Chocolate

Thank you Fantine for the link. It worked so I know the situation now. 

I need advice as to which jam making pan to buy. I have seen aluminium ones for sale here and also copper (coloured I think) ones. Which is best? I always understood that it wasn't a good idea to use aluminium pans for any kind of acidic fruits as chemicals then leach out of the metal into the foodstuff. Also what sort of size do I need as I will be making no more than approx. 10 - 12 jars of jam at a time? What is the usual size people use please? How are they measured? I'm eyeing up the blackberries at the moment, have bought the covers and collected the glass jars and am raring to go!

Can we use our British telephones in France?  The set consists of a base station, with an answer-phone, and 2 cordless handsets that re-charge from the mains plug in the room we choose to use them in. The problem is that the base station has an English BT plug to connect it to the 'phone line and not the large French one. Can we change this plug ourselves? We have seen the plugs for sale, but don't know how to wire them up onto the 'British' cable coming from the base station. Where could we find a booklet or diagram to help us? (We know how to change the 13amp mains plugs to French ones.) Or perhaps there is an adaptor; on the lines of the electrical adaptors used when travelling so that we would not have to re-wire at all, just plug into an adaptor which then plugs into the French telephone socket in the house.  Also, can we use the answerphone for when our English non-French speaking friends 'phone? An elderly relative and some non-French speaking friends can't cope with the FTelecom messagerie system. (Neither can I a large part of the time!) The three-phone set was bought in England and is less than a year old. The new owners of our house had their own telephones but as ours were so new we decided to bring them with us rather than throw or give them away. 

Richardbk - please could you re-post the site address for checking on water restrictions? I tried from the link given as part of your post, but a message stated that the page was unavailable. Thank you.

Well I laughed! Well I would as a cat-lover and a 'newie' to the language. been a hard day and it cheered me up, which is the point of a joke isn't it?

Thanks everyone for all your help. The carpet tiles sound a brilliant idea for the wooden tatty floorboards with sheets of hardboard under. Have used them in England when at wits end, and have bought both cheap and expensive rubberbacked ones which were heavier and really stayed put. Also as someone pointed out, they can be lifted if damaged, and as one area in addition to be done is an upper mezzanine which has 2 Velux windows and lots of strong sunshine which will fade textiles, carpet tiles are a really good answer. Though not my first choice, it is probably as good as it will get over here. We have chosen to come after all. As for the rest, Athene has given good advice I think and I am now about to scout around for hard floor tiles. Does this fun ever end I wonder? Onward and upward, (or is it downwards to the floor?)

Can anyone suggest a decent French breadmaker please. Steady now. Not the obvious! I mean the electric sort that you put flour, yeast etc. in. I would like to make bread but have never used a breadmaker before. No doubt it will mean lengthy consultations with the dictionary and the possible book of instructions but no pain (forgive me ) no gain. It would help if it was one readily available in the bigger chains such as But or Leclerc that I can reach easily.

Our hedges around here are full of Elderberries. They are purply black and very juicy looking. I had a relative, sadly no longer with us, who made the most delicious and alcoholic wine ever with elderflowers. However, this is France so perhaps an alternative use for the berries would be more appropriate. Coals to Newcastle etc. Are they treated like any soft fruit? Can you freeze or bottle them? What do you turn them into? Crumbles? Toppings? Jam/jelly? (I have followed and noted the cordial making thread.)

Thank you missyesbut for the helpful answers. I have printed off your advice and am in the process of buying the bottling equipment. A relative suggested freezing our cherries, which I did, but it struck me that a power failure will wipe out our harvest! Bottled fruit is safer perhaps, unless I drop a container. Am looking for some way of using elderberries now as our hedges are dripping with them. Following another thread on cordial making posted by others. The nuts are roasting themselves at the moment, on the trees, in this weather! Busily checking nutty recipes in readiness.

