Barbara

Thanks for the above, Tony, yes the last thing we would want to do is get off on the wrong foot with existing businesses in a small town, and you have confirmed my suspicions about the practicalities!   I'm not quite as naive as I must sound though, as we have a supplier of beautiful cards here in the UK, and have contacts to get hold of stock of second-hand English and French language books but just wanted to know if anyone has managed to make a success out of this type of thing in France. Everything boils down to the finances in the end, there's no point working all hours for little or no reward.  Anyhoo, back to the drawing board.......... Barbara

Hi Just wondering if anyone has any experience of running a market stall selling non-food items (for example candles/soaps, or greetings cards and second-hand books, or baby clothes etc etc) in France?  I imagine I would be able to get information from the equivalent of the Chamber of Commerce in the town(s) we would be hoping to work in, this would be in the Deux-Sevres region, but I was looking more for personal experience than the facts and figures.  Still planning..... Barbara

We are doing our first proper bit of property hunting in the Deux-Sevres area in late June/early July, and have narrowed our search down to either the Gatine hills around Secondigny, or the area around Melle, further south.  Currently living in a part of the UK that was badly flooded last July, I can't help noticing the abundance of lakes and rivers in this region, which we love, but can anyone tell us if these areas are prone to the sort of flooding which affects properties?  Flooded fields are fine, as they would be in Gloucestershire if people didnt keep building on the flood-plains!! Also could anyone point us in the direction of self-catering accommodation which is let from Monday to Monday in these areas just for 2 adults, I have done all the usual googling but not having much luck!  Thank you!

Hi  and thanks for the welcome  -  as you may have guessed I'm new to all this!  Anyway both the above are helpful, I hadn't thought of googling it!  And hubby is planning a small-holding with the idea of us being fairly self-sufficient along with doing garden maintenance work, although this is only one idea out of many at the moment, so watch this space! I'm already learning a lot about different areas etc from reading earlier postings which is great.

Hi,  we are starting to plan our move to France which will hopefully happen either late 2009 or early 2010.  I was wondering if anyone knows any particular areas where the French are more open to spiritual or holistic therapies, such as Reiki, Indian head massage, Hopi ear candles, holistic massage etc.  I know traditionally the French are reputed to be highly sceptical about such things, but I wondered if attitudes are changing at all? Our preferred region at present is the Deux Sevres due to its suitability to the business my husband hopes to work at, but we are open to suggestions!