Pun

Hi  Susan H, Many thanks for your much needed reply, I,d like to reply to both parts, (1) terms and conditions would be agreed  and understood by both party,  My interest is to give these guest a stress free enjoyable holiday and in the T &G it will say we dont exspect any guest to clean," your on holiday." (b) Leaving time, due to the fact that dept 23 is some 400miles from the port of calais, We have friends staying with us many times and all want to leave pri 9am,  to get to the ports for early evening crossings, ie 6pm on wards. also coming from the opposit direction is again around 9 to 10 hours allowing for stops and  traffic. Again planning but from the time you arrive here we want people to spend time enjoying both all the gite has to offer and this part of france.   I hope this has given you a thought or two as to how and why. once again many thanks for your thoughts.

Hi  Judy c, Many thanks for your support on this one, as I said I did sit on this one for a day or so and said how I feel it should be run, If they had an M.O.T. for gites here in france, a lot of them would be off the road ,   once again thanks.

Hi  Cassis, The times are out by 9am most people have a long drive anyway and in no sooner than 5 pm, this ensures we have the time to make the start of the stay special for the arriving guest, if the people leaving have left us with any problems that need out of the way sorting, such as wine staines on the 3 piece, or such problems I feel you cant have these sorted if you dont give yourself a chance, And you wouldnt feel  very special if I was showing you arround your French holiday home with wine marks all over the settee, would you? As I said plan and  and plan again, You know as well as I do so many people come to France and buy places that need tons of work and money spent on them, And these people go diving in buy them and then the real problems start, WHy because back home in the U.K. ETC they didnt even change a light bulb let alone sort a roof tiling job out, This again is lack of planning and more of dreaming, Well     Cassis my friend its the same with serving the public and Gites, you have to plan. I hope you agree speake to you again soon.  

I  did say my remarks would open a can of worms ref  cleaning by the customer, and it did, So this has so far been a very awake call to both questions for future customers to ask and the gite owners to ensure they make clear when Terms/con,d are presented to the customer, I myself wouldnt have any idea of the living conditions or cleaning standards of the person renting and so will stay with the all cleaning done by us the owners and to our standards and the 8 hour cleaning and sorting out any problems times ie out by 9am in no sooner than 5pm, this way the new customers will have a clean/aired gite with all checks done on all saftey alarms ie pool/fire alarms and a wecome pack and very important a welcome smile,   I couldnt do all of this in 30 min period. Thanks for all your comments on this subject.   subject closed regards Pun.

Hi   Jon D. Many thanks for your valued reply, just one question. you say on page one of this topic the cleaning should be part of the cost, (as Ive said this is just what we will do) But you go on to say, some people leave the place in a mess and some leave it as if no one had stayed. (Q) Do you give a refund to the guest who left it like nobody had stayed, after all they,ve paid in the booking price for you to clean after they,ve gone havent they? regards Pun

Ive sat on this one for a few days having read all the remarks ref should the gite be returned in the same state it was given, And pre my early retirement from my own built up company employing 15 full time people , I can say with both experience and understanding of what having a gite or b&b should be about. PEOPLE, Yes PEOPLE who for how ever long the holiday is will be having a change from the normal day to day routine they have all year round. If on this holiday they decided they didnt want to do any house work, but just enjoy a private relaxing time for this short break, then so be it. I intend to have an 8 hour gap between change overs, and in that time (weather permit) both the inside and out side areas will be cleaned to my standard not the guest who have left (30 min) worth of cleaning work for us to do. This 8 hour gap will be a weekly or what ever time the change over booking times will be, and thats not bad ,8 hours work every change over. The most important thing in any financial investement is a thing called the customer and from some of the remarks Ive seen ref this should I charge for cleaning thing, YOU should go back to the question why are you doing this gite in the first place. Did you think the cutomer was going to spend time cleaning and how did you know they,d clean to your staddard?? I feel some people have lost the plot. Any customer that damages items or the building will be charged to put these things back in order, But every customer who uses our gite will not be expected to spend any part of the holiday getting ready to return to the normal daily routine they have had a break from ie cleaning ready for my next guest, We will do all that and to our high standdard. The cost of the complete holiday package will be just that, charged as complete. Ive used some gites since being interested in France and Ive learnt to better all Ive seen and heard and I have one very important start word value for money. If your going to have any form of making money you must have a plan and to do this you need to do your home work. befor you start, its no good going into the service industry if you dont want to put the hours in and enjoy what your doing, Every thing from a welcome to our gite pack to smoke alarms to saftey ref pools etc all comes from having a plan and ensuring that plan is going to work for both the time you want to spend and the costing, ie will it make money and do you really want to work with the public?? Well Ive been honest and Im sure some of the gite/b/b people would have had a fit by my remarks but some people cant see the wood for the trees.

