betoulle

For us in the B&B this 3rd quarter of 2010 has been our best ever - have taken more in these three months than during the whole of the previous 18........mainly long stay of 1 wk or more & mainly from UK, with the French being a close second...a few Dutch, Belgians & Aussies.  We were hit badly by the ash cloud fiasco with cancellations in April, May & into June......& sadly lost some of our regular guests to terminal illness - problem with appealing to the over 50s.  Have just had a houseful for the Angouleme Race weekend & then later this week we are accommodating the Deux-Sevres Pompiers for the conference in Angouleme. but after this next weekend we have no bookings till next April - normal for us.  Will have a few French around All Saints Day + occasional business travellers, but far less house hunters over the last 3 years, though have a few regulars working on 'projects'.....  In the gites this has been our best ever season - fully booked for both gites from easter till mid-October & once again a very high percentage of repeat bookings for 2011.  Looking forward to a much needed rest after serving breakfast every morning since early June...........& to closing the pool for the year......

Think it was 700 euros approx 5 yrs ago, but have never regretted it, makes life so much easier - having just ironed 56 pillowcases & several duvet covers with a full house for the next few weeks definitely think it was worth the investment............

Go to Metro & buy yourself a Miele rotary iron - worth every penny....

For me Magimix is the very best - have been using them now for over 30years - am now on my second machine.......the motor lasts for ever, as do the blades, its the bowls that need replacing only. Highly recommended...

after 7 years no 2 are the same I find........nothing is 'normal' in this business - time to reflect at the end of the season..

Have heard about the police form requirement, but not enforced in our region...occasionally the gendarmes come by to check we have not seen any Basque separatists....& GdF keep us informed of any fraudsters, escaped convicts, kidnapped children etc in the area. Have never been issued with any police forms or had any info from GdF.  However, we do keep a record of addresses for the invoices to keep accountants happy (think that is just ours...since we had a big tax inspection a couple of years ago, but thats another story) & so I can send guests a Xmas newletter each year.  Good idea to have a note of mobile numbers &/ email addresses for lost property....this year had house keys, passports, clothes, toys etc left behind - in the case of the keys & passports just as well I had the mobile numbers....  The service veterinaire covers not just the obvious veterinary regs, but anything really to do with food & safety in all its forms - bit like the Public Health dept.

Following post copied from another discussion.........all my information is via GdF, but looks like the Douanes issue the licence subject to completing the course & Veterinary Service are involved.  We already have dealings with the Service Veterinaire as we have bees.....   'I've just had a chat with the Maire and a lady from the Tourist Office who advised that all we need to do is make a declaration to the Maire that we are operating as a Table d'Hote/ Chambre d'Hote, then trot down to the Douanes in Clermont Ferrand to apply for a license so serve food and wine, which is free. [/i] They are wrong! The licenses you need are a Licence 1 to serve non alcoholic drinks with breakfast, plus a licence 'grand restauration' to serve drinks/aperitifs with meals. This is free from the Douane but not valid unless you have done the obligatory three day training course provided by UMIH. (www.umihformation.fr) This costs 850 Euros! I've just done it & some of the cost was paid by the Clermont Tourist Office. The course covers lots of things that are irrelevant to Chambres D'Hôtes but also makes you realise your responsibilities. The certificate is valid for ten years and can then be renewed by attending a one day course. You also need to notify the 'Service Veterinaire' and attend a basic hygiene course. The Mairies don't seem to be up to speed with this yet. There was a girl on the course I did who had leased her bar/hotel from the Commune who guided her through the process of opening the bar. During the course the trainer realised that she had been very badly advised & took her to the Douane who confirmed this & immediately closed her down for several weeks. Without the trainer, who knows the Douane Officers, she could also have been facing a large fine. There is also a 'petit restauration' licence, that limits you to serving wine & beer. You still have to do the course & they suggested that this was too much of a minefield because it doesn't include all wines & most aperitifs are excluded. You need the licence 1 for breakfast because it doesn't count as a meal! '

Certainly GdF would not accept a UK certificate, but might be worth a try - maybe someone on here as experience of that??  The course is only required if providing evening meals, does not apply to home baking or any fruit compotes for breakfast......according to my GdF inspector anyway.....  doing bacon & eggs etc is frowned on by GdF in our region, so they would insist on the course under those circumstances.... providing ham etc as part of a breakfast buffet does not need certification....but still need the tea/coffee/juice licence from the Customs office.  If going with GdF they would suggest you do their basic food hygiene course at minimum cost.  Clevacances probably the same - anyone know if that is the case???

