Was she right? Am I wrong?

[Just Katie]

I have just returned from a delightful two weeks in the Tarn.  Hubby, moi and my two teenage children have always taken gites in this area and this year was no exception.  I chose the gite back in October costing a total of £1400 and paid 25% of cost upfront and did not request a discount or deal.  Two friends decided to join us for the first week with their grand daughter (the gite was advertised as sleeping 8).

However, when we arrived it was like bootcamp.

HER: "There will be no entering the pool between noon and 2pm."

ME: "Eh..... Why?"

HER: "That's my time"

ME: [blink]

HER: "Everybody out of the pool by 8 pm, no taking sun loungers from the lawn to the pool area"

ME: [:(]

HER:  "The family next door have been renting since March and their children are in bed at 9pm so no sitting outside after 10pm.

ME: [8-)]

HER: "My neighbours are 90, so no making a noise in the pool area at any time"

ME: "What no laughing even?"

HER: [:@] "And by the way, I have 2 dogs and two cats, if they come into your gite kick them"

ME: Thinking, I would love to kick you.

HER: I also have two donkeys who make a noise at 8am but you will get used to that

ME: [:@]

With rules this rigid, do you think she should have told me this before hand? If that was the case I most certainly would not have rented this property.  I live all year round in routine and question whether it is fair to expect holiday makers to live in the same routine just because the renters next door are.  Also, should she not have warned them that perhaps there would be a little noise from renting a holiday gite?  On holiday believe I have the right to let my hair down and relax and, if I want to sit in the garden with my husband talking a load of codswallop over a few beers why can't I?  

I certainly kept out of this womans way, at the end of the week she asked my why I had not spoken to her.  I told her she was how I imagined Freddie Crugars mother would be and that she scared the hell out of me.  I think she thought I was joking because she laughed.

As I said, I unfortunately did not spend much time at all at the gite however, the moment I let my hair down dancing in the kitchen to Fat Boy Slim with a beer in one hand and a ciggie in the other, guess who came knocking for a cup of sugar (or something equally as trivial) yep, Mrs Crugar.  Always the way isnt it?

[Unknown]

Yep, she definately should have been more specific in her advertising or confirmation. 

I hope you had a good time anyway.[:D]

 

[Gardian]

Wonder whether your 'hostess' contributes to, or views this website?  If so, can she pls make herself known.

Whatever, she sounds like a bit of a dragon (Welsh?)

p.s. Thought you were incommunicado for a while?

 

[Just Katie]

It would be good if she was a member here Ian, but I told her my thoughts anyway.

Incommunicado?  No need to worry anymore sweetie its all fixed. (I paid my phonebill yesterday[:-))])

By the way she was a French dragon.

[JayJay]

Cor Katie, that sounds a bit rough! If she sent out the rules & regs, she'd get no bookings. They're not exactly conducive to a happy holiday. I bet she doesn't get too many return bookings![:D]

Welcome back to the land of the living![;-)]

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Just Katie "]

By the way she was a French dragon.

[/quote]

As a general observation, French gite owners tend to be considerably

less laid back than their foreign born conterparts and more inclined to

lay down the law as they see it. Plenty of exceptions of course, but

general nonetheless.

Mind you, this lady does sound a little over ridgid. Given the level of

competition in the Tarn, she might to do well to become a bit more

guest orientated.....

[Deimos]

Given how thorough the French are about the rules, then from the list above that seems to leave loads of things you can do. For example, she did not say you could not organise a Motocross event in the back garden. Nothing about ....

Or is it a case or Napoleonic law in the you are not allowed to do anything unless it is explicitly permitted (unlike the UK where you can do anything unless it is explicitly forbidden).

Ian

[Lori]

Sounds terrible.  This would be one of the reasons we look for gites that are not owner occupied (or attached to another occupied dwelling) and have no one else on the premises.  I've heard too many stories. 

If I book under other circumstances, I am always a bit worried about what I might encounter.

I'm sure this woman never gets return guests.  She must realize this.  I guess she doesn't care.

[Missy]

>>>As a general observation, French gite owners tend to be considerably

less laid back than their foreign born conterparts ....<<<

It goes further than just the gite French owner.

When I first arrived in Wales, one of the first thing we did on the farm was to transform a disused shed into a 4 people self-catering unit.

And after 20years trading I can say I've had no major incidents and plenty repeat bookings. My rules are : Make yourselves home, here are the keys. Only 2 things I will insist on are to keep the patio/garden gate shut at all times or the sheep will end up on the lane, and when you go for walks around the farm ALL gates must be left SHUT! Don't complain about the weather I would tell you that you should have been here last weekwhen it was sunnier! You are in Wales which is God's home! Other than that I won't see you until your departure unless you need something therefore knock on the door at the house.

My parents came to visit about a year after I had arrived and were very complimentary on our endeavours and plans etc... but I could see my Mother slightly uneased. So I took her aside and quietly asked her why?...

Aren't you worried that people will steal the radio? the bedding? the crockery/pots&pans? the bathroom towels? Why haven't you got a fence around their patio/garden? Are they allowed to go anywhere on the farm? Why do you let them use the washing machine/tumble dryer in the utility shed? and the list went on and on and on and on!!!!

