arawire

I need to transport some furniture from London to Near Montepllier (Ales) (Size Wise - the goods will take up the size of a Luton van). I would like to do this around the 14th-18th May.  Does anyone: (a) know of an empty van coming back to France around this time? (b) know a cheap van hire place here in France so I can drive to the UK and get the goods? (c) Does anyone need goods taking back to the UK and we can share the costs? (I'm happy to drive) (g) Know of a reasonable cheap removal team from UK (e) Any other suggestions   Thanks

We currently live on a farm in the Cevennes where we have terraces, chestnut forests, etc.... We grow organic vegetables and are interested in alternative building techniques (e.g cordwood, straw bale etc...), care of chestnuts, drystone walling etc....  It would be good to meet up with other people with similar interests who maybe live in a similar environment to bounce ideas off and swap knowledge on these subjects.  We've learnt heaps in the 1.5 years we've been here but I'm sure we've still got a long way to go!        

[quote]How perfect is that - the Lakes with better weather and food !!!! ( to me anyway ).Thanks Peter. Both the nature and the wildness are drawing us to this area but we have to find out also about the r...[/quote] Hi,  I'm not 100% sure about land access.  We have about 8ha of land with a GR walk going through the top.  Very very occasionally people cut throught (but according to our French neighbours) - they are not allowed to - so I guess its private except for allowing access to the GR walk. The other issues to watch out for is the hunters - they can be a pain (and they're mostly all over France).  They hunt from end Aug to end Feb (approx) - we have told them not to come on the land, and as one of our neighbours is the head of the hunting party - he has had a word - and they generally do keep a distance.  So I would find out about this - as when you have animals you don't want stray bullets flying about! Another thing to think about is the direction and position of the house.  We were very lucky (by chance) to find a S. Facing Mas in a curve between 2 hills - this means it has a small micro climate and differs in temperature from our neighbour 100m away, and if there is any wind - it never seems to hit the house.  Consequently we can grow crops that are not usually grown in this area. (We don't get frost when they do either and the temperature at night can differ between us by about 7 degrees plus).  So if you find a place - make sure you pop back at different times as this can make a great difference to the quality of life. If you're coming down this area - feel free to come in for a cup of tea and have a look around.  

sorry...bad wording - I just need to bring stuff back from London around the 14th May - so I was wondering if it was best to hire someone to transport from UK to France, or hire a van myself in France and drive to the UK to collect.  

[quote]We're coming to the South of France in April/May on a house hunting trip for a place to take early retirement to,and we are trying to get a feel for the area by searching on the net before we arrive. ...[/quote] Hi  I just saw your post.  I live in the Cevennes and think its absolutely great.  Areas of it are really unspoilt.  If you love nature... then this is the place to be.  In regards to climate - this can vary dramatically throughout the region - parts have a med climate - others a more harsher climate. (There's a lot of info on the web on the Cevennes - well worth reading).  Plant life sustained is from tropical to polar - so a bit of a difference there! So well worth checking out the seasonal temperature in your specific area. I would warn you that people (esp. English) can be a bit "down" on this area.  This is generally because they don't' know it. (and maybe because you get a house twice the size for half the cost!)    My parents have a large house in the heart of Provence, and to be honest - I'd rather be in the Cevennes.  You don't get the worst of the  Mistral that they get down there (which makes a huge difference).  The summers can be slightly milder (but only slightly) - which to be honest can be a relief.  An when they had snow recently, we didn't. The diversity of wildlife here is magnificent (one of the worlds biospheres), and you can walk for hours without meeting anyone (which is quite difficult to do in Provence). anyway... feel free to email for more info and check this out: http://causses-cevennes.com/      

Hi,  I'm going to London 14th May to collect a "Luton Van" Amount of items from storage to bring back to France (Ales).  I was wondering if it would be cheaper to hire a van in France and bring the stuff back myself or alternatively does anyone know of a Van coming back this way around that time in May? Any help would be greatly appreciated,   Thanks

I'm just about to do my first tax return, and wanted to know if anyone knew of a good English Speaking accountant / tax advisor in the Gard region or one who can communicate via the internet. Any ideas how much I should  be paying for this service (as the big advertised companies seem to charge 100's)? Is there a definitive list of advisors / accountants on the internet?   Thanks

We have a woodburning central heating system at the moment (which is great... except I cannot cope with the thought of cutting 10 tonnes of wood this winter).  Our neighbour recommended that it could be replaced with a "gazole" based central heating system - that would cost about 1000E to run per year. Does anyone know about these systems and whether they are efficient or not. Does anyone also know of any could resources that compare the energy efficiency / cost of different types of fuel (eg gaz vs oil vs wood etc...)   Thanks