Try CDiscount.com (part of Casino group)  for electric goods - have bought a washing machine & tumble dryer from them or nextag.fr as a price comparison site

You can offer a more luxurious breakfast, which from our experience is what is bringing us our regular clientele - a way of getting around the rules, being different from the norm, still doing some cooking & charging a bit more....... you will find that there are still ample opportunities to get to know your guests especially if you offer a reason for them to stay on site through the day & don't restrict them to leaving the premises between 10.30 & 4.30 as some B&B owners are known to do..some days it is hard to get away from the guests without doing evening meals as well....  Picnic areas & a coin cuisine are currently very favourable, especially with French guests, as it means they can shop at the traiteur, bring food with them from home, or enjoy a bottle of wine with some bread & cheese in the garden/on terrace either lunchtime or evening.  Great for families too as it is an easy way of making it more homely & friendly, doesn't involve too much work & which will keep them coming back.  Leaving the occasional afternoon cake in the coin cuisine always goes down well as that little extra touch.

Something of importance to know is that as from this year, newly registered chambres d'hotes owners who wish to offer table d'hotes must attend a hygiene & food safety course - approximate cost 800-900euros.....you may find this cost prohibitive.   I had a long discussion late last year with a newly registered French run B&B in Provence - she is charging top whack for her beautiful rooms & had a successful 1st year, but despite that she had worked out it would take her almost 10 yrs to re-coup the cost of the course...  Those of us already registered only need the alcohol licence, so long as you were already offering t d'h before the cut off date...  Don't forget you will need a basic licence for breakfast - easy to get & free.  Good idea to contact your local GdF & maybe attend one of their seminars where they will give you all the information before you make the decision.  Good luck, its very hard work, but worth it - we are in our 7th year & though very tired by the end of each season it is great to welcome people back year after year - you will make lots of friends.  The work continues through the year but at a different pace - we are currently immersed in the annual decoration project.......

Have never tried pre cooking the custard....but why not try the 'cheffy' method of overlapping the pastry over the edge of the tin, then trimming the top edge once cooked, level with the baked custard.  Always works & looks very professional.......don't over cook the filling - as already mentioned use a cooler oven for less time & it will be just set & golden....enjoy.....

we have used them several times now for Screwfix & Lakeland deliveries as well as Tescos & can highly recommend them.  We had them deliver our new neff Double Oven door to door for & even with the delivery charge we saved a fortune on the cost of the same oen in UK.  Thinking about buying our gas hob in UK as well next month. Very efficient service & professional staff.

just bought some bark chips in Casto for just over 3euros/bag

Ignition switch for tractor - quoted price in France 140euros, not in stock, needs ordering, maybe here in a week.  Bought on internet from company in UK, in stock, delivered in 3 days, total cost £15.........

Quillan   New law came in 2 years ago - surprised you missed all the discussions about it.  I think like us you are with GdF - they should have informed you at the time.  In our region it resulted in many of the undeclared/unclassed B&B s which had popped up over the years no longer being in business..... try looking at the lay my hat website for a link to the official 'act'

We used the tunnel for years when we had a second home in Normandy & yes it did happen often, especially if getting an early morning train, but not usually public holiday weekends unless you were very lucky.  Equally, have had some bad delays on the tunnel caused by broken down trains, motorway accidents & again during public holiday weekends.  Overall, we would say that the good experiences outweighed the bad, but the latter remain in the memory longer......

Under those circumstances the pompiers will come out - we had a similar situation recently & they came out in the evening to treat the roof & chimney.....they will send you an invoice eventually.....

