Mops

Does anyone have a 2/3 bedroomed gite available for the week commencing 27th May until 3rd June.  This would be for a family of five (husband, wife, 2 girls aged 10 & 8 one boy 6) all well house trained!  Preferably with a pool and garden.  The area is flexible but preferably in the around Nontron (or roughly half way between Montpon, Dordogne and Bellac, Haute Vienne).  Possibility for the week commencing 20th May also but this would be without the children.  Please send me a private message or an e-mail.   Mops 

Try Mimi at Sud Immobilier (France Property Services) in Bellac opposite the sous prefecture.  Probably the cheapest for commission and with the best selection of property available in the area and a very good web site.  French agency but perfect English spoken

Thanks Chas for your cheery post.  I've sent you an e-mail.  Thanks also to all the suggestions and good wishes from everyone, I have made a note of the various web addresses. 

Thank you very much Ron for coming back so quickly with the information, it's greatly appreciated.

My husband has recently been diagnosed with cancer.  Does anyone know of any support groups in south western France?  We are in the Dordogne but not too far away from southern Charente or western Gironde. 

Thank you for your perfect explanation, I totally agree with you

Mothering Sunday is the religious celebration in the Anglican church rather than the commercial event that has become more common in recent years (this is only a comment not a criticism, but to answer your question yes it is the UK mother's day as well).  As I have French grandchildren as well we celebrate both!

There will be a Mothering Sunday Service (Anglican) held on Sunday 26th March at 11 am at St Martial d'Artenset Church (between Montpon and Mussidan) everyone welcome.  Please come and join us, we need your support.  It may be possible to hold further English services here in the future. Tea/Coffee served after the service. Please send me a private e-mail for further information. Also in St Martial at the salle de réunion on Friday March 31st there will be a coffee morning at 10.30 - 12.30: Bric-a-brac, books, tombola, good as new etc.[*]  

Are you sure that you have the right amount as I have been offered a deal of 250 minutes a month for €19?  

Hi Manda You contacted me way back earlier in the year and I tried to get hold of you but didn't have your correct mobile number and husband had cleverly wiped off your message on the answering machine.  We used an English plasterer based near Ste Foy la Grande who is fully French registered and has been here for years (he even uses English plaster where appropriate) his name is Mike Webb and can be contacted on 05053581719 or mobile 0671983267.  His standard of plastering is excellent and he will also do other masonry work.  Hope this helps.   Best wishes Angela

Why bother commenting.  There is nothing more to be added.  Nobody is discussing religion here.  Some subjects are best avoided.  I wouldn't openly admit on this forum to being a Muslim, Catholic etc.  some things are best kept to ourselves, which was the point I was trying to make.  The subject is closed as far as I am concerned.  Si vous voulez continuer de discuter ce sujet faites le ailleurs, mais pas ici s'il vous plait madame.

As I don't watch the programme 'Little Britain' I have no idea what it's about.  I didn't know that he was joking.  As I said before I have no problem with people being gay, just believe that our sexual preferences are better not aired on a forum.  I am not in the slightest bit ashamed I am just as entitled to have my say on the matter as anyone else.  If some people have taken offense that is their problem.  Chaqu'un son gout!

And that's something to be proud of is it?  Do we really need to know, I don't wish you any harm but can't you just live quietly and let us all carry on in our normal 'straight' world.  This will probably provoke alot of backlash but it's time someone stood up for 'straight' rights too.  I don't want my grandchildren to be brought up in a world where they are taught that there is a third way.  I have known many people in my life time across all continents who are homosexual and they have are super people but none of them has found the need to shout it from the roof tops.  When do you hear about others with genetic defects (because that is what it is) shouting about their problems.   Disgruntled

My husband is looking for a lift to Cherbourg any time early September and would obviously pay his part share in the expenses.  He needs to get to Poole to collect a car that he has recently bought so he would be taking the Poole Cherbourg ferry.  We live in the Montpon/Mussidan area of the dordogne but I would be happy to take him anywhere within a 50km distance.  Caen would also be a possibility as he could take a train from Portsmouth to Poole.

St Laurent des Hommes (24) between Montpon and Mussidan.  Before that 3 years near St Malo in Brittany and 6 years in the Dordogne near Ste Foy La Grande prior to that.  Married, four children all married and soon to have 10th grandchild (3 half French). 

Have you tried France-Property-Services.com?