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies, (as usual. This site was a new discovery for me and everyone has been brilliant with comments and replies.) I really was unwell with the first upset stomach I have had in over 16 years, lasting over a week. As an x teacher I had built up a fairly strong immune system! In desperation we called the firm who had just serviced the heating boiler. They sent out their 'softener man' who spent 2 hours yesterday pm sorting out the little blue monster. The softener, not me. He patiently answered my questioning in staggering French and I know how the little blighter works now. For those of you who haven't nodded off by now, it is quite straightforward. The water comes in from the 'mains', and first goes through a see-through plastic screw-on container filled with string. Honestly. This strains out the 'terre' as he called it. Sand, soil etc. From the mains! Cor. Not in England I nearly said. This was, I may add a slimy, gritty bright tan colour and we gasped when he replaced it with a virgin white stringed cassette. However- the water goes next to the big blue container filled with resin which filters out the calcium and some other gritty stuff. The cleaned, softened water goes on its merry way to the boiler to be heated etc. and some of it goes to the cold taps. During the night, the digital gadget on the top closes this system, brings in water from the large tub at the side in which we have been putting salt. The salty water enters the blue canister, washes and disinfects the resin granules, then pumps the salty dirty water to the outside drain. All done at night by the digital programmer (which we do not need to touch) when there is less call on the water by us. The salty water should never reach the usable supply. What had happened was that the system had not been serviced or parts replaced for over four years, things had blocked up and yes, we were drinking dirty salty, water by the end. The stringed cassette should be replaced yearly it seems. We now have clear, tested, salt-free water. Soap lathers like there is no tomorrow and tea is pretty good! The stomach is finally settling down and life feels a little happier. Incidently, hubby insisted he had no problems. Must be because he drinks water of the falling down type. Thanks everyone.

Another problem! Deep in the sous-sol of our newly acquired house is a water softener. It is about waist height, slim, blue and has a large see-through plastic container beside it in which we have been told to put salt lumps from the local hardware shop. There is also a cartridge thingy seemingly lined with string hanging from one of its pipes. On top of the blue mini tower is a digital controller that we cannot control! It's called an Eversoft DC 24. I tried to contact the possible makers with an internet search but found a company in the USA of the same name who only deal with industrial set ups.  The problems are that there is no instruction booklet, in any language, it seems to 'fire up' at strange moments and the water tastes very funny. We think it was put in to cope with the extremely hard water here for the central heating and the washing machine. However we think that it is also connected to the kitchen tap. The piping here is very visible but has been messed about with over the last 30 years and truly resembles spaghetti junction so we cannot trace the pipework to the kitchen. Also, because the house was neglected over the past few years due to the infirmity of the last resident, clearly it has not been serviced for quite some time. I am worried as we have no control over the little blue monster, the water tastes salty and leaves an after taste in the mouth. The water is definitely not softened as the poor kettle can testify, and the shower has limescale all over the tiles, glass door and chrome parts.  Also I always understood that it was a bad idea to drink water from a water softener even if not a young baby. We tried turning off the taps close by it and only succeeded in turning off the water to everywhere as it is situated where the water comes into the house. In our last house in England we drank water from the cold supply in the kitchen and filtered it through a Brita jug. The Brita cartridges are very expensive here when you can find them, so we have to use the water straight from the kitchen tap, (and also straight from the water softener). How do we prevent our intake of salty water? I feel quite sick at times and tea tastes awful. Is it safe to drink softened water treated by these machines? How do these things work, chemically? Does anyone have one and can they point me in the right direction for the makers and an instruction booklet please? 

Thanks Athene again. We stayed for 5 months near Bergerac this winter before we bought this house. If only we had known that we should have been preparing for a visit to Leroy Merlin! Will chase up this contact as soon as we have sorted some other things out here. There is soooooo much to do to our neglected house that we don't know which thing to attack when! Must get underfoot sorted soon and also a woodburner too. Jacks - the Vax bubble washer sounds great for washing tiles. Can it be bought in France do you know? We are over here permanently and don't expect to visit GB soon, and anyway I don't think Flybe would let us cart one onto the plane. I have a Numatic (called 'George' by the makers, honestly) but it is really only suitable for shampooing carpets. Nostalgia. Yes carpets can be filthy fluffy things, but ooooh, underfoot in the winter getting out of bed they are ace. Thanks everyone for advice given.    

