilst we were at the property the English Agents wife and daughter kept saying about them selling their property and buying this one. The wife even told us that her husband was taking photo's as he would be wanting to buy this property. DO you think this is why they are making a fuss? Thanks Rita

Hi, I really hope someone can help.I will have to give some background info before I ask my question so hope you will bear with me! We booked a viewing with an English Agent in May to see a particular property!.We gave them our mobile no. and asked if it sold prior to us visitng if they could let us know. Anyway we travelled 31/2 hours to meet them. When we arrived they we then all had to meet up with a French agent, however they did not know him so we sat there looking at this chap for at least 20minutes before they rang him and realised it was him! We were NOT introduced to this agent and did NOT sign any viewing paperwork with either as we have done with other agents.We were then informed that the property was already sold. he took us to 3 other properties that were all over the budget we had explained we had, when we asked him questions about the first property he did not seem to know what land,how much land or indeed how much the property was, even though the owner(apparently) was with us. We then left the agents. Oh! by the way the English Agent turned up with his Wife and 13year old daughter who all went round the properties with us, totally embarrasing. We liked the first property and on the way back we drove past it and noticed a Notaires sign on the fence. We rang the Notaire and booked another viewing which we managed to do, we spoke to the Notaire and asked him if there were agents involved with the sale of this property he informed us that there were NOT. As we have been involved with unscrupulous agents before we were concerned, anyway we put in an offer and the vendor came to meet us and the offer was accepted. The Notaire asked us to return a few weeks later to sign the compromis (this is on the 30th June).We have had e-mails from the English agent informing us that we had no right to do this and saying that we intended to cut them out all along, This we did not intend and our solicitor told us to stop all contact with them as he was looking into deformation of character. Anyway the Agent has now got in touch with the Notaire and informed him that we will have to pay the agents fees or they will take us to court. Can anyone tell me if this is correct, as the offer was accepted and it was above our previous budget it will make it extemely difficult if we now have to pay the agents fees. I apologise for the long winded post and hope someone will be able to cope with reading it all and helping us. Thanking you all in advance, Rita

Hi, Sounds an excellent price. Can you give me the details of the guy who is doing it. Thanks Rita

Hi, Have been in contact with GDF to enquire about obtaining a grant for renovation works for Chambres d'Hotes(hopefully). However they have sent the brochure and it is obviously in French unfortunately my French is not good enough just yet to understand the whole ins and outs and they do not supply an English version (quite rightly). Has anyone any knowledge of this type of grant? Has anyone applied? How did you get on? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanking you in advance. Rita I have also posted this on the Gite owners forum as we are hoping to do both.

Hi, Have been in contact with GDF to enquire about obtaining a grant for renovation works on gites (hopefully). However they have sent the brochure and it is obviously in French unfortunately my French is not good enough just yet to understand the whole ins and outs and they do not supply an English version (quite rightly). Has anyone any knowledge of this type of grant? Has anyone applied? How did you get on? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanking you in advance. Rita