Coco

Experienced exactly the same problems from clients trying to book our B&B.  I reply but they never get my emails.  Fortunately for me they have been persistent and phoned, otherwise I could be losing business.  Anyone know how to overcome this problem?

Hi Monika We're about 35 minutes SW of Bayeux.  Maybe we've been unlucky but whenever we've visited Suisse Normande in the summer it's been cloudy or drizzly or very damp.  Now autumn is a completely different matter.  Clear blue skies and beautiful, beautiful rust, gold and yellow trees!

Thanks for the replies but can someone tell me where I can actually BUY these waterproof mattress protectors! I'm also still quite keen on the listening device as it's not so much babies I was thinking of but children up to about 7 or 8, who may get frightened and won't be heard if they call out.  So any suggestions still welcome!

Lovely topic I know BUT..... when we started up it had never occurred to us (not being parents ourselves) that people with children would want to stay in our B&B  But we soon realised that certainly in July and August we would lose a good 60% of potential business if we didn't take the little darlings.  So up til now we have used our larger double room and put an inflatable mattress on the floor.  So I've never even thought about bed wetting but if it should have happened it wouldn't have been a problem as the mattress was plastic anyway.  However, we are just about finishing off our new family suite and have bought two nice new single beds and mattresses for our younger visitors.  Have any of you experienced bed wetters and do you put anything more than a mattress protector on the bed, ie a plastic/rubber sheet underneath the protector? The room that we used to use is above our dining room so any distressed children can easily be heard, or can just wander down the stairs if they need their mum.  It's absolutely impossible to hear anything or be heard from the dining room to the new bedroom, so I thought that perhaps a baby listening thingy would be a good idea.  Can anyone tell me what the range is on one of those things?  Where can I buy one in either France or England?  And roughly how much do they cost? Many thanks.

Didn't really know where to put this question.  It's B&B related but I thought more people may see it here. We've just completed our new family suite but it's the opposite end of the house to where meals are served.  Previously we have used the room above our dining room for people with small children, so they can easily be heard, or can just wander down the stairs if they need their mum.  It's absolutely impossible to hear anything or be heard from the dining room to the new bedroom, so I thought that perhaps a baby listening thingy would be a good idea.  Can anyone tell me what the range is on one of those things?  Where can I buy one in either France or England?  And roughly how much do they cost? Many thanks.

Thanks Tony.  That's good news, we were thinking it was around 60mm and at 13.90€ for two spindles it was going to be quite expensive.  That should reduce the amount we need by almost a third!

Quite true about expense Chris.  I'm sure that holiday-makers put a lot more bearing on cost rather than political posturing.  But being "up north" isn't such a huge benefit because we have limited air services and of course we still have the western channel exhorbitant ferry prices.  But we are benefitting from the Americans "doing" Paris who find it so expensive that they are more than happy to make the two and a half hour drive into the country to get just as good accommodation for almost half the price. Both lots that we have had stay this week have said that had they not already paid deposits on Paris hotels they would rather spend an extra day or two here than go back into Paris.  Especially in the heat!  And of course, from the American perspective we do have the not to be missed Omaha and Utah beaches!  No one ever leaves enough time to do them justice.  Still, at least they do say they will have to come back to do the "in-depth" WWII visit

