savoirflair

We have planning permission to build a new garage, which will expire this September.  Finances currently unfortunately do not permit the build at this point in time, so we are wondering what will be involved - and the cost - if we wish to renew the planning permission for a further 2 years. Any advice would be appreciated.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a company who would install hardwood decking around a swimming pool/spa area, in Herault (34)? Thanks in advance.

Does anyone know of a company who would be able to install an above-ground wooden pool, in Herault (34)? We are ordering one from a company in Belgium (Gardipools) but are not confident that we would do a very good job of getting it up and running ourselves. Thanks in advance. p.s. we are also looking for recommendations for companies who install hardwood decking, but I'll post about that in another section.

Derek M, have you considered Ryanair?  They fly to Beziers from both Luton and Bristol. Amanda

Hi Sophie, just a warning for you re. Sunsoka pools.  A few weeks ago they went into liquidation, and we have now lost £3000 deposit that we put down with them for a pool to be delivered to France.  The previous MD -  made all sorts of promises to us that were a complete load of b----t Having got our fingers very badly burned with Sunsoka (we should have paid the deposit with a credit card, which would have given us some protection, but we didn't) - we are now looking at other French pool companies for a similar product. Good luck! Edit: Please note - This post has been edited to comply with the forums code of conduct.

Thanks, will give it a go.  We are on a steep learning curve using the wood burning oven, only baked some fish in it so far but that was very good.  Although I felt guilty not using the residual heat for any more cooking, so am trying to find out recipes for things that would work after the main course was done.

[quote user="Dog"] PPS Can give you are recipe for pizza dough if you would like it. We like thin crispy bases. [/quote] Still waiting for your recipe!

Thanks for that Swissie - parfait!

Please can someone provide me with a brief suitable message to write in a card, for an elderly French neighbour who is recovering from a serious operation?

Hi All we have an olive tree with quite a lot of olives on it this year, and I was wondering whether to have a go at preserving them.  I've googled this on the internet, and there seems to be quite a difference of opinion as to how long you should soak them for. Has anyone tried preserving their olives - with good results? Also, when approx. will they be ready to pick? Amanda

Hi Robert it is possible to actually sign up and walk away with the doofer at certain places along the motorways.  We just bought one on our last journey home - this was at the Clermont Ferrand peage.  They take your bank details and set up a direct debit, and the thing is ready to use straight away.  There is also one at the Millau viaduct rest/viewing area.

[quote user="Dog"] PS Did you get long and short paddles plus a copper brush on a pole to clean the floor of the oven? PPS Can give you are recipe for pizza dough if you would like it. We like thin crispy bases. PPS For a rich pizza use tomato on the base add cheese and toppings then retomato for a seriously rich pizza. Though my favourite is an onion & garlic pizza. [/quote] 1.  We were supplied with one 'pile' which I presume is what they call a paddle - but I would say it is quite short.  No copper brush on a pole.  Are these essential do you think? 2.  Would love a recipe for pizza dough!  Moi aussi re. very thin crispy bases.  Yummm! I'm so pleased to have found you on the forum Dog - I can see me asking for your advice again (hope you won't mind) Cheers, Amanda

Doh! - never thought of splitting larger pieces of oak up........but on your advice we will get started with the charcoal I think as we've already bought a big bag of it.  Dog  - one more thing I must ask you (as you sound very experienced with these kind of ovens?) the suppliers said we should build 3-4 smallish fires to start with, and not use it for cooking - to dry it out.  Would you still do that? The oven was kept in our garage all the time before we got round to installing it. Amanda

[quote user="Quillan"]You shouldn't, unless its very old, use pine in your indoors fire either as it releases some horrible stuff (tar) than can cause your chimney to catch fire (among other things). If you want to burn it then you need to store it in a dry place for 3 years or more then when you burn it the temperature is higher and the tar 'gasses' off and does not stick to the chimney. This is probably why it's not recommended for pizza ovens as your food may come out covered in a microscopic level of tar at worse or just smelling of tar at best.[/quote] Thanks Quillan, we 'inherited' the pine and it is definitely at least 3 years old.  I have noticed that it 'tars' up the glass door of the stove incredibly quickly - hope it's not doing that too much to the chimney!  We certainly won't be ordering any more pine but we have such a lot still that we can't just not use it - unfortunately. Amanda

Dog, we purchased a pizza oven in the UK, brought it over in a trailer and have now made a little house for it!  We understood that you could use charcoal in lieu of wood, but on speaking again to the people we got it from, they say that charcoal won't get it hot enough.  We have got lots of pine wood for the indoor wood burner but again have been told we shouldn't use that in the pizza oven. We contacted a supplier of wood for stoves in our village, as he advertises that he sells oak, but he couldn't help us with small bits. It's a bit frustrating as now we have finished building it in, we are dying to get to use it! Amanda