Gites in Limousin and the Auvergne

[pam&ranaldPam & Ranald]

We are thinking of buying a property in France one to live in permanently and one to rent out as a gite. We are trying to decide which area would be best.... any suggestions? We were thinking of either Brittany or Limousin/Auvergne to begin with but there seems to be so many gites to rent in Brittany already, is the market saturated? or is there still room for us?  It would appear that their are very few gites in the Limousin/Auvergne, is this because there is no demand for gites? or because the weather is too harsh in winter !!!!! I am assuming that the people who visit the Limousin/Auvergne are on walking/hiking/bike/rambling type of holidays, is my assumption correct? or do people just pass right through on their way to the south (as we did for many years!!)

If you already live in either Brittany or Limousin/Auvergne , what is the weather like all year round. I have read so many conflicting reports! I'm confused!

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers Pam & Ranald

 

 

 

[Wizzer]

We are in the Auvergne and as you rightly say, the winters can be harsh - that's why we have some good ski-ing here. Summers can be VERY hot but that's when we get most of the rainfall, so it can be almost tropical with regular short thunder storms - very nice to freshen things up.

We are within the Puy-de-Dome National Park, where properties can be difficult to find - there seem to be a lot available further east and west but because of the local geography, not much comes up for sale through the middle, following the line of mountains and volcanoes.

Up until now, I believe the Auvergne has been mainly ignored by Brits, who may have just stopped on the way through to the south coast, but little by little, the area is gaining more publicity and therefore more interest. The holidaying French, Dutch and Belgians discovered it long ago! The majority come for the variety of outdoor activities in the un-spoilt landscape, walking, cycling, sailing and of course snow shoeing, downhill and cross-country skiing in the winter.

We are opening our B&B and Gite next Spring, so hopefully we have got a foot on the rung at the right time - if the Brits don't come, I'm sure other enlightened people will!

 

[parsac23]

Hi, we have 2 properties in Creuse that share the same garden and pool. We usually have house hunters in the small cottage all year as its very economical and it seems to be in demand. The big house that sleeps 8 is hardly ever occupied out of high season, was empty all year apart from July and August. Having said that we don't market it very aggressivley as we really only use any revenue to cover costs, having said that it has more than covered costs this year. So our upshot, if was doing it as a business, a couple of small units would have done better than one large one.Also we probably get snapped up in high season because we use the 2 houses as 1 ie sleeps 13, so good for 2 families and of course the pool.

[Eslier]

There are many people that will tell you that the market in Brittany is saturated. This is because there are a huge number of British owned, very basic gites in the central areas which are less popular with tourists. Many owners of these properties are struggling to let the number of weeks they used to enjoy. Brittany has always been a popular holiday destination with the Brits due to its closeness to the channel ports as well its charm and natural beauty. Brittany has benefitted from a longer season than many areas of France because it is easy to get to for a one week holiday at any time of year. For many years a "gite in Brittany" offered a good value low cost holiday and there were always reasonable deals available on the ferries. Now, ferry prices have increased in price and low cost airlines have offered more exotic destinations to the low cost holiday traveller.

Having said all that, there are still a huge number of people choosing to holiday in Brittany each year, probably more so than in any other region. The type of holidaymaker is starting to change however with people becoming more discerning about what they are looking for and where. For gite owners with high quality properties in the best locations, business is booming. Speaking personally, I have properties which have been let for up to 22 weeks this year. To achieve this, you have to have something a little bit special and offer the best facilities - a heated swimming pool is a must.

You need to be aware that with just one gite you are not going to have a huge income wherever you are but it should provide you with a bit of extra spending money. Just don't rely upon it as your sole source of income.

Good luck

[Daisy-May]

Hello Pam,

We live in the Auvergne on the borders of 15/19/63 and have found that there is a huge amount of Gites in our area. These though are all mainly marketed to the French, Dutch and Belgian markets, thus providing a hole for some decently marketed English properties.

This will be our third summer of owning our house in france and have noticed a huge increase in the amount of English traffic to our area. At the moment it does strike us that we are a stop of point for the huge trek south, the English that have stayed with us (B&B) have asked to be kept informed of our Gite building projects so that they can return for longer/self catering stays.

As for the weather, we find that this truly is a seasonal area. Summer is fantastic averaging between 30-35 degrees. it is 'kind of' working out for us at the minute to having 5 day of sun to 1 day of rain, rain being a slight drizzle right up to 6 hour thunder storms. From the guests that we've had they (mostly) have been appreciative of the days respite from the heat and understand that it is what keeps our grass green as opposed to the parched yellow of most other places. Autumns, we have found is the best season. The differences in colours are fantastic and last a good 6/8 weeks the temp are a little lower and storms a lot less frequent. For us last year winter was harsh to say the least. we had nightly temps of below -15 for about 6 weeks with the day temps never going above -9, snow that was at best/worst three foot deep and as soon as we'd be able to clear it using what ever means necessary another 2 foot would drop the night after. Spring this year didn't exist. But in 2004 and from what we have been told it is WET with weather resembling what we left behind in England (but with a lot more fog). What doesn't help here is that with the close proximity of the moutains a 20km drive can put you into a totally different weather system with temperature differences of around 15 degrees being quite common.

The majority of our long stay guest have been the summer sports types of walkers, bikers, skiers and the hikers, but we also have a lot of people who just come here to relax and unwind. The sheer openness of where we are seems to be a big pull for people, so I think there is a market here for everyone.

It is true that the Auvergne is getting a lot of column inches in the English press at the minute and that combined with some aspects of the French press advising people to sell to the 'rich English' has seen our local house prices increasing by about 25%-30% a year. Although from what I've seen here in the Cantal we are still generally below average pricewise.

Hope that helps,

Aaron

www.la-fromental.com

[mascamps.com]

It's hard to know what way to go. Areas that are "popular" with gites/B&B owners are popular because there are lots of tourists there. On 'tother hand the "less popular" areas are that way because they don't have so many tourists.

A lot of it is down to the place that you get, exactly where it is and how you market it. If your place is "better" than the competition then you'll do well if it's properly marketed.

The other problem is that in the more popular places, you need more money to buy the property in the first place and that's likely to be the deciding factor for most people. If the place you buy is cheaper, then you don't need as much income from it to breakeven of course.

Important micro-location things are distance to a main motorway (ideally you don't want to be far from a motorway leading to Paris and Calais), distance to a Ryanair airport (forget FlyBE - it's mainly used by houseowners in our experience) and distance to a TGV station.

 

Arnold