I'd not be surprised for example, if the rows between Blair & Chirac reduce the number of Brits visiting France next year. It might even reduce the number of French we get here (as Brits ourselves). Do you really think so Ian?  We had some Americans here last week and in conversation I commented on the fact that in 2000 (when our house was let as a gite) we had several US bookings.  Then  2001 and 2002 (following 9/11) we had none.  Likewise 2003 and 2004 as a B&B the only Americans we had lived in Germany.  This year so far they have almost been our bread and butter (we'd be pretty hundry if we were relying solely on the Brit market).  However, these people said that they thought initially it was due to 9/11 but in latter years they put it down to the American fear of how they will be received in France following the invasion of Irak.  I related this to some French friends on Saturday night who threw their arms up in horrow and disbelief and basically said, what a load of rubbish - government to government, president to president there may be a problem but the people of the country just don't think like that, and personally, I think they're right.  I think that even though Tony was FOR the war there were more Brits against it, and although CHIRAC kept out I know of a lot of French who think they should have gone in with the Brits and Americans. As far as having targets goes, I know that in one respect they can be regarded as pointless but when you are starting out it's a good way of monitoring whether you are improving year on year (obviously allowing for glitches caused by weather, bank holiday dates etc) and for me it gives me an indication of whether we are going to survive without dipping into savings etc and whether I need to start offering special deals, do some extra advertising etc. As far as I was concerned with targets I had a nil expectation for Jan and Feb and the first half of March.  However, we had a steady stream of visitors from the beginning of February onwards and by the end of April I was optimistic of a year that would far outstrip last year.  May was pretty good, but considering there were so many bank holidays, not quite as good as it could have been.  June at first appeared as though it was going to be dire, at the beginning of the month I only had something like ten nights booked, but I have had enough bookings at three or four days notice to make it OK.  Not as good as last year, but OK.  July I now have as many advance bookings as I had people through the door last year (as long as no one cancels!) and August I am only 5 nights behind last year's takings and as Arnold says, many bookings (especially the French ones) come within 14 days of arrival. What I am stunned about is September.  In our first season we had mostly French visitors, and as one would expect with the French, come 1st September, after bumper August, the business just DIED!  Last year we had 14 nights booked in September.  This year so far I have 14 nights booked, I've had an enquiry this morning for a further 7 nights (which thank heaven don't clash with the others) and two separate lots of visitors who have been here for one night in May have said they will DEFINITELY come back in September or October for 3 or 4 night break to betterdiscover the area.  Of course, we'll have to wait and see just how definite DEFINITE is, but I'm quietly confident.  Just goes to prove what we were saying on an earlier thread about not refusing one-nighters, if your place is nice enough, in a good enough location, people passing through can then be tempted back for a longer stay!  And we've already got relatives, who are insisting on paying (albeit with a pretty good discount!!!) who want the whole week for the October half-term if we don't get someone (paying full price) wanting it! Last year we then had quite a few Aussies "doing Europe" during their summer holiday who kept us quite busy during the latter half of November and December, so it would be really good to see a similar pattern emerge this year.

Hi Gail and Paul Although I'm in Normandy my best friends live in Lauraguel!!!  Is this perhaps a temporary thing because there are a lot of roadworks going on there at the moment aren't there?

We are almost there with our attic conversion!  Tomorrow we will need to put the ballustrade around the stairwell and are wondering how many to buy.  They are 45mm wide but is there a legal maximum distance between them or is it up to you?  We'll have to put them fairly close together as it will be a children's room and the whole point is to stop kids falling down the stairwell.  Any advice appreciated.

I'd be very surprised if that is the true cost. Hiring of bennes here in Mayenne is around double that. Then there is always a collection and delivery charge, then often an additional charge for the disposal of the waste according to what it is. I would check these charges before agreeing to hire as you may be shocked. Some companies now expect you to "trier" the waste too. When I said "apparently" it was really just a figure of speech.  It was a friend who told me this cost, having used the company himself recently for much the same reason we want to - to clear out of the barn of the rubbish therein.  The company is based at our local dechetterie, which has only been in existance for about a year and takes all the stuff from the bennes.  There may well be delivery and collection charges to more distant locations, but within the commune I have been told that it comes within the 80€ charge.  Nonetheless, as a belt and braces precaution I will ask about Punch and Val's extra charges before signing up to anything.  Thanks.

As someone else has said, you have to wait a long, long time to get a French registered artisan to do work for you (don't I know it!  The barn renovation we hoped would start in  March will now commence at the end of October!) and modern-day impatience is wonderful fuel to the "black" fire. We were at a party last night and (French and English) discussing how many Brits are working "on the black" and how they are getting bolder and bolder with their prices.  I, obviously naively, suggested that their greed would price them out of the market because eventually it would be cheaper to wait for the registered artisan, to which a retired English guy told me this:  He is a pretty proficient DIYer and has had his work praised by French and English friends.  He was recently approached by a French friend who said that a friend of a friend wanted his bathroom retiled and would this guy like to do the work.  He didn't want the job but the friend of the friend of the friend was quite persistant.  So in the end this guy decided to put him off by pricing himself out of the market and saying that he would do the job but would want 250€ a day for approximately 4 days work.  He felt certain this would frighten the French guy off because he had based this on double the daily rate he had heard that other "black" workers were charging.  He said his arm was almost bitten off with glee as this was 300€ cheaper than the French guy had been quoted by a French guy and 500€ less than he had been quoted by another English guy, both working on the black, and he couldn't wait the six months or so that he would have to wait for a registered artisan.  Now it seems to me that with people being prepared to pay these sort of rates for uninsured and uninvoiced work, then you're never going to get rid of the "black" workers. We've also found ourselves that now that some of the local artisans are getting to know us, even they are not averse to doing "a bit on the side".  When they have come to give us their devis a couple of them (who are excellent craftsmen and very nice people) have offered us a devis TTC or a devis "hors taxes" but also "hors written devis" if you get my drit guvnor And when you see the social charges that these one-man bands with young children have to pay you can quite easily see why they are tempted.  I think the whole system needs a total overhaul and now think that old George W wasn't that far from the truth when he made his classic statement that "it's strange that the French don't have a word for entrepreneur".  If it were easier to set up in business and the charges weren't so crippling perhaps a lot more people would go legal, so although charges would be less, a lot more people would be paying them.  I certainly think more of the Brits working on the black would be more tempted to get into the system if it were easier and not so financially crippling.

