Quillan

I rather agree with you.   I couldn’t understand why there was a need for 8 bedrooms when they only had 2 adults and 2 kids.   I rather thought that it was a typical ‘we will show the French how it’s really done’ type attitude which never goes down well.   The foundation issue was rather amazing, why didn’t they get an ‘expert’ to have a look especially when pay £25k for a wreck.   We all wondered if the second hand wood they found might not have been the stuff they took away in the first place and then sold back to them.   The bit when she went to find the builder at 12:00 was good, obviously speaks French but doesn’t understand the culture. I bet the reason the guy was so p1ssed was because she knocked on his door at lunchtime. Of course he didn’t answer; he was sitting with his family eating.   The end product was nice and I bet they will have friends to stay (for free no doubt) so they can tell them how much they spent, slag off the French artisans and generally pose.   Mind you the one person who was really laughing was the guy that sold the property in the first place, all the way to the bank I would think. If Mr Barstard didn’t sell them back the old beams then perhaps they have been installed in the new house the old owners have just had build with the money they made.   I didn’t like some of the comments from the presenter either which were rather condescending of the French artisans at times. Again a complete mis-understanding of French builders and French culture. I think we all know how frustrating it is here but it’s the way it’s done in France and whilst you wouldn’t expect a English builder to change his methods you shouldn’t expect a French one to do either.   As for the kitchen, a friend who is staying with us at present and building his own 3 bed house recons that’s as much as materials have cost him to build a complete shell.   Did you like the Italian one last week?

Did anyone see it last night? Any comments about to make about the house and/or people?

Perhaps this will help, it's from http://www.fusil-calais.com/index.asp   PurchaseCat.Types of arms CalibreDocuments to supplyFREE SALE + 18 years old 5°Shotguns : one shot per barrel (single or double barrel).10/ 12/ 16/ 20/ 24/ 28 12/ 14 mm 410 mag / etc.I. D. + hunting or shooting licence 6°Knives (daggers, bayonets, coshes). Crossbows.   None 7°Blank and gas pistols (signal and starter). Air rifles (less than 10 joules) and CO2 guns.6/ 8/ 9 mm gas or blank 4,5 et 5,5 mmNone 8°True replica of black powder pistols and carbines. Soft air guns (less than 2 joules). .31/ .36/ .44/ .45 .50/ .54/ .58/ .69/ .75 4,5 et 5,5 mm None FREE SALE + 18 years old Subject to registration after purchase 5°Shotguns : repetition and semiautomatic. Rifled shotguns : - One shot per barrel - Repetition - Semiautomatic 10/ 12/ 16/ 20/ 24 410 mag/ 222 Rem/ 270 W 280 Rem/ 7x64/ 300 W 30.30/ 8x60 S/ 7x65 R 8x57 JRS/ 9,3x62/ 9,3x74 R 375 HH / etc.I. D. + hunting or shooting licence 7°Hobby and competition rifles (civilian looking) 22 Lr/ 22 Short/ 22 MagI. D.Air rifles and CO2 guns (more than 10 joules).4,5 mm (V° + 195 m/s) 5,5 mm (V° + 145 m/s) I. D.Rubber bullets defence pistols.12/50 gomm-cogne 11,6 safegom / etc.I. D.Subject to prior prefectorial authorization 1°War handguns and war rifled shotguns, automatic or semiautomatic with their ammunition.9 mn para/ 45 ACP/ etc. 30-06/ 303 British/ 7 ,5 30M1/ etc.I. D. + APAD4° Handguns: - Small calibre one shot or more. - Lead shot and their ammunition. - Big calibre and their ammunition. AllI. D. + APADShotguns: - pump action guns - semiautomatic more than 3 shots. - repetition more than 10 shots Gun sticks AllI. D. + APAD Documents to supply :» I.D : with picture.» Valid hunting licence.» Valid shooting licence.» APAD : 2 copies of the prefectorial authorization of acquisition and possession of arms established less than 90 days prior. Others :» Ammunition for the 5th category arms are on free sale provided the buyer presents a valid hunting licence or shooting licence.» The registration for each arm is supplied by the shop and is to be filed with the Gendarmerie or the  Police Constabulary. Re

[quote]Gay, your comment about flying to France for a Gite stay rings so true. We currently have no other choice and, believe me, it can be tricky. One issue that particularly grates with us is coming home...[/quote] I think I read on this forum and somewhere else that some airlines will be charging £50 for any luggage that goes in the hold. Although the weight limit on hand luggage has been increased it still a bit of limit if you have to come over with sheets and things for a gite. I know most owners can supply sheets etc at an extra cost but then thats extra money added to the total holiday cost. Of course if you are coming from the UK then it's not a problem as most people in Europe drive to their holiday accommodation.

