Babbles
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Posts posted by Babbles
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Glad to hear that, its not good for the nerves all the waiting[:)]
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We have found that sending documents that have to be signed for or have a tracking barcode can take 3 weeks, in both direction from France to UK so it is probably early days yet. We run a Post Office in the UK and have found that if something goes missing it takes 3 weeks to turn up, but it normally does get there eventually, I probably shoudn't say this but if you need a traceable quick service you are probably better using a copy like Fed Ex or DHL.
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This could be seen as a very stupid question, but does that include BMIbaby which is my airline of choice when flying Manchester to France? Allocated seats so much more civilised[;-)]
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I would look into capital gains tax on having 2 homes in france, if you are a UK resident you will pay the max 16% of any increase in your second home but if you become resident for tax in france you have to pay an additional 11% which could turn out quite costly, I'm saying this as a layman you really nead to speak to a tax advisor about this if you plan to become a tax resident. I'm sure someone here can give you the exact status of doing this kind of transaction.
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Interesting, they must have some kind of leeway when making the grading, I totally agree with the 3 epis rates they seem to vary hugely which I suppose why everyone trys to strive for the next level. We do want to be listed in guide that does have some kind of gradings (as you say I think the French find these very important). I had thought about Chez Nous (we'll have an appartment gite as well) but were really put of using them by a dreadful one I stayed in near Bezier, and I wonder how many other people would be put of using them if they had a similar experience as they don't grade the properties even though we have stayed at some lovely places booked through them.
One guide I do like the look of is as its printed in both English and French,(link below) do you have any experience of this and if its any good? The CDH seem to be of the calibre (and price) we want to achieve but they don't have a rating as such, also (I know I'm putting my head above the parapet) have used the AS ones in the past, and speaking to owners where we have stayed that are included they do seem to rate it, but the cost might put us off a little bit. Funny you mention the Thomas Cook guide, I'm not really a fan of it, it offers good basic CDH but doesn't have a focus on more up market CDH so we but that one on the back burner to see how we'll get on witht the others
http://www.michelin.co.uk/travel/char.htm
I think with the size of the bathroom its the smallest you can get a full bathroom suite in 9feet x 5feet roughly , which is about all we can fit in in 3 of the suites, the others will be bigger The room sizes are what they are and as its a period property there is only so much you can do, you just have to do your best.
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As always a great reply, but one of the many bits I don't really get with that is the outside space, we're buying a large period house with buckets loads of charme and original features but not a huge garden, no room for a pool,but the beach is 20 mins away, there are tennis couts in walking distance but there public ones, there is also no room to put the WC's seperate we'd rather offer each suite it's own living area.
The other bits we can probably achieve and exceed in some cases. We've stayed in some truely awful 3 star/ epis and it doesn't really seem fair that is all we could achieve if we used the above criteria
We could really do with being graded by an organisation that would deal with townhouses that have restricted outside space, any ideas?
Like yourselves we are going to advertise that it isn't really suitable for children under 14 so do you still have to offer baby stuff?
Thanks yet again for steering us in the right direction[:)]
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A quick question that I haven't so far found an absolute answer for. For 4 epis my understanding is that a bathroom has to be 5m2 but does it have to have a bath in it or could you put a large shower in (which would feel more spacious and luxurious) I know that staying in a large upmarket hotel in London it had just shower but I've no idea with a CHD. Any advice on how you guys have fitted out your bathrooms would be welcome.
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I know what you mean but we don't really want loads of wires showing and I don't know of anyway that it can be done with putting the tv on the wall, unless of course there is some majical gizzmo that tidies them all away [:D]
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Just looked at the Panasonic with freesat, still very expensive cheapest I found was £899 , any thoughts about other brands making this type of TV? we only really want 32inch , do you think the price might drop in the near future, I'm hoping so!
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They are so lovely, but we don't have room for one without taking a fireplace out which seems a bit daft[;-)] I'll just dream on........ they do look a bit expensive though.........
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He's Fabulous[:D]
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Doesn't ground source heating need to be in an extrememly well insulated house to be effective? Chances are an old property won't be and if there are orginal floor treatments it would be a shame to rip or cover them up to put in underfloor heating (which is lovely to have) or expensive to re lay. Old stone houses need to be able to breath if you don't want to suffer with damp patches, I'm not sure how effective some of these new sources of energy work in old property but I do think they are great for new build.
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Sounds like real progress is being made, great news about the move to L'Arche and love to read the updates on how she's doing
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Our first house took just over a year, we used local artisans who were good but very expensive compaired to the UK, we bought an old stone house that had been renovated but was a little bit rough round the edges and had been lived in up until recently. The lessons we learn't are
- Don't pay for someone elses renovation work unless it's 100% to your taste, it will be cheaper to do it from scratch to your own
- If its allegedly habitable don't assume it is, re fosse, electric, damp proofing, land drains, all these jobs have to be done to a high standard or your wasting your money, it mean't there was nothing left in the pot for the pool for us. Another big expense was central heating, stone house are cold and take a lot of heating up and are often a lot cooler than the outside temperture we were told that electric radiators would be enough for a second home but if you want to use it out of season and keep it aired central heating is the way to go
- If using artisans, no matter how good they need supervising, if there's 2 ways of doing something sods law means it will be done the way you didn't want it doing.