Lori, I have followed this thread as the tale unfolded with a lot of interest. A screaming child is heart-wrenching and upsetting, and to be aware that it is your dog causing the problem saps the confidence around aspects of letting. However : The parents knew of her problem before they arrived as clearly it wasn't fresh to them. They also knew that a dog lived on site. Why did they go ahead and book? Is this some kind of aversion therapy? Surely not. Did they hope that the problem might be solved due to forced close proximity to a dog? A bit hard on Lori, the dog and the child. It could cause more trouble for the child on this amatuerish basis if that is so. It may be a long time before this little girl either 'grows out' of her fear, or it may never leave her as others on the forum may themselves continue to experience even as adults. Why is she reacting sooooo badly? I was terrified of dogs as a child, (one picked me up by the seat of my pants as a toddler and shook me like a rag doll!) so I am not being hard on the poor child. But it isn't unknown for children to have an agenda of their own, to unconsciously enjoy the power the screaming and resultant adult reaction that it brings. This sounds hard and some of you will shout back at me perhaps but I have seen this on several occasions as an x teacher of many years. This is a situation that came in the child's suitcase with her. The parents are responsible for her and where they take her. You cannot take all this as your fault. If you have warned on paper of a resident dog, clearly have taken all the steps you can to reduce the stress level for the little girl (and also your dog) then that is your duty of care fulfilled. The parents should come some way to help with notification of visits off your grounds to give you and your dog some space too as well as reduce the dread in the little girl's mind if it is really frightening her. Don't give up on your business if you enjoy it apart from these guests. Just don't. There are lots of nice people out there who will love staying with a concerned gentle gite owner like yourself.  

Well, I don't believe it as Victor would say. The man to advise arrived and now thinks we should have an insert, (he called it a foyer )instead as we have a fireplace and he says that the heat will not come out into the room from a woodburner  as well as it will from an insert. One of these would mean a small amount of building work to enclose it in the space of the open fireplace and we will get 17% of the heat into the room as opposed to only about 9% if we installed a woodburner. He can supply, but his top sized model only gives out 8Kw as opposed to the 14 Kw we had been looking at from a wb. He began by saying had we thought of an insert (foyer), then said we probably had an unsuitable fireplace. Measured it then said it would be OK. It begs the question now - should we go for an insert, complete with its grill in the front of our chimney piece just above the mantle and fans under the fire and behind the grill(surely electricity costs here and not that attractive), or for a woodburner which sticks half in and half out of the fireplace  (which we had not thought would happen as we cannot be clued up enough) but will only require the free wood from our land? The space in which a woodb would go is 82cm high, 82cm wide and 63cm from back of grate to the front overhang of the mantlepiece, (stone). We knew we would have to drop the floor of the fireplace a little but didn't think that the depth would mean all the heat would go into the back of the fireplace and/or up the chimney above with a woodburner. We had not considered an insert but have seen them when house-hunting. Can be modern looking but are they as efficient as a good woodburner? He also suggested that the chimney liner tube could be about 1000 euros! Cough, cough. Are we on the end of a hard-sell here ie a long piece of string? We got very confused as to our best option and wondered if he was leading us along his sales pitch? Why is it all so complicated? We had thought, OK the consensus is for a Jotul, lets get it and another problem sorted out. But now?

Sorry! Me again. We are in the Lot dept. not far from Cahors.

Thank you Athene. We are in 46. Do we have a Leroy Martin within driving distance from here please? We will drive up to 2 hours away before we flag! Who are they? What are they? Where do I look in our brand new yellow pages? Sorry to be so dim, but still getting to grips with so many things!