[quote]Hi Chris, thank you for the info and questions. I'll try to answer. "The first tip I can give you is to install a good antivirus package, if you already have one then make sure it is up to date with ...[/quote] If you can see the laptop then the units are talking to each other. I assume you were previously using the desktop as the master i.e. the one with the ADSL modem. If this is the case then access the internet on the desktop and then on the laptop try to access the internet make sure there are no dialup settings in the browser and that it is set to access the internet via a network. If that does not work then disable modem sharing on the desktop then reboot and re-enable it as this will act as a DHPC server for the laptop so to get a new address you will then have to reatart the laptop. Let me know how you are getting on, email me directly via my profile if you like.

[quote]If the accommodation market is so flooded in France, why then are many conseil generalles and offices de tourisme handing out up to 30.000€ for a gite and 5000€ per room to help people renovate and pr...[/quote] My comments were for our area only based on fact, I can't really speak about other areas because I don't know.   Having read your comments and just about to start work renovating my final en-suite I could do with some free money. I phoned the Offices de Tourisme in Carcassonne which is the head office for the Languedoc region. They said they did not give out grants and that as far as they were aware their department do not give out grants anywhere in France and promptly asked me where I heard such a thing. They suggested I speak to Gite de France who might help and when I mentioned that the reason I asked was because of lack of accommodation available in France and that in Vendée and Deux Sevres they did I actually heard the lady laugh.   Unless you have actually asked and received a grant I really wouldn’t believe all you hear.

Firstly I am NOT qualified to talk about Gites as I only have a B&B and as B&B’s were mentioned I feel a little qualified to make a few comments.   When buying any type of business aimed at the tourist industry location must be a giant factor and those in the right location will do better than those who are not. I don’t know any of the persons mentioned in the artical or where they are located.   Our prefecture in Carcassonne sends out a monthly free magazine and about 5 months ago did an article on tourism. Whilst I don’t remember the article exactly they did point out the about of ‘beds’ available in Gites and B&B’s compared to the amount of tourists visiting the area in 2003. The startling figure was that for each visitor there was a choice of between 50 and 60 odd beds to sleep in. Now they got the quantity of beds from officially recognised organisations such as Gites de France so they don’t include the individual new owners that rent out or those that are not members of an official organisation so you could add possibly an extra 20 beds on to this figure.   They also stated that much of the accommodation ‘fell well beneath international/European standards’. Certainly in my business one of the questions asked very early on is ‘are all your rooms en-suite and are they clean?). Indeed my new local competition has no en-suites and has two toilets, two hand basins and one shower cubical, all in the same room (OK the toilets have screens and doors round them – bit smelly first thing I would think) for 5 bedrooms supporting 12 people. He has had little trade this year and we have had a few of his clients who stayed one night with him and were looking for rooms en-suite.   Having said that we are informed by our local tourist office that tourism is down this year across the whole of France and in our area about 60% down although due to some good tips and advice (you know who your are and thanks again) we have had guests up until Monday and have been full for July, August and September and have had only 14 nights since May with nobody at all (you can come and check the books if you like). Mind you the passing trade has been very little and probably accounts for about 30 nights this year.   Now a French friend of mine who has been in the business for many years keeps stats and has told me that yes it’s a bad year but then it goes in peeks and troughs and often a very good year is followed by a very bad year and then about 3 or 4 ‘normal’ years which having been here only 2 years I have yet to experience – the normal years that is.   Two and a half years ago when we first looked in France we looked at going in to the Gite business and run a B&B as well. More than one agent told us that the profit margin in Gites was falling rapidly and even then were talking of a 5% figure. This scared us off so we went for only a B&B and invested the saved money which I am glad we did.   Miki said about quality and he his 110% correct. We have closed now to decorate our stairs and landing plus our own room (always the last to do) but then next year we will have to decorate the letting rooms again after 3 years, supprising how much wear and tear they take. Keeping things clean is a big task, we clean under beds and after seeing a German lift the mattress to inspect underneath clean and turn them every two weeks. I know where Miki is coming from, there are a lot of people out there that buy a house, paint the rooms, buy second hand furniture, put a sign up and wait for the money to roll in, well we all know life is not like that.   The other thing Miki implied is that it is very foolish to base your business on UK clients (we have a B&B a few miles away in the back and beyond that only take only English speaking guests and advertises as such), this is stupid. A high percentage of our guests are French followed by Belgians and Spanish (Catalans to be precise) and only a small percentage have been English.   Are people selling up their complexes,? We learnt on Sunday that a big recently renovated complex some 15 miles away on the main Perpignan route is up for sale. It comprises of 5 Gites, a B&B (5 rooms), pool, owners accommodation (separate house) and two further houses to renovate, all in one complex. They (Belgians) have run out of money (they have renovated to a very high standard) and just can’t get the return on their investment, asking price is in the region of £1.5M. We also know of two couples who had B&B’s (both badly positioned) who have closed and gone back to the UK because they couldn’t make it work.   So whilst I don’t think the article is totally ‘honest’ I think there is some truth in it but as has been said you really need more detail.  