Mother GO HOME!!!!

[nimportequoi]

[quote user="Lori"]

Sounds terrible.  This would be one of the reasons we look for gites that are not owner occupied (or attached to another occupied dwelling) and have no one else on the premises.  I've heard too many stories. 

If I book under other circumstances, I am always a bit worried about what I might encounter.

I'm sure this woman never gets return guests.  She must realize this.  I guess she doesn't care.

[/quote]

Can I just say that not all owner occupiers behave in this rude manner? Most of us do our uptmost to make sure people enjoy their stay in our properties and following the welcome try and stay out of the way unless approached first (some guests actually enjoy talking to us). I would never dream of telling people not to make a noise or not to use the pool so I could use it. There are even some advantages to having the owner around, especially if there is a problem! I'm sure this woman's attitude is not typical of most gite owners, who value return guests and recommendations too much to make people feel like they are staying in a boot camp!

[mitsi]

well said SusanAH. We are also on site. I have 2 young children who are under strict instructions not to use the pool if we have guests as it is their holiday and they have paid for the priveledge. Almost without exception and without prompting our children have been asked in to the pool by the guests to make it more fun for their own children. Being on site we keep out of the way but do essential maintenace such as cleaning the pool, grounds, rubbish disposal that wouldn't get done with only guests on site. As for noise most people that have been here seem to cherish the peace and quiet, but that doesn't mean they can't have fun or make a noise when they want. (although I confess we have guests at the moment that enjoy letting their kids scream and shout day in and day out). This is only our second year, we have had one return guest who wishes to also book for next year and another 4 this year requesting weeks for next year. So having on site hosts can't be that bad then.

[Cassis]

So when did Basil and Sybil sell up in Torquay and move into gites in the Tarn?

Lovely area, crap landlady! 

[Miki]

Don't be a silly sausage, they moved to Saint Malo and I know where [;-)]

[Lori]

Susan - I agree with you that all gite owners are not like the op's.  We rented the lower portion of our house out for 2 years and we did pretty much what you did.  Gave em the keys and explained that we respect their privacy.  Told them they would only see us if we had garden work or pool work to do, otherwise, we are at their disposal for conversation or any questions problems that may arise.  I normally asked all guests up for an apperitif on a day that suited them, all accepted, but other than that, we made ourselves scarce.  Some folks liked to talk and came up to knock on our door nearly every day.  We always greeted them with enthusiasm.  I enjoy a good chat, but we let them do the knocking.  Like you, we would never have considered saying the things the OP's landlady said.

Not everyone is that way, so we are careful when we book our own holidays.  We don't get many holidays, so we try to make sure we are in the best situation possible (based on our own likes and dislikes).

 

 

[Chris Head]

Next time Katie come and stay here....we don't charge and get a little nervous if it gets too quiet! Music, fun and beer drinking are obligatory! OK give some good Fatboy slim stuff to download.

Chris

[Pun]

Hi  j.k.

Im so glad I read this thread of yours,

Every day my wife and I do more and more work on a property we,ve invested in to be a gite in 1 year from now and  we both read and try to find out as much as posible about being a really good gite and service we can offer.

After reading your crap holiday experience we both know we,re on the correct road to doing the job well, you,ve helped us no end to tick yet one more box of what not to do and (very important" what we should do ref our future wording of our add for the gite, ie owners live only 3km away if needed and all the package ie pool, hot tub bikes , books games, sky t.v. etc are for who ever books our gite and for use by them "ONLY" anytime through out the booking .

Thanks for your help, at least some good has come out of your holiday from hell.

 

regards Pun.

[Just Katie]

Thank you all for your responses.  In the past, I have taken gites both with owners on site and without.  I have stayed with both british and french giteowners and must admit I found both equally welcoming and providing a balance between 'being on hand whilst being non intrusive'. 

As a family, we are very respectful of peoples property and noise levels however, we will have our 'silly' moments where hubby and kids enjoy bomb diving in the pool (if we are the only people there) and having a game of cricket or kick the tin where we may end up getting a little over enthusiastic but these come in short spurts.  We may have the odd afternoon when Twinks and her hubby visits where we could open the Ricard a little on the early side.  Being welsh, we have been likened to italians by the french, (a tendancy to talk loudly with animated hand gestures) but these activities are very few and far between and, in the past, these have always been tolerated, I am on holidays for goodness sake and am willing to pay full rates for my accommodation.

Incidentally, I had a chat with our neighbours who had been there since march.  He asked me how I was enjoying the stay and took this opportunity to tell him that I felt a little disappointed about the rules and regs.  I also told him that perhaps he should have booked a place away from a gite being rented out to holiday makers if he chose to live in a normal routine.  He looked very surprised and told me that he purposely chose that gite to meet holiday makers and maybe enjoy the odd glass of wine and game of cricket with them. And, ALARMINGLY, Mme Crugar had told him and his family to take their outside dining to their roof terrace (via their bedroom) not to disturb US!!

Perhaps some of you giteowners could run a few courses in the winter months on HOW TO RUN A GITE.