Having posted queries on some other topics and received very helpful replies - here I go again. In the house we have just bought some rooms had carpets we just HAD to remove! Don't ask why. You can guess. We then needed to do all the scraping and clearing of foam and glue described elsewhere. The result is that we have a mixture of unlovely floorboards in some rooms(not worth sanding and painting or staining) and glue-decorated concrete in others. In addition we are still struggling with glued down, (firmly, very firmly, cough provoking and Dyson-clogging) underlay that I swear must have come straight from a sad old horse. This  itself has plastic stuck to its underside. What a nightmare. I really wanted to put carpet down over the floorboards, but also found that in our dept. ( 46 ) it is difficult to find if not almost impossible. Where can we go for decent carpet, not the coconut woven type of post-war years that immobiliers love, and also underlay? If necessary we would fit it ourselves, but would prefer not. The concrete floors could be tiled, but again we don't know where to buy at a reasonable price here. Some of these floors are bedroom floors and I am slowly coming to realise that it is quite normal to tile a bedroom floor, indeed a bonus in these scorching days. But what happens when winter comes? Aren't they cold? We couldn't fit underfloor heating due to the nature of the building. This then begs the question of where to buy what we used to call carpet squares, (or oblongs) to go on the tiled floors? Conforama isn't our style, (we looked at theirs),and we cannot afford antique. Where do we get, who sells modern wool and synthetic or pure wool rugs/carpets in or near 46? Sorry so long winded but am getting frustrated and depressed trying to get simple things organised and ourselves comfortable. All advice will be gratefully received.

Sorry about the peculiar wording in the last paragraph. The heat has got to the fingers as well as to the head!

Thank you everyone for your advice and experiences. It really seems to come down to a choice between a Charnwood or a Jotul by the look of it. We decided to get one of the suppliers to come out to look as they were so keen to do so, (and we are so ignorant), so am awaiting their visit tomorrow. They in fact are suppliers of a make we were no longer considering, but they are keen and we have told them we don't want to waste their time, but they are still coming. Will post the outcome. By the way, we were only looking to heat, not cook on our woodburner and we did want the double combustion which cleans the glass a Icenis well as providing a very efficient burn, so perhaps the Villager mentioned is not for us. Thanks anyway Iceni.

Please what is a 'fogger'? Sounds dodgy. Does it cloud up the house so the little perishers can't see the animals or humans? Is it electronic like the mouse scarers, emitting ultrasonic waves? Actually I would be very interested to know as though Frontline is good for our cats, I am glad to be forewarned by the experiences of others in this forum. I'm learning far more than I ever needed to know in England!

Well Bless me! I am not the most peculiar alien type upon the planet. Have been rivitted to this whole topic as am so amazed that people have the courage to 'come out' about their nasty little visitors. I had been hiding my secret shame for the last 4 weeks; seriously. We have been in our house for just 8 weeks and already I have had 3 ticks. Didn't know what the small black flappy thing was attached halfway round my back, but eventually, very bravely, I pulled. You know the rest if you have been a fellow sufferer! They clearly like fresh English blood. I ended up using a freshly lit match. Yes I did burn myself-don't try it folks! Every time I tried to go up into the long grass(!) to help OH strim and cut, I have had a nasty visitor. Went up yesterday in wellingtons, socks, trousers tucked in, longsleeved shirt, collar up etc. Bingo! It worked as there was no little black monster, but boy was I hot! Not the gear when the thermometer shows 32 degrees in the shade. An ashamed chat with a fellow Brit up the hill who lives here for half of each year revealed that she too has had them. 11 in one year was her record. Checking quietly it seems that neither of our OH's suffer, neither does a local farmer or his wife, nor does the lovely French chap who has cut our grass and hedges in the past for a previous owner. Is it a certain type of blood? Perhaps we are blue-blooded - these parasites know a thing or two obviously that we don't. Now. What to do? I don't fancy Frontline on me. (Do use it 4 weekly for our 2 indoor cats and always have done). Nor the collar as I have such sensitive skin. Will a normal crotchet hook remove the blighters? The local pharmacie swore blind that none of them have ever experienced a tick (liars) and that I should visit the doctor. Yes I have read the info on disease posted above, and as we have both deer and wild boar each evening I suppose it is possible. Just off to wash all bedding including that of our 2 Bengal cats!