This came up before and I did a lot of research after having a fixed unit in my old car.   Nav systems come as a software package which includes the interface (the bit you see on the screen and decodes the map, and does all the bits you see) then you have the actual map it’s self.   There are only two types of electronic ‘map’ produced, the most common used in fixed systems is Navteq and some of the Pocket PC systems use it. The reason it is more popular is that the compression rate of the data is much higher than the competition which needs to record the information on DVD because it’s so big. This means that Navteq has all of Europe on one CD so upgrading requires only a ‘key’ and not a new CD, this obviously works out cheaper. The other system requires a new CD because only the DVD can carry all of Europe. The POI’s (Point of Interests) are the same on both systems as they are produced by another company.   You now have to decide which type of interface you want to use, Tom Tom etc.   I went with CoPilot Live 5 which uses Navteq maps and has a very fast calculating system for working routes out and dealing with route changes, typically 2 to 3 seconds once the GPS has locked on. Nearly the whole of Europe can be put on to a 512mb card and you can create routes on a desktop PC and download them in to your Pocket PC if you wish. Street level mapping for other countries only costs £100 or less depending on where you go, however you can unlock all of Europe for around £110. This product is the only one certified by HP for their Pocket PC’s and is also sold by them.   This software is available to install on to existing Pocket PC’s or as ‘bundles’ just like Tom Tom. It has just won ‘best of breed’ which I must confess was after I bought it.   I personally use a top of the range HP Pocket PC because a) It was free to me and b) I use it for a lot more than just driving like Internet access and walking. I use Carto Explorer 3 for off roading and walking which whilst in French works very well and uses the IGN 1:25000 maps and costs €39 per map including the base program, for those that do a lot of outside activities it’s very good.   Have a look at http://www.alk.eu.com if you have Bluetooth you can have live traffic info linked to this system with auto reroute.   Hope this helps.

The first tip I can give you is to install a good antivirus package, if you already have one then make sure it is up to date with the latest definition file.   Firstly, how are you currently connecting to the internet or are you using a friends PC.   Secondly, what operating systems are you using (ME, NT, 2000, XP etc.).   Thirdly, before you start playing with the setup to much check the basics. The most obvious one is if the desktop has a separate Ethernet card reseat it (remove it from the slot and put it back in the same slot). The laptop probably has a built in card so there should be no problem there.   I am making the assumption that you are using your desktop on ADSL in France and that it works fine, is this correct?

[quote]Has there really been no rain since May? Goodness, I'm sold on your particular corner of France, I never realised it was that dry. Nobody mentioned the glorious smell that comes off the ground after...[/quote] We had a few showers during the year that lasted about 15 to 30 minutes but never penitrated the ground so this last lot was rather welcomed. I to love the smell when it rains, I can actually smell it about 2 or 3 minutes before it arrives. I ques we have a micro-climate as we live right at the foot of the Pyrenees about 50 metres from the pass on the D117 going south from Quillan. The clounds get 'stuck' either one side or another and it's fasinatinf watching them 'roll' over the top of the mountains sometimes. I often sit on my terrace first thing with a cup of 'rosy lea' just watching, beats sitting on the M25 anytime. The weather has now started to change and it's quite cold first thing (8 deg this morning) and we have lit the fire twice now. But hey, watch the weather in the Uk on the TV, tornado's in sussex, rain everywhere and temps around 24 to 16 deg in the day. And lets be honest, 24 deg during the day in October, not bad is it really. The only thing now is the skiers are getting a bit twitchy as there is no sign of snow at all, still you can't have everything.