- Using one firm to do everything is expensive and time consuming, it seems easier but if you've the management skills to organise different groups of people to work at the same time on different asspects of the job at the same time it helps speed things up. Getting an inexpensive odd job person to work alongside you can help save a small fortune.
Having said all that we really enjoyed renovating our house in the Gers and were very pleased with the results and sold reasonably quickly so we must have done something right , we must have as we are about to start another project more than twice the size! But the biggest lesson we learn't was to get the area right, only view houses that meet your criteria, for us it was less than an hour to a major city, less than half an hour to the coast be in a historic area in a village with commerce, only view houses that meet that and you can't be seduced by beautiful views or pretty houses. I have met a lot of people who have got that wrong and are living to regret it all be it in a beautiful home.
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A big thanks that has really cleared it up for me, I've just seen an add for Panasonic TV with built in free sat so might try and see if I can get them cheap at costco so fingers it's affordable!
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I read in one of the books on B&B in fance that the average is 31% for the whole of France for ones that open all year, not much detail I'm affraid as I'm sure it varies greatly between departments and standards.
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Good point Odile, I had my knee reconstructed and did a lot of extra exercise in the pool (not swimming just stretching ans resistance work), as well as the stuff the physio gave (only twice a week on NHS) and it made a massive difference according to the physio, so even if you don't like it Coops its worth doing when you are up and about[:D]
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Thanks Tim that has made it clearer, but being a bit dumb when it comes to TV's, here's another question, so if we put a quad or more thing (we will need them for 6 extra TV'S) and plugged in TV's with built in freeview do we still need digi boxes (I think this is the bit I'm muddling up, freeview and digi boxes are not the same thing?) I'm really in danger of showing just how ignorant I am when it comes to Techie stuff but do we need to have a bigger dish for more TV's ? we will be near Pezenas in the Herault if that makes a difference and left the dish on the last house so will have to buy one anyway.[geek]
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Just flew back with them yesterday, this isn't a moan just a heads up! They weighed everybodies carry on bag who used the desk to check in, most ended up haveing to pay the 20 euro's to put in the hold even if it was a tiny bit over, which I don't mind the flight was cheap anyway but what seems a little unfair was that those who checked in online carried on enormous heavy bags and no one checked the weight of them which really miffs me when they can't even lift them into the overhead locker and ask me to do it because I'm tall[:@]
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We have a sky box and TV (bought in France) already which we will use, we would like to have TV's in the suites but am a bit unsure of where to buy them, we would like to be able to offer both French TV and English (the sort that's available on freeview?) I am assuming that we will have to have 2 different dishes, if I bought TV's in the UK with built in freeview would I be able to get any French TV (again I assume you have to plug in the French dish) or would I be better buying TV's in France with that built in french freeview (not sure what the French system is called) and freeview boxes from the UK. Another point to mention is I have a Costco card for the UK and the TV'S are very good value[8-)]
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Hopefully early next year our dogs will need to be transported to near Pezenas 34 from North West England. Can anyone recommend any dog transport companies that go by land ? I don't think any airlines transport animals from the the North West but I'm not sure. We've an Airedale Toby (see pic) and a Jack Russell Jake, Toby gets very stiff and is a bit grumpy and Jake can get a bit nervous so I'm really looking for personal recommendations they've got their passports and stuff, I've looked on the T'internet but am not that much wiser and I'm sure its not going to be cheap but have no idea on price, any ideas?
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In Depot Vents I thought they only could mark things up by about a third ( someone told me that was the law!) If they use those computer printout sticky labels they sometimes have a date on them which can help give you a clue if they'll mark it down, but like most things in France they have to have their terms and conditions on display and how long it will be before they have to mark it down. I don't know about you guys but I find Emmaus really expensive for what things are, especially the condition of the things are in, saying that I do donate to them as its a good cause, I find I get much better deals from Brocanteurs or Depot Vents [;-)]
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You have to declare to the tax authorites it but there will probably nothing to pay CGT wise I don't know about the gift element , just check when you complete on the sale which country you live, if you have already moved back to UK and are declaring your tax here you will pay less tax in france (max 16% pending on how long you have owned the property) if for tax purposes you still live in France you have to pay an extra 11% on top of the 16%. I am assuming this is a second home as you shouldn't pay CGT if its yourr main home. Saying all this as your sittuation is a little complicated I would urge you take professional advice. From our recent sale I wouldn't trust what the Notaire says speak to someone independantly
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Jon, have you thought about doing your cooking courses geared towards Chambre d'hote owners, I sure that would be a lot of interest even people are reasonable cooks it would be great to learn from a chef who understands the CDH business and how to produce and present food in a professional manner, well I would anyway[;-)]
where can I get a stove like this
in House Renovations
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I was just flicking through Decembers Homes and Gardens magazine and in there is a Swedish Antique stove which they say you can get from the link below with prices starting at £2000 wich is a bit better than £5000 but still not cheap, but very impressive[:D]
http://www.lindholm-kakelugnar.com/galleri.php?lang=en&kat=3