Angie

Thanks ever so much everyone - as usual swift and very helpful replies.  I shall give Valetts a try. 

Second post of the day! Does anyone know where we can buy glass to be cut to size (preferably while we wait) for a door skylight - Quillan area or if not, as far as Carcassonne/Lavelannet/Foix?  We have tried several of our local smaller outlets with no success. Thank you

Hi all We are doing a self-build wall - only 3 courses high using the grey cement blocks and then crepe.  We noticed when we've had building work done (by professionals) that one guy staggered the bricks like we would in the UK jointing them with cement in between, the other laid them directly on top of each other (so the joints were in a line) and filled the cavity with concrete from the top rather than "pointing" them as he went along.  Both methods seem to have worked fine.  As we are novices and the second method would be much easier for us i.e. no cutting, we were just wondering whether this is how these blocks should be used?  We are going to put some of those metal rods in for extra support (although not a high wall it is long and we are on a slight slope). Thanks very much

Haven't seen the packs in the supermarkets (obviously not been going to the right ones!) but they do sound like a good option so will keep an eye out for them.  Having said that, got a reply from two wood suppliers, one just outside Quillan the other in Lavelanet. Both can let us have a stere (minimum) which we can hopefully transport in our car.  Although apparently they weigh 500kg!! They have both offered to cut into large or small logs so that's useful.  Cost 70 euros per stere (1m3). Looks as though this winter will be cosier than the last!  thanks all

Currently we do not have anywhere to store large quantities of wood for the woodburner (hopefully storage will be built ready for next year).  Does anyone know if its reasonable to ask the local guy whether we can have a "bootfull" of wood or ask for a specific amount, say 20 or 30 euros worth (that's if we can ever find the place open!).  We are only at the house for about a week during the winter months so don't need too much.  Just wasn't sure if it was the done thing!  Thanks all.

Perfect, thank you Theiere.

Sorry to bother you all again.  We also now need to order (with the soft sand recommended!) a couple of sacks of what is called in the UK "ballast" for laying a concrete path.  What do I need to ask for please?  Have found out that our localish Brico don't charge for delivery if you order over 300 euros worth so we might aswell get it all delivered at the same time. Thanks as always.

I knew you'd all be able to help, thanks so much.  Will get the project planned and underway as soon as possible!

Many thanks all.  Glad to hear they don't do damage as we quite like having them around now.  Have a couple of wild cats in the garden so shall encourage them in to keep any mice at bay.

Hi there We need to buy a couple of cubic metres of sand.  We would need it delivered in those canvas type bags as don't have anywhere it could be dumped loose.  I think I have seen these bags in our local(ish) builder's merchant but can someone tell me please what the name is of the sand I need to ask for - its for blockwork and bricklaying (sharp sand?) so obviously no ballast in it.  Also if anyone has bought sand in these sacks do you have an idea of price per cubic metre (or bag)?  I know there will be a delivery charge on top. Many thanks as always

Although initially terrified of these little creatures when we first bought our house we have grown to really enjoy their company!  However, we now have quite a few sunning themselves on our walls and they disappear under our roof tiles and then into the roof space every evening.  They make a terrible scratching sound during the night and although annoying we can live with that.  We would prefer to leave them alone but are concerned that over time they might do damage to the fabric of the building or chew through cables etc. (like mice?).  Can anyone enlighten us?  In any case, not sure we could do anything about them as they get into the tiniest of spaces.

Having just returned from another 2 weeks in France I was quite upset to read some of the comments posted in response to my original posting. Thank you Quillan, Woolybanana and Virginia. c for your support and helpful advice. To Bob T I would like to say that at no point did I say or suggest that the villagers should learn English "just for us". I was responding to an earlier reply and wanted to inform the poster that we had been trying our hardest to learn French which is not easy for us. We did not take the route of most retirees and just learn how to buy a baguette or order a coffee. As for Simon, is there something wrong with you? I shall say no more. However, in response to other posts: 1. It has not been six years since we last invited neighbours/friends around. We had everyone round six years ago to introduce ourselves and have had several smaller get togethers since. 2. Our rental property is listed with the Mairie and is all above board. 3. We had a geometre measure and mark out our land and we have a report from him to back this up. The hedge in question is 20 feet outside of this boundary so well inside our neighbours property. We cannot see it from our house only the neighbour who is complaining can see it. 4. The hedge owner who is very elderly was served a notice 7 years ago to lower the height of the hedge (I do not know or want to know the details of this as it is not my concern). However, a local landscaper told us he quoted him 2,000 euros at that time to reduce the height by 4 metres along its whole length and to trim the sides (100 metres). He told us it would take 2 weeks. If the guy who is harrassing us is so concerned about his elderly neighbour then why doesn't he (i) help him out or (ii) stump up the money to have the hedge cut/reduced. Why on earth should we do it and spend our whole summer holiday working on someone elses property. We would have to buy long ladders, a petrol chainsaw (our electric one would not reach)and a vehicle and petrol to dispose of the huge amount of cuttings. Finally, I am not even sure the owner wants the hedge cut - he has certainly not been in any hurry to do it. IN CONCLUSION after spending the past couple of weeks at our house we have now put the property on the market. France is obviously not the place for us as has been suggested and frankly it has caused us more anguish worry-wise and financiallly than pleasure. The final straw came when once again we were enjoying a hot summer evening on our front terrace last Monday, a car pulled up about a third of the way up our driveway. The guy got out, lifted his dog over our small hedge and proceeded to watch while his dog used our front garden as a toilet. I walked down, asked him if he had a garden of his own and his reply was "yes, why"? I said that perhaps he could use his own in future - his reply was that our garden was bigger. I think that says it all.