We crossed in January.  On the way from Boulogne to Dover the sea was like a millpond.  Coming back it was a Force 9 and I was pleased to see that they were still running.  Often the Western Channel Seacats don't sail when there is the slightest swell.  Yes, it was pretty bouncy, and the crew were liberally distributing sickbags around the lounges but I didn't see (or hear!) a single person being ill.  Personally, have worked at sea for four years in a former life, the rougher the better as far as I'm concerned, so I THOROUGHLY enjoyed our return voyage.   Just shows that you can't please all of the people all of the time.  We used to use the shuttle a lot when we were to-ing and fro-ing to our house from the UK and it was indeed a very efficient and flexible form of travel.  However, certainly in the height of summer, it could be 6 or 7 times more expensive than Speedferries.  And the fact that there are now some pretty good offers on the shuttle is most certainly down to the competition from Speedferries.  So whether you use them or not, I think you still have to thank them just for being there

So Arnold, I think what you're saying is that my wanadoo.fr email address will almost certainly get blocked.  And even if I use the .co.uk address attached to my website,but use my wanadoo dial-up connection I will still probably get blocked.  I have a freeola dial-up which came with the website.  This is a UK phone number and obviously more expensive to use, but if I sent an email using my .co.uk address on the UK dial-up do you think this would solve the problem? Not a lot of people like Wanadoo do they?  We recently had US military people staying here and when I asked if there was a firewall blocking all email to .mil addresses (because any emails I send to  .mil enquirers always bounce back on me) I was told that if I was using something as general as wanadoo.fr it would DEFINITELY be blocked and any .fr address would PROBABLY be blocked because we're no longer regarded as a CP (coalition partner) or a FCN (force contributing nation)  and could therefore be a potential danger to US national security!  ooo werrr!!

We too have a lot more going to the enquiry page than actually clicking through.  Also, thinking that you have no VF bookings, do you have a link to your own website from VF?  I had this last year and was convinced that I had only had about 3 VF bookings.  However, I thought I'd give them a second chance and signed up for another year but removed my website link, so now all enquiries have to come through on the VF form.  My VF enquiries have now dramatically improved, and I've had at least a dozen bookings from them since my renewal in mid-April.  As far as people not responding to your emails, I'm afraid that's life.  It doesn't just happen with VF but with most enquiries.  At first I used to worry that I was saying something to put them off but I think it's just human nature.  Often people fire off enquiries to half a dozen places and don't bother to let those who they don't choose know that they have gone elsewhere. However, recently I have started to worry about the non-responders from VF a little because on a couple of occasions I have been fortunate enought to have persistent enquirers who have contacted me via VF, believe that I have not responded and have then found me via another website and enquired again.  This horrified me, as I always check my email at least 4 times a day and therefore reply to all enquiries within about 3 hours.  It seems to be that all of those that have said I haven't responded have had an ntlworld.com address.  I don't know if it's a problem with ntl or my wanadoo email but it's got me worried that perhaps others aren't getting my emails either.  Fortunately, because these people have come through on a VF enquiry form they have usually put their phone number on it, so I have then followed up with a phonecall.  Got two bookings like that last week!! Well a couple of weeks ago I was pretty low about the number of bookings we have, but it seems to be a time of year thing with me.  I got like it last year I seem to remember.  I think I panic because I realise that it's mid-June, we only have another 8 weeks to make a large percentage of our annual income and we seem to be only a quarter or so full.   However, we have already matched last year's August bookings and are only 5 nights behind on the July ones, and of course, so many bookings come within two weeks of arrival.  At the beginning of June I think I had about ten nights booked but already we have done 22, and have another 4 booked to the end of the month.  On a two room (therefore 60 night) property, I'm quite pleased with that.  It was higher last year, but then it was the 60th anniversary of D-Day and we're only 30 minutes from Omaha Beach.  

