The Weather and impact upon Gite business in France

[SteveyGee]

Am I right in concluding the following:

In Northern France- Brittany/Normandy - the weather is similar, if not a little warmer than South East England. This means overcast days and rain during the Summer just like the good old UK.

Is is advisable to tailor your Gite business in these areas so that you make sure that there alternative things to do for your guests ?

 

i.e. - an indoor play area for kids, having a location where there are places to visit locally, decent restaurants, indoor entertainment in the Gites such as DVD , satellite TV...

Can the weather really be an issue ? Does this shorten the season ?  

 

[GRT17]

Can the weather really be an issue ? Does this shorten the season ?  

 

Probably!

I think you are thinking along the right lines. I would include Central Heating as well as there is nothing more soul destroying than being cold, wet amd miserable on holiday.

Gill

[Russethouse]

While I think people always enjoy good weather remember that as Brittany and Normandy are nearer to the ports its fairly easy for people to pop over for a few days or long weekend, especially in the Spring and Autumn thus actually lengthening the season.

[SteveyGee]

Thank you both. I thought as much.

Steve

 

[Val_2]

Coastal weather in Northern Brittany is actually colder than parts of the inland south east of the UK - the heatwave for instance where temps of 40°C in the Thames Valley were recorded only reached about 30°C here on the coast due to the seabreezes keeping it fresher.This proved quite an attraction for those looking for cooler climes especially those from the south of France who descended here in hoardes taking up every spare bed available,our tourist office figures confirmed this at the AGM at the end of that particular season. There are also many wet summers in my memories where you may have two good days then four or five continual rain and gales so yes,you do need to provide for this and most renters these days offer satellite TV and plenty of DVD's/Videos for their clients to use. If you provide no thought to inclement weather then you won't get a return visit by your clients who WILL look for something more inviting.

[Coco]

And yet where we are based in Normandy, being a little inland, where we don't get the sea  breezes, it can get very warm indeed.  Whenever we are asked by visitors how the weather compares to the UK we always say that it is just a little warmer in the summer (as can be seen by how much earlier most plants flower) and a little colder in winter.  However, in general (This year excluded!) we have found that the summer weather, although temperature-wise is similar to the south of England, tends to be a little more reliable as far as sunshine hours are concerned.  We have LOTS of rain, but at least in the summer it is usually the warm type, that as long as you are undercover, you don't mind being outdoors in.  And it also tends to go as quickly as it arrives, rather than lingering all day like it did where we lived in SE England.

As for the season being shorter - asolutely definitely NOT!  When we used to rent our house as a gite it was always full in April through to mid July and September/October.  If we ever had any spaces it tended to be August, probably because we actively discouraged children and those without the ties of school holidays tend to avoid them.  Usually our August bookings were university lecturers or school eachers, who were tied to those times but had grown up kids. Also, at the time we didn't have central heating so we didn't take any of the many enquiries we got for February, November, December and Christmas and New Year.

Since we have run the house as a B&B we find March-early May and July-October to be our busiest times.

I believe the rationale behind this to be that those booking gites further south are LOOKING for the sun.  If you book a gite in Brittany or Normandy, heat and sun are probably not your priorities (although blue skies do help!) so a good location near interesting places to visit is probably a good idea, along with, as you have already suggested, a games room if possible, DVD's and TV; although we never offered these as we felt that there was little point in coming away to France if you were going to sit in front of a TV all day.  And many of our guests said they like the fact that they did get right away from it all.

Also, as Gay says, with the proximity to the channel ports, it is a good area to take a long weekend break out of season, especially if you want to take the car (for stocking up purposes!) but don't have the time or inclination to spend 8 or 9 hours driving south for the sake of a 4 or 5 day break.

[Val_2]

Being stuck out on a peninsula with the Atlantic one side and the channel the other side,it does make it a lot more breezier out here in summer than further up in Normandy which is relatively sheltered. I must also agree that the season is longer here although come the 15th of August the nights do really begin to shorten noticeably and as the local farmers say, summer is all but over. June is the best month here with the longest hours of daylight and usually the hottest weather but not convenient for british holidaymakers who are governed by school holiday dates. Many people still prefer to leave it until the last moment to go away and get the cheaper crossings. I don't know about Normandy but over the past sixteen years here I have noticed that there are more and more leisure parks opening up plus more tourist attractions in general than there used to be which on a dull,chilly day when the kids were little,we could have done with, instead of them sitting indoors here watching television or videos.