Blanche Neige
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Posts posted by Blanche Neige
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[quote user="JJ"]
Cathy, I live opposite you, (so to speak) on the other side of the Gironde Estuary, in the poor old Charente Maritime and although the weather has picked a bit of late, I would hardly call it a balmy summer, it is the worst I have known in 5 years.
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JJ in seven years we have never had such poor weather in the Charente-Maritime as we had for our June / July stay this year. Rain, windy, grey days and sometimes quite cool, thankfully it seems to have improved for the guests staying in our house now.
[:)]It's actually very pleasant weather in Surrey at the moment (27C last Sunday)
I am hoping for a beautiful September
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I suppose that gites in constant use will be more prone to wear and tear but there's no excuse for leaving them dirty. JJ deduct some of their damage deposit, that is why you take one and just say it is because of the extra cleaning that was required.
We let our maison secondaire and are now in our 6th year. To date (and touch wood) we have been lucky and guests have left our house in a reasonable state. When they book our guests are told that final cleaning is not included in the price and they are asked to leave the house in a clean and tidy state when they leave. I do tell them that it is not necessary for them to wash the floors and I wouldn't expect them to do window cleaning. We leave loads of cleaning stuff in both bathrooms and under the kitchen sink so they have no need to go out and buy anything.
We have had quite a lot of repeat bookings over the years so I don't think this level of cleaning is too much to ask and as one of the posters (Ernie I think) said surely it is a matter of pride .
"While some guests are undoubtedly lazy sods, some owners could try harder too. But as I said... none of them are here, I'm sure"
A good point Catalpa and hopefully if guests arrive and find a lovely house to stay in they will want to leave it in the same state for the next people.
Good luck everyone and let's hope we all have a good Summer with lots of lovely clients.
Bon courage [:)]
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My daughter ordered two dresses from the U.S.A. for her bridesmaids, when the dresses arrived she had to pay £60 [:(]
She says it was still cheaper than buying same dresses in the U.K.
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Squidge
There are some very reasonable prices now for printing postcards (well at least there are in U.K.) and generally the more you have printed in one go the cheaper it becomes.
Leaflets if they are displayed in a stand tend to flop and get rather tatty. I think they are likely to be picked up and then discarded, stuffed in a bag or binned. ( well that was my experience when working at a visitor information centre)
Postcards with an attractive picture are more likely to be kept, saved and read again.
I am sure others will have some good advice.
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[quote user="mark and sacha"]
I believe it was 2, but who's counting?....thankyou for taking the time to look at my portfolio.
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No problem, glad to see you have now corrected your site[:)]
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Mark and Sacha
It might be a good idea to check your website again as there seem to be three different spellings of EXTERIOR!
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http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20070805/tuk-laboratory-link-to-foot-and-mouth-ou-45dbed5_2.html
"Britain has also imposed a voluntary export ban on all animals and animal products."
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I heard of one couple who had the following phrase ready for people coming to visit them at their holiday home in France!
"We don't clean and we don't cook"
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No replies to this so far and maybe Woody2122 is getting desperate.
Perhaps some of us need to do some research, anyone up for a bit of clubbing?[:)]
[Www] LOL I think my clubbing days are over!!![:(]
Seriously Woody you could try asking the tourist office they may have a list of clubs.
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[:)]
Well we have just let our last vacant week (25/08) to some people who stayed there 4 years ago and said they were only just thinking about their Summer holidays.
So it just goes to show that not everyone arranges their holidays in January.
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We're looking for some comments/sanity check on our plan to buy and run a Gites Complex in Central/SW area of France.
Consider LOCATION very carefully
We plan on buying an existing Gites business (upto 450,000 euros)
This may limit the location in which you can afford to buy
Bon courage
Edit
I have sent you PM giving a link to a website that has gites for sale but the prices start above 500,000 euros.
Some of the properties have been on the market a long time and as Frogslegs says the business has reached saturation point in some areas
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Wonderful area as OP and Lindsey2 have said. Strasbourg is perfect for a short break and the surrounding villages and countryside IMO are well worth visiting.
Lindsey said
"But they are still working agricultural communities, and the stories the old people have to tell of their experiences of enforced nationality changes resulting from the two world wars are truly fascinating ............Highly recommended!"
I had the same impression and experience as Lindsey
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"..................So many I've seen done (by the french) are tacky and un-sympathetic."
Some British ones are not good either and can fall into the "tacky and un-sympathetic" category.
"Plenty of french sellers leave money on the table by badly presenting their country property."
It never fails to amaze me that often when the French put their houses up for sale they happily let the agents take and publish photos without considering the need to present the house in a clean and tidy state.
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Thanks Paul
This site is getting better and better.
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I think you are in the right Poppy.
"he who pays the piper calls the tune"
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Michael,
that's really bad luck and I do hope all your troubles will soon be over.
Bon courage
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I have heard of some people having free lessons in the Limousin but don't know the details, it might be worth asking at the Mairie.
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Moorejw said
"We are full apart from the last week in August, which always seems hard to let as everybody in UK is preparing for the return to school. If your bookings normally come in early then you can't blame the floods - don't know what to suggest apart from changing the site you advertise with."
We are not a gite property as such but do let our maison secondaire when we don't need it. Our experience has been the same as above, bookings for July and August seemed to flood in during May when the weather turned very wet in the U.K.
We have had some very recent enquiries from people wanting:
a) any two weeks in August (...............in their dreams!)
b) last two weeks in August (with flight tickets already booked!)
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" Most people say I will not find one on my budget of 200,000€ I have seen a few adds in my price range. But people say that these adds are old/or not suitable. Anyone else found such a property for around this price range???????????? "
You may well find a property at this price but it will depend on location.
You then have to ask yourself whether this would be an area that clients would choose to come to for their holidays. If the area is not right you will be left with a lot of empty weeks without bookings.
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I agree with Gastines on this one, check with the authorities first..
If you live near a listed church or in a conservation area you need to be very careful.
Be warned, if you want to build a new place, don't knock down the workshop until you are sure that you will get permission for the new property.
Bon courage
P.S. I think the second option might be cheaper / easier
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Sorry I was going to post a link about The Jet Stream (one cause adding to the floods)
but I couldn't get link to work[:(]
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Stefan
Thanks, I thought it wouldn't be long before you came up with a good reply.[:)]
Renovating old wood buring oven
in House Renovations
Posted
Pierre said
"It looks a great stove, I hope you can fix it up."
I'll second that! I have a passion for old stoves.
Even if it doesn't ever function it would make a lovely feature in an old house.
We have tiled one in our kitchen, poele that is not one that cooks although it is possible to sit a casserole dish on the top and cook that way. Ours was lurking in the garage when we bought the house. The stove was taken apart, moved into the kitchen put back together and re-fitted. It heats beautifully and is very much a focal point.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.