Patf accidently posted the same post 3 times so I have removed 2 of them (very useful post Pat). Moderator

No rain today till this evening and it's poured down for about 3 hours and the road (D117) to Quillan is flooded.

The temp has dropped now down to a modest 26 deg C and it has finally rained (proper rain) which we have not had since May (only about 5 days with about 30 mins a day). First evening I have not had to water my garden and the grass is green again today, it's amazing how it comes back so quickly

Judging by what some of our guests are bringing back from agents I reckon that you would be talking about €200,000 plus. You then have to think about modifying the house by adding en-suite facilities to each letting room as most people expect this these days (even the French).

Looks like you need the Euro patch go to www.microsoft.com and do a search on Euro. It will then depend on what versions of Office and exploere you have but it is there. I have installed the little patch many times and never had a problem. With regards to the quote I would prefer that you ask piprob directly if you knoe what I mean.

This is a serious problem guys. Some tried to take shelter in my engine shed (model for garden railway) except they didn’t fit and broke it, cost about 400€. All my salad stuff got eaten and whilst my Spanish strawberries are still flowering and fruiting I never get to eat any, they get there first, they are now eyeing up cbages. Back to the model railway, they have either dug or eaten half the gravel and ruined it so we totalled up the cost of lost profit on the food (we use for evening meals) the gravel and bits of railway plus labour and it comes to around 2,000€ so far.   People tell me to fence it all in but as these ‘things’ fly and are semi wild there’s no point and anyway why should I. It was the old owner’s job to keep them penned in not for me to keep them out if you see what I mean. Now the guy has been evicted he has had his revenge by leaving the bloody things here and it’s doing my head in. I really don’t want them in my garden because I like my railway (what’s left of it) and I like growing my veg. SHE says they look nice in the garden, typical woman, and the guests think they are  ‘kind’a cute’ (guess what nationality they were) walking round the garden pecking at the grass but I just hate them.   So here is my cunning plan, I’m going to shoot the mother hen and leave a forged mole passport near the scene of the crime. The baby chickens won’t know what to do, the******will see the passport plus baby chickens all in a state and think it’s my genetically enhanced moles and WW3 will start then all I have to do is wait till the dust settles, see who’s left, say thanks and shoot them.   Alternatively somebody can come and catch them and take them away. So if you are really interested in free chickens drop me a private email.

I used Currency4less about 2 years ago and would consider using them again if needed.

[quote]Hello Chris We have just had a quote for a pitched roof for a 7X5M extension (carpentry, insulation and fibro-type slates) for about 6970E (still can't do Euro's, ctrl+alt+4 gives me this:- ¬). This ...[/quote] Thanks Nick. If I get a few more replies we can see if your quote is cheap. I don't know why but 400€ seems to stick in my mind, I don't know where I got this figure from. You could try [Alt GR] plus the number 4 on the top row of your keyboard. There was a download from MS to give you the € if you sre running a pre € version of MS, it works for Word, Excel etc as well.

I have done a search on this and can't find the answer anywhere although I do remember somebody posting this info some time back. Does anyone know the price of installing a normal new roof including the wood bits per square metre. Thanks in advance

An English home is his castle, well the house at least, the garden, well that’s a different matter.   I tried the tablets the guy down in the bar at Quillan gave me for my moles. How was I to know they were muscle enhancing, you know like what top athletes use before they get drug tested and subsequently banned from athletics for the rest of their natural. The moles are so big now that even the cats are afraid of them and as for the size of their hills, even the new tractor lawnmower can’t get over them. We have now resolved ourselves to the fact that the bottom of the garden is for moles only and not for humans or any other animal.   Well that is of course with the exception of chickens………. Our next door but one neighbour who has moved out over a week ago left his chickens behind (the property is now vacant awaiting new tenants). Not having anything to eat they have now taken up residency in my garden and believe me there are loads of things to eat here, mainly all my vegetables.   So, if anyone wants some chickens including their 3 month old offspring then come to visit me (seriously) as I have loads of unwanted ones, all you have to do is catch them and take them away. Failing that I have just spoken to the local sports shop who have agreed to sell me a .22 rifle and a shed load of dum-dum bullets, I can collect it in two weeks time. So basically if you want to save the lives of these chickens please drop me an email for directions and you are welcome to them. I might even slip in a genetically enhanced mole or two if you like not to mention a cup of coffee or something stronger.

