Carolski

Hello I'm a little confused Angela as I thought this was the South West section?

Hello Our kids are spending a week in Dordogne at a place called Jumilhac-le-Grand. They love brocantes and such like so would appreciate any info as to where they may find them nearish to this place. The French brocante site is dreadful and tells you nothing. Also any other places worth a visit with a 50 mile driving radius. Thanks in advance

Hello Our kids are spending a week in Dordogne at a place called Jumilhac-le-Grand. They love brocantes and such like so would appreciate any info as to where they may find them nearish to this place. The French brocante site is dreadful and tells you nothing. Also any other places worth a visit with a 50 mile driving radius. Thanks in advance

Wow people! what a great bunch of responses! Thanks so much, totally spoilt for choice. Think we may go for the one at Cap de nez! Carolski

Hi We're in Calais for the day in a few weeks time and would love to find a good restaurant outside of the town up to an hours drive away. Any recommendations much appreciated. Thanks C

Hi We're in Calais for the day in a few weeks time and would love to find a good restaurant outside of the town up to an hours drive away. Any recommendations much appreciated. Thanks C

Now why didnt I think of that..what a brilliant suggestion. Thanks..

Looking for an inexpensive B & B in April for one night near to Le Havre  or Honfleur? Needs to have its own bathroom. C

Hi We are popping over from UK to Le Havre in the next few weeks  just for the day as there is a good offer on LD Lines. Time is obviously short as we want to mainly stock up at le Clerc and then head back to the port for 5.30. We would ideally love to fit in lunch before setting off to the supermarche and as we have only ever been to Le Havre as a departure/arrival place in the past, we have never had time to find anywhere good to eat. we love the traditional French fare so any suggestions would be much appreciated. Carole

Thats so quick and really helpful..thanks so much C

We're travelling to France in September with our touring caravan. Having lived in France for 4 years and come back to the UK we are really looking forward to finally getting round to visiting the Boreaux region  ( never quite got there properly whilst living in Charente Maritime!). I was hoping that someone might recommend a good caravan site that would not be too crowded, outside of the big town so fairly rural. Any feedback/recommendations much appreciated. C

Thanks so much all of you for that link..it was brill and really helpful![:D] Carole

[8-)][8-)] Lets hope you're being 'amusing'[:)]!!

Thanks for the info but perhaps i should have clarified that we are specifically looking for smaller less expensive sites along the lines of our C.L. sites in the UK where there are basic facilities like electric points but not bothered with swimming pools and kids clubs etc! We had already Googled 'caravan sites France' but found it to be too general and a lot to get through for little reward...thats why I thought going through the forum would save time..discraceful I know!!!! C

We're planning a trip to France next year with our caravan and have been trying to get info online as to municipal sites or indeed any sites that take tourers. There seems pretty poor information out there ..Help please? Any links and/or advice greatfully appreciated. Carole

Hi We had a terrible period last year when we were trying to sell the house and had them in our loft...the smell and the noise when they woke us up every night at 3am..for weeks. We tried moth balls (once we found them) but they didnt seem to work. In the end a friend recommended peppermint oil....voila!  it worked..they came smelt and departed. When they returned a few weeks later we threw more cotton wool balls into loft with the oil on and they departed again..result and great relief all round. Hope this helps! C  

Well..as promised a quick up date. We received our money yesterday back here in the UK having put our cheque into our French bank account a week ago from the sale of our house over in France.(and there were 2 days within that week that were French holidays). We got a very good rate (that days interbank rate i.e. XE.com) and the charge in total was 3.50€!!!! Painfree and involving no moneybrokers at all. It seems according to our friend who works in a bank in Paris that this is a newish system (2 month old) and being used more and more. I post this for those out there who may be unaware of this...bon chance. We couldnt be more happy with the end result. C

When we bought our house here in France 4 years ago, we never checked it out just prior to signing the acte de vente. We are now just about to sign the acte de vente before returning to the UK.We have a very officious estate agent who has been pretty difficult. We have complied w ith everything she has asked even down to having the boiler serviced, chimney swept and fosse sceptic emptied. We have papers to confirm all of this. I recieved a telephone call today from them to say that they are coming round the morning of the signing (2pm) to check the house out!!! I was quite surprised as we never did this 4 years agowhen we bought the place and certainly not in the UK.  My question is this: Are they entitled to do this? Not that we have anything to hide at all but we have reason not to trust them as they have done some pretty underhand stuff these past few months.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this  but hey ho..nothing ventured.... We are a couple in our late 50's having just sold our lovely house in France we are returning to the UK. We are looking for a short term 'holiday' let for 8th May till around the 18th May 2008 in the Brighton Hurstpierpoint area whilst we wait for our money to be transferred from our house sale in France. We have a small well behaved westie and great references...Help please!

We ended up buying one from our local Au jardin. We were told that it was the best way to go as if anything goes wrong, they are just down the road! We were always so glad we took that advice as we have friends who have bought at the big DIY stores and had all sorts of problems transporting the thing when it needed fixing. Au jardin are quite competitive price wise and you can certainly bata with them a bit. They also give it a yearly service and collect and return it them selves. Hope that helps.

Maybe I'm not making myself very clear Both the banks have said is that the money transfer is exchanged from Euros to £'s by the local bank (i.e. France) Therefore they are giving us the interbank rate for the day of transfer. The bank in the UK receives the amount in £ sterling not €’s I also have already posed the exact hypothetical question that you suggested and they confirmed that it was indeed the rate of the day used for the transfer. If I sound prickly, I’m sorry it’s not intentional. I just want to make sure we do this right as I know we’ll never have to hopefully do it again!  

Oh just meant to add , not all of us can afford to forward buy!

Well, what more can I say apart from I am not unaware of ALL THE FACTS AND have DONE THE RESEARCH!!!! But forgive me, in my last post I did say that having spoken to the banks on both sides of the channel I have been assured that they use the interbank rate for that day (nothing more nothing less) and that only the French side charge! From what you seem to be suggesting ..then they are not telling the whole truth! So the big question now is (having done all my research and listened to all the responses on this forum)..who will give me the best deal? And from where I am sitting..the bank seems to be the simplest and just as (if not more) competitive. Am I missing something? But please dont assume that I (and my OH) haven't done our research, we're even signed up for one of these money brokers. C

Have just come off the phone with the Abbey in the UK; seems that its all pretty straight forward and having now issued me with my own IBAN number, all I now have to do now is pay the cheque into our French bank, give them the IBAN number and UK bank name..and its transferred using the Interbank rate for that day. The charge is no more than 80€ and I was assured by the Abbey that there was absolutely NO CHARGE  from their end as she said..why should we? we're only to happy to have receive your money!!! So far, seems like the way to go...please tell me if you think other wise and WHY!!!!!

I would really like some one to tell me why I should use Money brokers as opposed to my French bank account over here to transfer our money from the house sale from France to the UK. I have just come off the phone with the bank in La Rochelle who confirmed that all I have to do is to deposit my cheque with them, give then the IBAN number for my account in the UK. It takes 3 to 4 days to arrive and en route is changed into sterling using the Interbank rate for that day. The maximum charge is apparently no more than 80€. Sounds good to me.