Thank you Clair and Simon for your advice- both Jotul happy customers. Regarding the price: we found one supplier for Jotul and one for Charnwood locally. They have both given us the following prices:- Charnwood Island 3 (with taxes but seems to be the higher rate so maybe they are not fitting ) just over 2000Euros. Jotul about 2300 euros. Not much in it but the taxes seem to make a difference as does the fitting. Does this seem high or should we look further afield for suppliers? If we bought at a distance, I am concerned that we would not get service or repairs easily. We are just in the Midi-Pyrenees.

Does anyone have the details of how to bottle produce please? I am thinking mainly of fruit. Bottling fruit etc. must be popular here in this part of France, (and elsewhere?), judging by the vast quantities of special jars and their lids and little rubber rings(!) on sale. I hazily remember Kilner Jars from centuries ago as a child, but they seemed to have died out with the advent of ease of freezing in England and I don't think I ever found out how to use them anyway. However, the thought does occur that once bottled, the goods cease to cost any more for storage and there must be an advantage due to the obvious popularity of the containers.  Our garden grew a surprise, to us, of a small crop of cherries, and now small peaches are hanging around. We froze the cherries (as well as ate them). The problem is that I haven't the least idea of how to go about the business of bottling. Can anyone recommend a good instructional book/let so that I can join the gang too? I will happily obtain one from Amazon if necessary.   We also seem to have three walnut, trees and three trees producing what appear to be small round nuts, still green and in their soft outer casing that terminates in a frill (!) would you believe? Are they hazelnuts? Sorry to ask without a photo, and therefore difficult for anyone else to identify. Also, how should nuts be stored please? Local squirrels apparently on holiday in cooler climes!   

Having just bought a house in France we are looking to install a woodburning stove. The salon/sejour is over 300 cubic metres as it was the grange in years gone by. We have gaz central heating, but the roof insulation is not superb and we would like to reduce heating bills. We have access to wood on our land and have read the advice posted recently on types of and drying etc. There is an open fireplace with a good chimney above, but the place for the fire is just a flat raised ledge for firedogs and whole logs. The problem is that we have seen several makes of woodburning stoves in the various places to buy and really don't know which make to go for. We have read the excellent info posted by other people which has helped. However, we are now down to these :- Godin 'Le Carvin', Charnwood 'Island 3', Jotul 'F 600' and Dovre '760'. The first is French, the second is English and the last 2 are Norwegian. We had the delights of a small Charnwood Country stove in a gite this winter and frankly we were just 'kippered' as well as cold! All the vendors tell us that a woodburner will not smoke if cared for properly, and of course theirs never do! Also it was a very dirty business to clean it out when the ash pit, (there was no provision for an ashpan in its design), needed to be reduced. Reading the inputs from others however, the Charnwoods seem to be popular and respected on the forum. Were we unlucky? Are the new ones with double combustion better/ smoke less or not at all? Are the Godins good? Are Norwegian (Jotul or Dovre) better due to their obviously colder winters? Advice is very welcome from anyone please are we are really in a fog about this.

Advice desperately wanted. We have just sold our house and are travelling to France on the overnight ferry on 15th December. In readiness, I have just bought a car which I have not as yet collected as I am trying to insure it through my current insurers. However, the advice from AXA is that as from the 15th I will not have a permanent UK residence and must take out an Overseas Insurance. Their quote is £784.18 ! This is apparently their best offer and includes a swop from a current insurance on which I have 9 years NCB. I have said that I intend to take out a new insurance in France soon after arriving and was told that I would receive a refund for unused time. Now they are unhappy with that and expect me to continue for the full year as that is the purpose of the cover. My question is - do I take out an ordinary fully comp insurance in this country, then cross my fingers that the 'Green card' will cover me for about a week whilst we travel across the Channel and down south until I can arrange French cover? I am worried that it would just be our luck to have 'Le bump', and this would be the let-out the insurance company might look for/ Is it the legal thing to do? How does everyone cover themselves for this interim?