[quote]Quillan That is a very intersting article. Forgive me for being so tedious, but let me see if I understand all this. If you earn your living from your own UK Ltd company (in my case we sell things o...[/quote] To be honest I don't know the answers to your questions as I have not gone down this route and have no interest in it. The reason for my post is that it seemed rather interesting in view of the original post and one or two others that have asked about this sort of thing. It just shows that how ever apt you think you are at circumnavigating the system you get found out in the end and have to pay up. In Diana's case, as somebody said, it would be best for her to go visit the HOI and ask them. I know she mentioned a bokk, we bought a book about B&B's wich was 'up to date', well it wasn't. Also you have to take in to account the interpretation of French law in each department. I think we have all come accross this one at times, two different departments interpreting the same law but in different ways.

I came accross this artical some time back in "French News" which I have copied and pasted here in case others are interested. It may not fit the situation that Diana is looking at but it does for others. On a personal not the French tax man gave me back all my UK tax then re taxed me at the French rate on the basis that you can't be taxed twice in two different EU member states, anyway here's the artical. "Businesses beware top Dear Sir, We have been resident in France for fifteen years. We registered as a UK Ltd Co in 1999 thinking we would be legally entitled to work in France under the EEC. All of this company’s income was declared in the UK – our French income from property rental was declared to the French impôts. But in January 2004 we received a recorded delivery letter from the French impôts informing us that we were under investigation for 2001 and 2002. This involved every single transaction that had gone through our bank and we had to account for them all – the impôts had a copy of every cheque we had issued as well as details of every sum of money that had gone into our accounts, both here and in the UK. This was nothing to the dawn raid by three gendarmes a few weeks later who seized our computer. We were forced to cease trading for over three months until our accountant had gone through very lengthy, expensive work in order that we re-start work legally. It transpired that, although all our business was declared in the UK, as we were not registered with the Chambre des Métiers we were considered to be working ‘on the black’. In the UK you only have to make sure the DSS and the Inland Revenue know you are self-employed and the Chambre des Métiers does not exist. There are two points to this story. Firstly, for the French impôts and the Inland Revenue, if you are living and working in France for around 180 days, you are deemed to be resident here for tax purposes and ALL of your income here should be declared to the French. Secondly, in the eyes of the gendarmes, if you are working here at all and are not declared at the Chambre des Métiers then you are working ‘on the black’ and your clients are also liable to prosecution. I had to endure ten hours of questioning at the local gendarmerie and am waiting for the judge to decide if I should be prosecuted or not. We are repaying taxes (at a much higher company rate than in the UK) and sécurité sociale charges. We have had to register a French ‘branch’ of our UK Co as a SARL – not cheap. I am writing because the disclaimer that heads your Small Ads section, whereby you must give your French Siret No. or your UK Co Reg No, is wrong. If you are working over here for the aforesaid amount of days then the UK number is of no use – you must have a French Siret No. In our area 50 extra gendarmes have been drafted in to inspect ads in shops/newspapers and check out all the people offering work! Name and address witheld. By email. This is very relevant as many newcomers seem confused by French business and employment laws. In a nutshell, if your company is based in the UK and your products are sold from the UK in France, then a UK company registered number is sufficient. If, however, you are living and operating here, you must register in France and obtain a Siret number. To address these thorny issues, we will be starting a new ‘How to’ series next month on setting up the commonest types of businesses in France. Meanwhile, the Chambres des Métiers have started issuing a quality ‘A’ label, which can be attached to business vehicles, office premises, stationery..... and adverts. It guarantees that the artisan has the necessary qualifications for the work he advertises. – Ed.  

Yes I do, email me and I will send it to you.

A direct answer to your question is no. As you have bought your items in another EU member state and have therefore paid any tax and VAT in that state you don't have to pay again. The only time you would pay is if you did not pay VAT (like on a car) on exit from one state then you have to pay it on entry to the state in which you have official residency. You would only do this if you were buying a new UK type car in Belgium and importing it into the UK at which time as you pass customes you are obliged to declare it, they then give you a payment slip which you send to the DVLA when you register the car. Belgium actually give you a tempory set of special plates that last for a few days that make your car stick out like a sore thumb so everyone knows what you are doing.

Anyone use them and are they any good? also Do they have any restrictions? and How many email addresses can you have? Thanks