Having a very strange year this year, amazingly our larger gite is now almost fully booked (just 3 wks remaining) from 20th May till 2nd October & our smaller gite has the usual number of bookings to be expected by this time of year with just 6 wks left to fill from mid-May to end of Sept, but for the B&B it is extremely quiet.  We have several regular guests returning throughout the year, but with the exception of a wedding party & a few French business travellers we have had not one single new enquiry for the B&B since last autumn......from any nationality....At first I thought it was because we do not offer table d'hote (we have so many great restaurants nearby) but our ex-President of GdF for the region has a 4epi chambre d'hote/gite business in our village offering table d'hote & with the exception of the same wedding party this last w/end she has not one single booking for either chambres/gites for2009.....   We are 3 epis so cheaper than her, have reduced our prices a little & are offering 7 nts for the price of 6 etc, but no interest at all.  As well as GdF we advertise with several well-known chambre d'hote sites as well as the usual holiday listing companies. Similar number of hits on our website to most other years........  Last year was our best ever with the B&B fully booked from mid-June to late-September which was an unexpected surprise & fortunately we have many of the same returning this year as well as our regular French families + a few UK house renovators.  Our new enquiries this year have all been for gites & we have been offering special 'deals' in small gite for househunters etc at a much cheaper rate than B&B for this time of year, which has proved popular & I must admit it is a lot less work.  I have no idea what has changed, we have good access for airports being close to Limoges, Angouleme & Poitiers for Uk visitors, are between the A10 & A20 for european visitors en route to the coast....but many of our French enquiries do not start to come in till late May.  Our French friends tell us that many French have had a winter holiday this year due to the exceptional snow conditions & are waiting for the long-term forecast to decide if,where & when to go in France, so fingers crossed.  As to gite enquiries from UK, we have had far less than usual, but less time-wasters, so a good conversion rate, but whereas this time last year I had approx 50 Uk enquirers who I had been unable to accomodate, this year I have had just 15 - maybe more are looking at the availability calenders on our various listings, or those who contact us are serious about booking.  However, we have no availabilty calenders for the B&B, so where are they all????? Have had not one single walk-in this year, which is very unusual

We are in the Charente & granted it was raining & chilly on Saturday (unfortunate as we had a wedding party staying) but last week was glorious - Thursday & Friday we registered 34'C & we have had very little rain now for weeks with lots of lovely sunny days....am I living in a bubble?????

Try the Moulin St Jean in Loches - a good half way stop, we have had several guests & friends stop there en route to us.

This year it is the weekend of 18/19/20th September - cars arrive throughout the week with big Concorse d'Elegance on Friday evening, the classic car rally to Cognac & back from Geant car park is Saturday & race day is all day Sunday - practice circuits in morning, races in afteroon.  If you have never been then make the effort to go at least once - it is great fun, fantastic atmosphere & yes the weather is usually glorious for the race day...a few years back the Friday evening & Saturday were a washout, but all was fine for the Sunday.

Wow what an amazing sight - not sure if all 20,000 passed over but we had a steady stream of flocks passing over our little bit of the Charente from 5.15 onwards......have never seen so many in such a short space of time - stunning.

Another idea is to head to the local covered market at lunchtime...the one in Limoges has 2 fantastic little restaurants opposite each other offering a 3 course lunch (all local market produce) & carafe of wine for less than 10 euros - great fun as everyone sits on benchs at long tables.  You need to be seated by 12.15 though as they both fill up incredibly quickly.  Another little gem is the tiny bistro situated in the antique market St Michel in Bordeaux - en excellent 2 course lunch in lovely surroundings.  You won't find many non-French speakers in either place......till now of course...... As to my previous posting about the Cheval Blanc at Luxe......it is always busy during the off season with French business men, but yes a lot of English second home owners & residents do eat there as word spreads fast...& the regulars probably book weeks in advance, but we are always too busy between the months of April & October to eat out anywhere, so our experience has always been very French.... anyway, when the food is that good I am not interested in the nationality of my fellow diners - the food being the most important reason for being there........  

One of the best value restaurants in our region (dept 16) is the Auberge du Cheval Blanc at Luxe near Mansle - Wednesday to Friday they do a five course set lunch including all the trimmings & a bottle of wine between 2 people for 17euros/head.  Their cheese trolley has to be one of the best in France, there is no limit as to how many you may have.....the presentation is as good as their full price menu & it is incredibly popular especially during the summer months, when we need to book up to 3 weeks in advance.  It is mentioned in the Michelin guide so definitely worth a mention in this article, though with increasing popularity I may have just shot myself (& our guests) in the foot..