Hi  ROB, Thanks for  your  reply, Im sure that was good advice given and one I,ll make sure I pass on to the guest using the Gite, I may have a sign in the welcome book, "no rodeo wrecks please" once again thanks Rob.

Hi Katie, after drinking the cider did you end up getting hick hick hitched??

Louise, Ive had a really nice day today, mostly in the workshop giving the push lawn mower a good degunge, and trying to work out what to do with all these bottles, anyway I was called in to the kitchen by (her in doors) and greeted with a shush (because one of those do it up house /and sell for thousands more than you paid was on the T.V.) My wife said well thats a good idea, what is I said,[:(] putting broken glass in the fire place to set the room off. Have we any glass we could do that ??? I could have cried,  no body takes a blind bit of notice what I do all day.

Im thinking of  bringing a kit car from the U.K. to FRANCE and I have an "A" frame fitted to the kit car , Question, Can I tow the kit car on the "A" frame using the Route/nat system ?? from Dover to limousin.

Hi Louise, Green and brown, some clear, and all shapes, some about 8inch tall some 2inch and loads of broken (due to me using the spade and not the fork) At the time of writing this Im removing a large mound of building rubble encrusted in huge prize winning weeds/nettles left by the previous people so I can make a nice patio, come open eating area, and so far Ive found 2x snakes a few ton of broken house brick, mortor, and bottles. But Ive found bottles in the outside wall area of the Barn, every couple of yards near the doorways of the Barn and stable doors we,ve noticed cut out spaces "like there was a beam or girder in these places once, but my neighbour tells me these spaces have been in the building from when it was made just incase you wanted in a later date to have an extention, you,d use these spaces for the wooden beam to go into and continue from them to errect your floors etc, we,ve even found bottles in these spaces near the roof of the Barn. Maybe just Maybe its to do with high flying  MOLES, Yes the wind flushes across the open end of the bottles and this keeps the Moles at ground level. Well what do you think Louise??? (They say to much sun effects you) I must go and lay down now,[8-)]

Is it me or do other gardeners here in france keep finding bottles every time they dig, We did at first start to collect all these odd little bottles but now its no joke,  do other gardeners find them ?[8-)]

Hi  j.k. Im so glad I read this thread of yours, Every day my wife and I do more and more work on a property we,ve invested in to be a gite in 1 year from now and  we both read and try to find out as much as posible about being a really good gite and service we can offer. After reading your crap holiday experience we both know we,re on the correct road to doing the job well, you,ve helped us no end to tick yet one more box of what not to do and (very important" what we should do ref our future wording of our add for the gite, ie owners live only 3km away if needed and all the package ie pool, hot tub bikes , books games, sky t.v. etc are for who ever books our gite and for use by them "ONLY" anytime through out the booking . Thanks for your help, at least some good has come out of your holiday from hell.   regards Pun.

If your thinking of making jam or bottling fruit ?? Heres a few tips that may help, (1) if you buy a boiling bin from the local shops etc you,ll notice theres a hole in the lid, this is for two reasons, 1 for the steam to escape but 2 very important its also for the jam temperarure device to sit in the lid. (2) Kilner jars, these are the jars with a meteal clasp device to seal in all the contents when boiling the fruit etc, a very good jar to use But how do you open the jar when needed? Ive been asked so many times by friends who we've given jam,s to "how the hell do you open these jars. Simple you buy a device that  is very simular to the old cornbeef tin openers, Its a metal or plastic key device that you put the orange elastic tongue thats under the glass lid of the jar, you,ll find the tongue sticking out and the key device is put so the tongue pokes through the space of the key and then you just twist until all the air hisses out and then put the jar on a flat counter and open via the metal clip. The idea to opening these jars is the same as the old corn-beef tin idea. Only label when the jars have cooled down, (date, item) store in a cool place and enjoy the fruits of your labour when they can,t be bought in the shops. Good gardening.   Hope this helps[I]

Hi  jandv, Welcome to France and the Mole problem, We,re having the same trouble and Ive a large garden (1)  1part veg/fruit (2) the second lawn borders etc, Im trying 3 things (1) the chemicle bullet trap I bought from the local France rural store, "it,s made in the U.K. believe it or not, all the instructions are in english, Now as with all the methods used you must wear rubber gloves to stop the human smell being left on the device you use, So wipe clean your device and make sure you have not left your scent on the trap. this first trap has gone off twice and Ive not found any dead moles, but as its a gasing sort of thing and Moles move fast, Im hoping they,ve died deep down.   The second device Im trying thanks to my  friend down the lane who has no mole hills, is the bullet trap that fire when the device is tripped, (if you use this method cover the set trap with a plastic bucket to warn off dogs etc,  So far Ive killed one mole using this method.   And last  but the best Ibought from the local jardiland, and its a solar operated spike device that charges its self up via the sun, every 15 seconds it lets a bleeping sound out and this keeps the moles away, Ive used this for 2 weeks now and my veg area is clear of any moles, but the orchard 20 feet away has signs of moles. but Ive not done anything about this area "YET" The advantage of the solar system is it,s clean and can be moved when mowing /digging etc, And as we,re surrounded by miles and miles of Field, we dont expect to see the Mole off by any means.   Hope this has given you some sort of real advice, we have been told to use moth balls down the mole holes, get an old moped attach a hose pipe to the exhaust and start the engine and rev like hell and gas them, So my friend your not alone, (theres always a Mole about) Good gardening.