When I suggested bunks I was definitely thinking KIDS.  It was along with a double and a twin room.  I don't think we'd want to be in bunks.  Even on the ferry we book a 4 berth cabin so that neither of us have to climb into the top bunk! The sofabed is, I think, a better idea than a single bed in the room.  It's what we have in our larger double room, to allow it to also be a family room but when just being used by two people it looks much nicer, saves having that dormitory look! As for kids and parents sharing, you'll get as many wanting to as not wanting to.  I recently referred a Belgian family to a colleague because our family room was full and they had two children.  The lady I referred them to is literally starting in the B&B business this week, so although she didn't have a family room for them she was prepared to offer a double and a twin for only 10 euros more than a double.  But no go, the Belgians wanted a family room, all in together!

Depends really on the type of clientele you are aiming at.  We used to go away with either my parents, or another couple and it was always a pain when one of you had to have the room with twin beds. When we set our house up as a gite we put in two doubles because we wanted to specifically aim at two sets of couples rather than families with kids staying in our house.  However, we did sometimes get requests from a couple, teenage kid and granny wanting to holiday together.  Granny and child didn't mind sharing a room, but not necessarily a bed.  So perhaps one double room, one double with a single as well and what about bunks in the small room, if you're thinking of renting to families?

Here in Manche we now have a Benne location company, apparently they charge 80 euros for the hire of a skip, for as long as you want it!  So we will be using this company in September to empty our barn of rubbish.

When we've hired gites with pools in the past we've usually been with my parents (not many gites for two people have pools with exclusive use).  My dad is one of those mad people who get up at 5am every morning and he was always in the pool by 6am.  Whilst my parents were having breakfast, my husband would be in the pool, in the heat of the afternoon my mum and I would cool off in the pool.  Early evening my dad would have another swim and later on, if the weather was hot, my husband and I would be back in there - so restricted times would be a no go for us too. In fact, one gite was brilliantly designed, it was a large farmhouse and the owners lived in one side but it was sort of back to back, rather than side by side, so they had their verandah one side of the building and we were the other side, both with the gardens in front, so there was no reason every to bump into each other.  However, the pool was at the side of the house, but slightly towards their side.  Although they said that they would never use the pool when we were around, we could see onto their verandah from the pool and it did restrict us from using it quite a bit because we felt we were intruding in their private space.  We only ever used the pool for swimming, never for just lounging by or sitting in to cool down. Wish we had a pool now.  30 degrees at 6pm in Normandy is just not acceptable

Did anyone go into Saint Lo (50) last night?  Our friendly "Cave" man told me about it yesterday but as OH is still locked in the attic I didn't think it was fair to go without him.

Having started my career as a nurse I should know good sources of Vitamin B but can't think off thetop of my head.  Anyone got any suggestions other than Marmite, I'm DEFINITELY with TU on that one

Monika The work at Mont St Michel hasn't started yet.  I believe it's scheduled to be finished in 2009! And yes Joan, the suisse normande is very pretty, especially in the autumn when the tree colours are spectacular, but the only problem with the area is that if it is a bit cloudy it can be miserable there, even in summer, because very often you are right in the middle of the cloud, so it can be VERY damp.

Hi Joan As Catherine said, Ouistreham is the name of the port at Caen (about 45 minutes from us) and is served by Britanny Ferries, about 2 hours shorter crossing than the St Malo one, unless you're planning the fastcraft but then there is also a fastcraft into Ouistreham during the summer months. The countryside around here is really beautiful - in fact, without fail, everyone who steps out of their car at our house comments on the lovely scenery.  There are plenty of campsites in the surrounding area, which appear to be (never done it myself) pretty cheap and well served (not big clubhouses or pools, but usually in nice quiet, country settings).  The Normandy beaches are stunning, and apart from August, usually pretty deserted. Several nice towns with good markets within a half hour's drive, Villedieu des Poeles, Avranches, Coutances to name but a few.  Have a look on the map.

Hoddy, I'm afraid the only flaw in our "fair-skinned" theory is that Michael (who is a red-head with freckles) gets about half as many bites as me (for twice the outside exposure) and his come up, itch for a day or so and go - mine can last a couple of weeks and get HUGE!!  Catalpa, we thought we would try the flyscreen idea on the windows.  Trouble is, although we do have a bedroom window to fit it to, because we have to get the family suite complete for first booking on 1st July and still have walls to put in place and paint, floor to lay, staircase to sand down and varnish!!!  There's not even a spare ten minutes to fit one.  The plug-in thingy seems to work quite well though.  We have three different types because each year we've bought one and then haven't been able to get refills.  The other day I decided to buy a new one, with several refills at the same time, and would you believe it, they had refills for all the old ones!  Two mornings ago was the first time I woke not to find myself covered in a new rash of bites.

Ahh Tiger Balm, hadn't thought of that, I've got some upstairs, I'll give it a try. Now Hoddy, what sort of vinegar are you using?   I don't fancy walking round smelling like an old fish and chip van