juliap

Hi/Thanks for message.I have managed to find someone who looks like they can help and they are pricing it up this week.If it falls through, I will definitely get back to you though, so will hold on to your details.

Thanks for your reply Paul... was just trying to get things booked for when we get down there. Could put up the pool myself but I think we may need a concrete base plus we want to add some extra decking, Just wondered if anyone knew of any firms that do that sort of thing really. Will also double check with vendor but thought I'd sound out other people too.

Hello, We are in the midst of purchasing a property in Lot et Garonne and want to get an above ground pool installed in time for our first visit at the end of July. Whilst we can find plenty of pool kits online,what we can't find is anyone to install it. Does anyone have a good recommendation? We can't extend to having an in-ground pool so want above ground plus some decking. Any tips hugely welcome please. I have searched forums and the internet and can find lots of information on different pool types but nothing re installation.

Thanks everyone for yoru comments. I have now emailed the Mairie and will, hoepfully, get a reply ( I managed to get one when emailing them re our new yellow bin!) and will see whether they have any details of our plans for plumbing/drains etc. Failing that, I tink I will have to try to find a new plumber who knows what they're doing!!

We have been renovating a house in the Auvergne and thought we'd actually finished all the work this summer when we discovered that at least one of the loos was draining diretcly into the stream that runs along the rear of the property.  We spent 2 days unblocking a  pipe leading into the stream and then several hours collecting all the delightful 'sewerage' that poured out! The plumber that we had been using was away on holiday and we have only just managed to get hold of him again via email. He has said he that all houses in this part of the region drain directly into the stream!!!!!! We have asked him to try to find out where the fosse septique is but, so far, have had no response. I am returning, just for a few days, on 20 October and do need to try to get to the bottom of this, Could it be possible that there is no fosse septque at all? The house ws built only about 30 years ago, actually as 2 gites, but we have combined them into one single property. We can't find where the other toilet, which is downstairs, drains into and couldn't; see anything coming into the stream from that one, but are really worried about what to do next. How do we find out where the fosse septqie is, if indeed it is there?  How much would it cost to have one installed? Where does it go? We have no cellar but there is plenty of outside space to put one. Sorry if Im sounding naive here - we very confused!!   Julia

Hello   I have just spotted the same as you today - Ryan Air ceasing to fly to St Etienne. Our holiday house is in Chabreloche (63) and often, I have driven there for a full week with our children and my husband has flown out for the weekend to St Etienne to join us. It's a bit of a blow and,at the moment, we would probably opt for flights to Lyon Saint Exupery (spelling?). I keep hearing rumours about flights to Clermont Ferrand but have seen nothing as yet. At Easter, I have managed to book my husband on an airmiles-paid Eurostar train from Ashford to Paris. Then, via RailEurope (www.raileurope.co.uk), I have got him a fast SNCF train from Paris to Clermont Ferrand for £15 which seemed a bit of a bargain. I doubtI'll alwasy be able to get such a good price though, but from time to time it might be handy.   I anyone else knows any other good possiblities ofr reaching the Auvergne (or thereabouts), I'd be really interested. Julia

Hi Paul   Your advice is great - many thanks. I will contact the EDF next week! I had heard it was comparatively easy to upgrade from 30 to 45 but wasn't exactly sure how to go about it! Fingers crossed!   Julia

Thanks to you all who have replied so far. I will have a look at the EDF website - good idea - I have a phone number and contact name but, like probably many people, although I can survive speaking french face to face, it seems miles harder on the phone (I guess partly as that means I can't point at things etc!!). If I can get an email address for the EDF in Thiers (the nearest large town), I could then email over some of the photos and I am sure the chap there would then understand our position (the meter bax and its cable do look appalling!!!). We go back to the porperty in mid Feb  but, even if we can't be there, our notaire has a key which could be collected by the EDF if they want to visit earlier (maybe that's wishful thinking on my part!?!?!?).   Incidentally, does anybody know how easy (?!) it is to increase the electric dupply to a house in France. The meter box fitted (and the first bill we received) show 30 Amps and, ideally, we would have liked to increase it to 45 Amps (the box seems to imply that this is feasible). If anyone has had experience of approaching the EDF with such a request, that would be useful. we have realised that, as the Auvergne gets pretty heavy snow, we need to add more raciators etc (the main heat source is the wood burner but we also have 3 oil filled radiators and ideally would like to add a further 2). I am just concerned that, if we happened to have literally everything swtitched on simultaneously, everything would go POP !! Thanks again anyway. Julia

This is my first post on this forum so hello ! We bought a house in dept 63, Auvergne, near to Thiers, last summer and have spent the last few holidays visiting and doing it up. The EDF contacted us in October to say they wanted to re-site the electricity meter box and we agreed on a new position for it. When we returned this Christmas, we were shocked at how badly the work has been carried out. Instead of drilling all the way through the wall from outside and feeding the electricty cable through there, they have trailed the cable from underneath the new box in the lounge (easy access for small hands - we have 3 young children and have had to ensure they don't 'play' with the cable!) and made a short drilling hole at a sort of angle, from inside the lounge near the window, to a point between the window and external shutter. The cable then passes right across the window (so, when you open the window and shutters, you have a delightful thick, black cable to look at instead of the vew!) and up outside, therby preventing that particular shutter from closing!! Aside from the simple aesthetic issue, the cable is not firmly clamped to any part of the building but is simply dangling and could easily blow around or be knocked. I cannot believe this can be legal and have taken lots of photos. I just wondered whether anyone else had had similar experiences with the EDF - until this point, they have been fairly good to deal with and it wouldn't surprise me if the supervisor at their HQ has no idea how badly the work has been performed.Many thanks.