robkat

Phew! That's put my mind at rest.  Anyway I thought that was the case & will let my friend know.

A friend of mine who lives in France has told me that ex stepchildren can inherit a share in the french property. I find this hard to believe (my husband & I own a house in France but live in the UK at the moment).  I had 3 step children who I never met & who probably did not even know about me!  My ex is now dead & I have no idea where his children are (they are all in their 50's now). Can anyone enlighten me?  

Yes idun, the only reason I persevered with it was because everyone (including son who lives in Sweden) said it was THE book & I felt a certain pressure! I also had trouble with Captain Corelli's Mandolin....

There must be something wrong with me - I found the first book hard going & had to read the first 100 pages before I got into it. I was over 'Vangered' & lost who was who! Hubby has just finished no2 & could not put it down - I will not be reading tis one!!

We have the same problem & after a bit of delving around we have been told that an oil based paint is best. We are going to try Holkham linseed oil paint which carries a 7 Year (i think) guarantee. It is not cheap but we have been advised that it is very good.

Thanks everyone for your replies - it seems he will be OK. If not, we will just have to leave Dad sitting at the docks in St Malo waiting for us on our return!

We are hoping to take the Oldies to France with us in spring (Dad 83 & Mum 84) to visit our pad. But Dad's passport runs out in September. Someone told me that one has to have 6 clear months before expiry in order to travel. Is this so? In view of his age he is reluctant to get a new 10 year one! Thanks for any info

We also live in Brighton & find the Newhaven/Dieppe route an excellent (& fairly) inexpensive crossing which we do several times a year. We shall continue to support this crossing but sometimes have been one of only a handful of cars on board. However, we do not enjoy this crossing when the wind is blowing! PS, still haven't found out how to 'cash in' our frequent traveller points!

Does anyone know any classes &/or regular dances in charente maritine in St Jean d'Angeley area?

there is anglo french assoc in villeneuve la comtesse just down the road! try [email protected] Kathy

Signed as well. We have also booked our tickets for the 2010 Spa GP (they were offering 30% discount if booked before 30th Oct) so hope it goes ahead or we are about 285 euros down the drain!!

We have had our holiday home here for 8 years (& hope to retire there in the near future). Is the vide grenier an annual event? We seem to miss being in Villeneuve in September as we have returned from our summer break & don't go back again until mid October.

Well you must have chosen a duff sailing.  We sailed to France on the Rodin on the 9.45am last Friday. We found it clean & free from smells. Hubby had an excellent FEB while I stuck with the continental!. However, we came back the following night on the Moliere - not great, but OK. We must hang on in there with these ferry crossings. We usually use the Newhaven/Dieppe crossing but hear this is now facing difficult time, so we need to support the ferries as much as poss.  Use them or loose them!! Robkat

Great - new season just around the corner & hubby has booked a trip to Spa in September & hopefully Lewis will be well ahead by then. I then reminded him that we have a house in the Charente Maritime & could possible drive to Magny Cours.......Just wonder if any of you have done it under your own steam (not an organised trip). What's the parking like, & I would think that all roads leading to get fairly packed. Have heard that facilities i.e. food etc are not great there but would like to hear your comments. Robkat

A work colleague lives within spitting distance of the Transmanche terminal & said he saw the ferry come in yesterday & leave again this morning! Kathy

Interesting to hear your compromises! We bought our house 7 years ago & had roughly the same requirements but compromised on location - a rural village, but we have found it very very quiet (almost dead!!) & feel somewhat isolated there - the half hour drive to the shops etc is a bind.  We are going to retire to France but have decided to sell & move to a larger village/small town. The only problem is that we love the house - a 200 year old unspoilt stone place with a beautiful garden.  But we have decided that, at the end of the day, location is top of our list... Kathy (Brighton & Charente Maritime)

Hi Guys Have read all through this thread (& previous ones) I feel that the whole situation is a complete nightmare. There appears to be so many conflicting  rules & interpretations of these rules!  We have a house in 17 & hope to sell & move  further north this year. We bought this one 'in tontine'. We have both been married before & each have 2 grown up children by prevoius marriages, so will engage the best English speaking French Notaire we can afford when the time comes to move!! Just hope we live for ever to avoid these issues....... Kathy

I was so interested to read all your comments & ideas on travelling with cats. We are hoping to make the move to Charente Maritime sometime next year & I have been dreading the journey with our three gorgeous cats. However, on reading your comments it appears that it is not such a trial (for the cats, that is), but will be for me!!! By the way, our vet also recommended Feliway. Kathy

Really can't believe the effort you put in trying to find the owner of husky - it's heartening to think there are still such caring people out there. Our maison secondaire (soon to be permanent)  is very near St Jean d'Angely & I had no idea there was a refuge there. Robkat with 3 cats!

Just had to laugh at this thread as I have (hopefully) just come through the dreaded menopause & have experienced most of your symptoms....Crying for no apparent reason, having a go at the OH for no apparent reason - I think he is as relieved as I am that it now appears to be ending!! Am fighting the weight gain (& succeeding for the moment), but when we are in France, I have to be very strong not to partake of the odd baguette or croissant or the old saddle bags would soon appear!! Hopefully when we retire to France next year it will all be a distant memory.

We have seen a boarding place on the road between Chatellailon and Fouras. I can't be more specific as I am in Uk at moment & map is in France.  I would be interested to see how you get on as we are making the move to dept 17 in the near future & have 3 beautiful cats & I am already worrying about leaving them if we have to!  I think I have also seen on this forum someone who looks after cats but it would mean trawling through previous threads... Kathy

Doubt if it's a neighbours thing, but may try the alcohol route when I go down next monday.  Think it may be bureaucracy, but wonder if we could go ahead without permission - after all, they surely can't make us undo the work - or can they? Is there a list of thngs one can do to the house without involving the mairie or permission? Thanks anyway Kathy

One of our external walls needs repointing with that white cement looking stuff.  We managed to engage a French mason cum general builder to do the job & he has erected scaffolding agaist the wall which means he is on our neighbours land. All going well until we had a call from the maire - duly filled in the required forms & submitted with 3 photos. Back comes a demand from the central planning office - they want 4 copies of scaled drawings of proposed works, including what it looks like now, what it will look like & a few other things. Is it OK for hubby to sit with some graph paper one evening & do his Gerhy act, or will it have to be undertaken by some architect at vast cost? After all, it's only a wall & we are improving it, not knocking down & re constructing anything. Kathy

We have had our house for nearly 6 years, just a few miles north of St Jean d'Angely. Love the house but maybe now are finding the area a bit too quiet - village becoming more ghost like each time we go, & it seems to be getting hotter every summer!!! Also, as we get older & hope to retire in France we feel we may want to move nearer a town so that the bars & cafes are within walking (or hobbling) distance. Everywhere (?) from our place seems to be a good half hours drive away.  Having said that, the people are lovely & friendly - would we be as welcome further north - where we are thinking of moving to? Kathy

We have a house near Surgeres (17) & there is yoga every Wednesday in the local hall - I know this is miles from where you are - but it appears that many French country folk regard yoga as a sort of  'sect' thing & are slightly wary of it - so we are told by our yoga teacher!! Our class is taken by an English guy & there are more Brits than French in the class. We hope this attitude changes before we live there permanently! Good luck in you search anyway Kathy