Vist to view and meet.

[Dixon of Dockgreen]

We are a group of seven from Yorkshire, thats my wife and I (sound posh) "wrong" two of our children, lad 21 girl 14 and my wifes cousin her husband and there 10 year old daughter. we are aiming to take on a Resteration project and to this end have aranged to visit the Limousin region in November we arrive at Limoges airport on the 26th and return on the 29th we will arrange with agents to look at some propertys but would most like to meet people that have already taken the step and would make the use of somebodys gites at a time of year when possibly things are bit quiet

[Ford Anglia]

You're on the right forum.

If it were me, I'd be searching the forum and compiling a list of questions, and posting one or so a day....NOT too many at once.

Give each time to collect answers from various sources, some questions will get loads of conflicting advice, some will get little or just one definitive answer.

Are you aware that the Limousin is one of the wetter areas of France?

Novemeber is also a poor choice of time to visit, short, dark, wet, cold days, VERY cold nights, few leaves on trees, (large-ish deciduous wooded area), looks miserable. Could you go in summer or wait for spring?

PM me if you want a UK phone number to talk about it all. We've had our property for 5 years and are still renovating. I don't know it all, by a long way, but I know a LOT more than I did[;-)]

We live in Humberside south of the River.

[Catalpa]

[quote user="Ford Anglia"]Novemeber is also a poor choice of time to visit, short, dark, wet, cold days, VERY cold nights, few leaves on trees, (large-ish deciduous wooded area), looks miserable. [/quote]

Well... one could argue that November is an excellent... almost perfect time to visit. [:D] The short days are a problem because it reduces the number of houses you can see in good light but if you like a house / location in November, you will love it in spring. The reverse isn't necessarily true. [:P]

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Catalpa"][quote user="Ford Anglia"]Novemeber is also a poor choice of time to visit, short, dark, wet, cold days, VERY cold nights, few leaves on trees, (large-ish deciduous wooded area), looks miserable. [/quote]

Well... one could argue that November is an excellent... almost perfect time to visit. [:D] The short days are a problem because it reduces the number of houses you can see in good light but if you like a house / location in November, you will love it in spring. The reverse isn't necessarily true. [:P]
[/quote]I kind of agree with Catalpa on this.  We bought our house in February (it was snowing at the time!), thinking that if it felt warm and comfortable then (the house), and we still liked the area (which we had visited in June for the previous 10 years) in the middle of winter, then we knew we'd be happy in it all year round, not just in summer, when almost anywhere can look appealing!

[mossie]

I also agree with the last post.  It is much better to see a place in the less attractive parts of the year.  If you like it on a wet dreary day, it is guaranteed to look great in the spring and summer.  We moved to the Loire valley in the depths of winter.  It did look pretty grey and flat but now looks unbelievably beautiful and has definitely grown on us.  We have just bought a large longere which we saw at the start of the spring when everything was a bit grey and dull but the house still looked beautiful.  I can't wait to see it with the sun on it.  It is also a good indicator of how a house feels in the cold and the wet, and how much light there is in the house.  You can get an impression of whether it is coping well with the elements, or not as the case may be.  One word of caution, you only have a very short time to visit and there is an awful lot of rubbish on the market.  I lost count of the times we went to look at a house and had illusions shattered when there were great cracks in the wall, or what looked like a nice character property had been horribly 'over-restored', once inside.  As with many agent's photos, they can be pretty misleading.  Before you book a visit, ask lots of questions - is there a big road/cement works/printing works/pig farm nearby. etc etc.  Good luck

[Dixon of Dockgreen]

Hi

Many Many Thanks for the replys and a whole lot of good advice, some of which I hope to follow, this visit will indeed be short, unfortunatley it is all we can manage at present but realy this trip will be to see if the idea is good, more than to attually find a property, having said that "who knows" one thing nobody has replied to is. I dont think it would be to difficult to find somewere to stay for the two nights but genuinely thought it best to stay with people doing just what we hope to do, that is run our own gites, and perhaps give some buisiness to someone at a quite time of year, if this is the wrong site for this where should we be?

[mossie]

It is of course a good idea to stay with people who are doing what you are trying to do.  However I expect they will sound a note of caution.  The gite market is seriously oversubscribed in certain areas.  In the village where we currently rent prior to moving into our own house, the Maire has said 'no more gites'.  Also you can't expect to make a living out of gites unless you have a reasonable number of them.  I know one couple (with no kids) who have four gites and they make a living but are not rich by any means.  They also have other family members who help out at the busiest times because it is too expensive to pay someone to help out.  However, I don't doubt you will get plenty of good advice from current gite owners on this site in that respect.

We are planning to start gites but aimed at a particular market and to cater for their particular needs.  However we only expect the income from the gites to supplement the salary from my husband's job (which he only has because he speaks fluent french).  It took us a long time to find somewhere suitable for our prospective business.  Therefore I cannot urge strongly enough the need to rent somewhere in France whilst you look for a property to buy.  It also gives you a good long while to look about you and be sure that this move really is right for you.  When we first came here, we planned to look in one area and then ended up buying a bit further afield than originally intended and are glad that we did.  We also spoke to the Maire to find out if he would be in favour of gites in his commune and then we put a suspensive clause in the contract to ensure that we got a positive CU (outline planning permission) for the gites before we sign the final contract.  This was not easy and we only got it because we employed our own lawyer but we regard this as money well spent.  Most of all, as I am sure many others will tell you, do your homework.  I hope this is helpful.

[ianf]

Restoration

properties (plural)

[ianf]

restoration

properties (plural)

somebody's

[Jo]

Dixon, I bought in  November last year, and love the house even more in spring!! We stayed with a couple who run a b&b in Lessac in the Charente, not that far from your chosen area,  I had chosen an English run place for the same reasons as you, someone who had done it already!! They were really helpful, full of good advice, and they look after the place for us until we make the permanent move in spring next year, send me an e-mail or pm if you would like their details.

[Dean]

I'm shocked Ford Anglia ! 'Humberside'?   Lincolnshire surely? I live in East Yorkshire on the North Bank - Humberside was binned (quite rightly) many moons ago.....

Dean. 

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Restoration. Hmmmmmmm. Which line shall we try? Anything but Windsors. I reckon Tudors are a good bet. How about turning it into a Restoration Tragedy, The Goodwife Tamed for example?

[peterj]

[quote user="Dean"]

I'm shocked Ford Anglia ! 'Humberside'?   Lincolnshire surely? I live in East Yorkshire on the North Bank - Humberside was binned (quite rightly) many moons ago.....

Dean. 

[/quote]

I dont know what was wrong with the East, West and North Ridings.

Proud East Riding Man.

Regards Peterj

[Rob Roy]

Novemeber is also a poor choice of time to visit, short, dark, wet, cold days, VERY cold nights, few leaves on trees, (large-ish deciduous wooded area), looks miserable. Could you go in summer or wait for spring?

What part of the Limousin are you talking about? We find it can often be beautiful and warm during the day, or crisp and dry, but certainly not full of wet cold days and very cold nights.

[AnOther]

I too endorse the idea of visiting out of season.  

We did our house hunting in October and November, although it was still an unseasonal 23deg during the day, and bought in January, when it was somewhat colder and -12 at night !

We were fortunate also that by chance we had English neighbours nearby with a Gite which we stayed in in January and we have learned so much from them.