We have integrated into the village; we have several friends who are not neighbours, we attend evening markets during the summer, have taken our neighbour to a hospital appointment because the ambulance didn't turn up, chat to locals on walks around and spend money in the local bar/cafe, shops, restaurants.  We had our immediate neighbours (and not so immediate) around the first six months we were there for a meal and yes, plenty of wine and they remain friendly and wave (they do not constantly come round).  The neighbours we are talking about who are querying grazing, boundary issues are the same people who were offered the land when we first bought the property and who declined to buy it despite being given almost a year to decide.  They graze their horses on the property when we are not there regardless of whether we give them permission or not and only ask retrospecively.  They have damaged trees and plants when they bring their huge bowsers and have reversed their unregistered landrover into our garden wall. I would not tolerate this in the UK so why should I tolerate it here?  If you were having a BBQ in the UK and someone walked in off the street you'd be happy about that would you? I can imagine what would happen if I went round to their properties and did the same and said I "just wanted to get to know them" or started peering in through their windows of an evening. Do you think they'd invite me in for a drink.  We do interact with everyone we meet but frankly do not want to be best buddies with everyone that strolls up our driveway. As for the hedge guy he knows perfectly well it is not our hedge - he just wants to hassle us because the guy who owns it is elderly and frankly can't cut it.  It would be a hugely expensive and time consuming job which would need to be done twice annually.  Why can't he speak to the Mairie about it like I have constantly asked him to do?  Its easier to pester us in the hope we will get fed up and do it ourselves. We have enough to maintain as it is without taking on neighbouring gardening needs aswell. As for speaking the language, we have made the effort and have made great strides with it especially at our age, but when I've been on holiday to Thailand, Greece etc. unfortunately I did not speak sufficient Thai or Greek to engage in a conversation with the locals on boundary issues.  I can only assume that you speak the language of every foreign country you have visited on holiday?  I don't think therefore that it is reasonble for holidaymakers (ie clients) to speak fluent French before they book our holiday home. As for "what world am I living in" I think it is a fantasy of the British that we think that everyone is "interested" or "curious" in us and just want to get to know us. Most French don't give a damn about the British and most only know their immediate French neighbours and no others, I know that for a fact in our village.  One French guy I work with in UK told me that the French only want to know you if its socially or financially beneficial to them and I believe he is right.

We have owned our holiday home for six years and use it for about 8 weeks per year. The house itself is not large but stands on six acres. Unfortunately on almost every occasion we are accosted at our front door (usually within minutes of our arrival which means that people are watching out for us) by a neighbour, someone in the village or someone we don’t even know with a variety of requests or queries. These have ranged from asking us to cut a long (100m hedge) which is not ours and this has been explained to the guy on many occasions, to asking us if they can graze horses on our land, telling us that someone from EDF called round and a summary of the problems they had, access requirements for a neighbour’s builder - the list is endless. In fact on a couple of occasions we have had to hide upstairs on the terrace and watch while people walk around our property knocking and looking through windows and trying door handles!! We feel like prisoners! Even when we are openly sitting on our front terrace with guests having a drink or eating our evening meal, French villagers will walk up our fairly long drive and engage in some pointless conversation. Recently we decided to rent out the property and have had three couples so far this summer. The first couple phoned us within an hour of their arrival to say someone was banging on the downstairs bedroom window but they couldn’t understand what he wanted and he had left. On their description I decided it was the “hedge” man again. But what has really annoyed us is the third couple who were there last week were extremely upset by someone in the village querying some boundary issues with them. The guy became really stroppy with our clients because they didn’t speak French and actually followed them into the living room when they tried to walk away, gesticulating and being quite abusive. We now know he wants to sell some of his adjacent land and needed to clarify something – however he should not be bothering our guests with this. Has anyone got any advice on what we can do to stop this constant harassment. Apart from being downright rude I really don’t know what else to do. We are going to have some gates installed over the winter but our neighbours have been known to nip through the hedge and walk across our garden so I am not confident this will stop anyone. We keep the garden and surrounds tidy and maintained, the house is new so in good condition, we don’t bother anyone and we pay our exorbitant taxes. Surely (even though we are English) we are entitled to the enjoyment of our property.

