Perhaps a Chateau?

[coopsaCoops]

We are interested in getting away from the humdrum life we lead in Britain, to try something new and different in France. We have read all the forum reports on running gites or B&b's and it frightened the life out of us!! Many of them saying "Don't do it"!!

But what is positive advice is,

1) Location

2) You need more than 1 gite or 1-2 bedrooms(to make some kind of money)

3) Get that "WOW" factor.

Taking all this on board, I would like to ask the question, What do forum members think of the idea of buying a Chateau, in large grounds, with a few other ideas up my sleeve, that would give the "WOW" factor? I know it's been done but I can find no discussion or help on the forum.

Do you think this would work, and would it survive and make an income, better than gites or B&B? 

[Dave&Olive]

in a nutshell

http://www.laymyhat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=326

             dave

[Dick Smith]

You really need a business plan as Musicmonkey says on the other forum. To help, ask your UK bank - I got some software from Lloyds TSB which made the process easy (not for this sort of thing, it was planning a consultancy) and showed me the weaknesses in my plans (such as having no income for half the year). If you work that through you will then get an idea if it is feasible - then you have to decide if it is possible!

I once saw a chateau advertised for free - the deal was that the new owner had to run it as a hotel and golf course.

[Weedon]

[quote]We are interested in getting away from the humdrum life we lead in Britain, to try something new and different in France. We have read all the forum reports on running gites or B&b's and it fright...[/quote]

Everybodies circumstances, of course, are different.  How old you are,  how hungry for success, how much capital you have, what experience and how good a team you are.  Don't forget that for every success story there are loads more failures.  Just because it looks glamorous on telly don't imagine that you can get there without a lot of graft, money and luck. And if you cannot speak french well, that would be a major problem.  I think the worse thing is to be under capitalised because it puts you under permanent pressure from which there seems to be no escape.

Its great to have a dream and if that is what you want there is no harm in having a go but if life for you is grim in the UK, for whatever reasons, trying your luck in France unless you are very lucky is not going to be your lottery win.

I can only speak from the experience of retiring to France and it is brilliant but I have over 30 years experience of my own business in the UK and for most of those years it was b****y hard going.

Take lots of advice from wherever you can get it, plan it thoroughly before taking the plunge and if buying an up and running business find out the real reasons why they are selling.

In a couple of years time tell us how good it went for you.

weedon

[GRT17]

Coops

Look further down on the forum under Employment Vacancies in France, someone there is advertising for a couple to run their Chateau for a few months. Maybe you could try this out and test the water, at least then you would know whether this is the life for you before you make the investment.

 

Bonne Chance

Gill

[coopsaCoops]

[quote]You really need a business plan as Musicmonkey says on the other forum. To help, ask your UK bank - I got some software from Lloyds TSB which made the process easy (not for this sort of thing, it was ...[/quote]

Dick,

[coopsaCoops]

[quote]You really need a business plan as Musicmonkey says on the other forum. To help, ask your UK bank - I got some software from Lloyds TSB which made the process easy (not for this sort of thing, it was ...[/quote]

Dick,

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you very much for your advice. I am following it thru now.

Cheers Coops