Blanche Neige

Birmingham to Bordeaux is normally a Summer schedule. I believe it is possible to change trains at Lille instead of Paris which saves changing stations the capital.

Sweet 17 said "The only horror to beat that one are overweight women who wear pink or flesh coloured leggings" Well one of these lives in our village and she is French and almost as wide as she is tall!!!

Be they British ex pats or Summer visitors, some of the people who go to the local supermarket in short shorts, vests and strappy tops should be shot at dawn! They are usually the last people who should be seen in such clothes.

I agree with Russethouse. I think that if business is going well so far then prices need to nudged up a little each year.

The article gives certainly food for thought. Good replies from all above.   Blanche Neige   (Happy with a foot in both camps!)[:)]

[quote user="wen"] Cassis, they usually checkin about lunchtime(11am/noon) and are 'in-residence' until about 2/3pm.  One couple booked lunch here, came in and sat down and by the time I had taken their entree to their table they had disappeared upstairs. This may all seem rather seedy but it is a fact of life if you run accommodation. I know that franchise owners of F1's are well acquainted, thats why we never stay with them. If your 'proper' guests arrive around 6pm you will have plenty of time and because the earlier lady's are 'pro's' they do not leave a mess. ours never have. The bed will certainly need a change and so the bin will need emptying. Wash the bath/shower recess particularly well. But above all, retain that professional demeanor when collecting the keys. [Www] Smirk afterwards.   [/quote]   [blink][Www][:$]

Clair  "La carte aux Trésors" I agree that's a good programme, we saw it when we stayed in St Malo last time.

Well French TV is not claimed be the best in the world but you will learn far more French if you watch that rather than watching British TV.

"I was thinking of doing 3: starter, main, dessert or cheese as well as the obvious coffee/tea. And how much does everyone charge per head? Is €10 per adult and €7 for under 16's ok? I'd appreciate any info"   Magnolia   Our local Les Routiers charges 11 or 12 Euros for good basic meals providing 4 courses including (very basic) wine and coffee. For your home cooking I think you should ask 15 Euros minimum and more if you are including better wine.

woolybanana (ex tag) said "I think I was too young"   ah well Wb, some of us are older and wiser [:)]

Yes I remember the French onion sellers however it was  long time ago!

Goodness! Tony F this is begining to sound like Ebay!

[:)] Good to have an update and really pleased it all worked well for you.

[quote user="JJ"] Cathy, I live opposite you, (so to speak) on the other side of the Gironde Estuary, in the poor old Charente Maritime and although the weather has picked a bit of late, I would hardly call it a balmy summer, it is the worst I have known in 5 years. [/quote] JJ in seven years we have never had such poor weather in the Charente-Maritime as we had for our June / July stay this year. Rain, windy, grey days and sometimes quite cool, thankfully it seems to have improved for the guests staying in our house now. [:)]It's actually very pleasant weather in Surrey at the moment (27C last Sunday)   I am hoping for a beautiful September

Squidge There are some very reasonable prices now for printing postcards (well at least there are in U.K.) and generally the more you have printed in one go the cheaper it becomes.   Leaflets if they are displayed in a stand tend to flop and get rather tatty. I think they are likely to be picked up and then discarded, stuffed in a bag or binned. ( well that was my experience when working at a visitor information centre) Postcards with an attractive picture are more likely to be kept, saved and read again.   I am sure others will have some good advice.