Hi Thanks all for your replies, both informative and otherwise!! We do not have a specific objection to our neighbour applying for permission its just that I was curious as to why we weren't consulted, but then I guess that's just how things are done here. Only concern we have is that he owns several "parcels" of land which surround our property and we don't want it turning into a housing estate but by bit, with us stuck in the middle. Fortunately there seems little demand for building plots at the moment (at least in our area) so it may take him some years to sell them all. We do have a monthly newsletter but no planning requests are ever printed in there. All the best to everyone

Hi all We have just discovered that our neighbour who owns a large plot of land adjacent to our property has applied for and been granted permission to build a house on this land despite it being designated protected (historic monument in vicinity). The building plot is now for sale through a local agent. We have never been contacted about this or asked whether we had any objection which I am a little surprised about. A year ago we applied for and was successful in getting permission to build a garage extension but our neighbour was contacted about this and did ask that it be made smaller (which it was). How come he knew about our garage but we didn't know about his plans? Many thanks in advance all.

Hi all, we are thinking of renting out our (maison secondaire) as a holiday let for just a few weeks of the year to cover some of the bills - we hadn't iniitally planned on doing this, but needs must! Does anyone know if we can deduct running costs and mortgage payments when submitting our tax declaration (as is usual in the UK)? Many thanks all

Hi, any idea roughly what their budget is please?

Thanks very much for your replies, much appreciated. I think for our budget we will need to use the concrete blocks and then render; stone faced walls are too expensive I think.

Hi all Am considering having a medium sized courtyard garden built and would like 6 foot garden walls all round (we are on a hill so would like a bit of privacy). We do not have close neighbours so it shouldn't upset anyone. Just wondering if anyone has built similar and could give me an idea of cost per linear metre to build - either DIY or by a builder. Would assume concrete blocks to be the cheapest method but if anyone has any other ideas, that would be great.

Thought I'd update you all. Managed to get through to EDF after several days of calling and no reply. However, they were very helpful once I'd spoken to them. Have established that there may be a fault with the meter as it is still running when everything is switched off. They insist though, that we pay the electricity bill to avoid being cut off! They have agreed not to increase our monthly direct debit payment until it is sorted out. On advice from a local who had a similar problem with a new meter (like us, there's is only 2 years old) we are going to have a local electrician inspect the meter and submit a report to EDF as apparently this is much quicker - could take a few weeks for an appintment with EDF - and much cheaper than having them come out (even if it is their fault). This experience has been a bit of an eye-opener for us and we plan to check our meter regularly in future and take readings when we arrive at the house and depart just to be on the safe side. Not sure if we will ever get any of our money back from EDF; hopefully it will sort itself out by reduced monthly payments next year! We can but hope. Thanks again to everyone on the Forum for their advice and support.

Hi there, previous bill said we consumed 688 Kws on the higher tarrif, this time its 9468 Kw

Thanks for much everyone for your prompt replies. I am going to give EDF a try tomorrow on all the numbers you have suggested (I'll let you know how I fare).  Must say Quillan that I never thought to check whether the counter was still flashing after turning it off.  Will definitely have a proper look next time we are over.  Don't suppose there is any way someone could be "hacking in" to our supply, especially with the meter box being almost "on the roadside"???!!  Kind regards everyone and thanks again. 

Hope someone can please advise.  We have received an EDF bill for 1497 euros covering the last 13 months. In that time we have used our holiday home for 7 weeks (5 of which were in the height of summer so we have not used any electric for heating and minimal for lights TV etc.) and for the rest of the year we switch the electricity off at the mains (which is at the edge of our property) and also on the box inside the house.  We have been paying 49 euros a month by direct debit but they obviously want over a 1000 euros for the difference. How can this be possible and can we challenge it?  Is there an English speaking phone number I can phone – I have tried their email but they take so long to answer and obviously this is quite worrying for us.  Many thanks in advance.

I really can't believe the hositality that has arisen out of a perfectly innocent question, why can't people just answer without resorting to personal insults. Makes you wonder why on earth anyone would want to live in France. In the village we live in it would seem the only people who abide by the law are the British; the French do exactly as they chose. Our French neighbour purchased a 4x4 in UK 5 years ago; he still drives it on UK number plates and has no intention of registering it, so thereby no insurance I expect. Almost everyone "employs" the assistance of friends and neighbours to do jobs on their property - no-one bats an eyelid here.