[quote]Having been brought up over here and my husband having worked here when younger we have adopted the French attitude to drinking: enjoy it and savour it without getting legless, I wish I could say the...[/quote] Coco, I couldn't agree more.  We frequently put a cork in the bottle and save it until the next day (it often tastes better!).  That doesn't mean to say that occasionally we have a little more than we need either but I like to think that we have a reasonably sensible approach to drinking most of the time.  After all the supply is hardly likely to dry up and there is always another day.  I also agree with you comment about savouring the wine and it putting you off plonk.  Life is far too short and precious to drink bad wine!   Mops

I think you must have been very unfortunate with the guests you have had stay (were they all Brits?).  We regularly stay in B&B's (we use the Alastair Sawday guide) and I have to say that never have we been faced with a notice not asking us to drink in the room.  We have frequently had an 'apero' in our room (usually wine or beer) and often a digestif (usually whiskey) but we always take the utmost care in doing so, as we do in our own home. Having been brought up over here and my husband having worked here when younger we have adopted the French attitude to drinking:  enjoy it and savour it without getting legless, I wish I could say the same thing about some of our British friends who believe the only way to enjoy yourself is to drink until you drop!   Angela  

Why not suggest that he use something like 'French Property News'.  Sellers pay a one off fee of about £50 for 6 months and many people are buying this way directly from private sellers.  I sold my property through them last year after two days of it appearing on their site.

We live in the Dordogne and have just had an excellent job done by an English plasterer (fully registered with siret etc. French wife).  He also uses English 'thistle' plaster too where appropriate.  His name is Mike Webb and he lives near Ste Foy La Grande, you can contact him on 05 53 58 17 19.  I hope this does not contravene the advertising rules (I am not connected in any way other than being a customer).   Angela

I sympathise with you over the theft of your plants.  A few years ago in the Dordogne we planted a new cupressus hedge along the roadside boundary of our property.  We awoke one morning about two weeks later to find that a dozen had been removed.  Furious but determined to have our hedge we replaced the missing trees  only to have them stolen again two days later!  A visit to the local gendarmerie proved futile with the usual gallic shrug of the shoulders informing us that there was little that could be done.  A third attempt to have my hedge was more successful as my husband took the trouble to wire all the trees together as well as laying a low lying wire boobie-trap.  Judging by the flattened grass and two of the trees we found a few days later it appears that the culprit had his just deserts and the trees have remained ever since.

Dept 24 between Mussidan and Montpon (where the sun shines and the wine flows - well not today!) most of the time, otherwise in a Dorset village near Blandford

"I won't get political here mops but I beg to differ on that statement, all our French friends, up and down the country and others we have spoken with, in the main, detested her vision and the way she let people simply fall by the wayside, something France and its inherent Socialism cannot (for the most part)stand by and watch. The strikes you so often see here are the solidarity of a race that the Dame de Fer simply would not have broken."   Sorry Miki, we'll have to agree to differ on this one.  Maybe you mix with very different French people from us (but must confess many of our French friends we have known for nearly 40 years) or perhaps they are of the same political bent as us.  Why is there so much envy when people succeed?  Everything we have is through hard work, sacrificing a normal family life to live and work overseas for over 20+ years.  There is no inherited wealth, we haven't ever sponged on society, we paid for private health care and education and yes we object to having to pay for those who believe that the state owes them a living. Likewise we don't expect any cash handouts from France or Britain.  If this makes me a capitalist then I'm proud to be one!   Un repas sans vin est comme un jour sans soleil

sounds like mops thinks we should go for looks My comments were taken out of context.  I don't see how being dignified has anything to do with one's looks.  What I meant was that Mrs. H is happy to play a supportive role to her husband and doesn't have to blabb to all and sundry or try to upstage 'hubby' by having an important career.  She may be an ex model but she's certainly no trophy wife in fact she looks quite natural perhaps even slightly dowdy at times.   

Thank goodness we're not all the same!  Michael Howard is no better or worse than Blair or Kennedy.  However, Mrs Howard (ex. Sandra Paul ) is far more dignified and would make a much better premier's wife than the other two potential first ladies.  It's policies we should be voting for rather than personalites.  I'm true blue and proud of it, Margaret Thatcher in her prime was a great leader.  The French had a great deal of respect for her and would have loved to have had someone with the same strength of character.  Is it fair to blame being unemployed on any government in office?