Hello  ALNMIKE, IF you really really want to say thank you and mean it dont spare the cash buy a nice picture frame ( silver wont breake the bank) and take a picture of them put it in the frame and a little message Every time you look at this think of us. Not only will this work, it will be shared by every one who see,s that photo in a frame.   P.s but only if you really mean it.[I]

Hi  Rob. I must be the only happy sod around (dept23) I had a list of must do,s befor the winter comes, ref this Gite project we,re doing, and due to the really hot weather we,ve had for weeks, I kept leaving putting up the 40ft barn gutters and down pipe,  I didnt want to fry in that heat  , well last week I had a nice sunny and warm day (saturday) and I decided to do this task, a two day job as the first two rows of slates had to come off and be put back with the new guttering etc, Well I finished the job at about 6pm   sunday and the rain started and its rained every day except tody, What a test for the work done, and as for the timing, I couldnt have wished for better, We,ve been picking and bottling and making mirabelle plum jam all to day, the kitchen smells great. Happy gardening.[Www]

Hi  APERO, A very good point made and one I,will use . Im noting all this info now and Im pleased Ive asked the question.   Thank you for your help.

CHRIS, Ive not a clue where about you are but Im going to sit in the car and play with the sat/nav and find out, [8-|]

Honest Wozza, Did your mum really really call you PUN?? HONEST,[:D]

Hello Derkins, nice to see you are in the same boat as my wife and I was not long ago, We had this very same question in our heads and decided on a gite, We did this for two reasons (1) by having a second property and the prices of property going up all the time (Limoges has the air port so property in this area is going up quickly) and if or when you decide to grow old without working you would have built up a nice nest egg. ref the property selling price. (2) B.B.,s you have to be there every time you have a guest, and lets be honest with all the good intentions in the world some people will not be to your own liking, but with a good well cared for gite you should only see your guest on arrival and good by,s except if needed for any problems, We,re not that far away from Limoges really, (approx 70mile or  1hr 30min) so as I said the area,s are very much on the increase ref holidays We have friends who both gite and do the B.B.,s so we have looked at both, hope this has given you a thought or two as to why we,ve decide on the gite, good luck. 

Hi CHRIS, 3KMS OUTSIDE OF THE TOWN CALLED AIGURANDE, THE AREA IS CALLED  "PUN" (YOU DIDNT THINK MY MUM CALLED HER SON PUN DID YOU?????) ARE YOU NEAR HERE?

Hi  Artois, I have read your remarks and find two clear points that If I was in your shoes feel need looking at, (1) YOUR GUEST, and the full  refund from the ferry company,] Ive used just about every ferry company going for the passed   8 years, Ive been delayed by all the said companys at one time or other and infact was refused a pre booked and deposit paid b.b in dover because I arrived after mid-night inspite of a 7pm france time crossing not getting me to dover until mid night, this was not my fault but the ferry company, inspite of complaining to the ferry company in writing I got nothing, it,s in the small print they will not be responsable for delays due to weather, or fault out of there control "it was august, and the ferry was over booked for private trailers and caravans and only H.G.V. vehicles had been loaded that early crossing, As far as speed king, we.ve had so many delays by them, we now no longer use them or should I say I wouldnt use them. but Ive not heard of any company giving refunds, (2) We will be operating our own gite next year and if  only one point Ive learned that keeps coming up as a  no  no its the one I had the cleaner/or / a good friend do the change over, It smells of the fact that your customer "the hard to please customer" is left to your friends. its your income, your gite and your standard thats to be read not your friend/ cleaner , If you had been  on the job you would have been able to see for your self  the situation first hand and delt with it then. I hope you take these two points in the manner Ive given them, you,ve put yourself in the awkward  path of  not being able to deal with a trying customer no matter the reason they have given for leaving, You say the death trap wire that was found was infact a telephone adapt/wire, he may not have known this, had you or your friend been in a gite and found what you thought was live wires laying around, would you except a second offer the same day by the same persons? Had you been on site or your friend know what the so called live wire was, these people may have taken a step backwards.

Hi  Margaret If your in the U,K, you can buy a really good fruit press from a company called machine mart, every town seems to have one of these outlets, I bought mine last january cost about £90-00 all complete, really good value will last for years. try your local yellow pages.

HI WOZZA, Try the  auchan supper market "cool cabinet"