Running a Gite in Brittany

La Rentree

Saint Fiacre

La Rentree - Back to School. The kids returned to school this morning after the grande vacances, hesitant but excited. This year they are both at the same school but in different classes. Hopefully it should give us both a bit more time to work on the house and gites.

Whilst we were at school someone said they had seen us in the Ouest France paper that morning. This was due to a chat Caroline had with the journalist who covered the B17 Memorial on Wednesday.

Les Champs-Géraux

Caroline et Ian, des Anglais installés, depuis 2 ans

Arrivée depuis deux ans aux Champs-Géraux, la famille Haycox a voulu tout de suite s'impliquer dans la vie de sa nouvelle commune. Propriétaires de gîtes, ils ouvrent leurs portes aux touristes et les invitent à mieux connaître le Pays d'Évran.

Caroline et lan Haycox ont préféré la vie en France avec leurs deux enfants, Elizabeth et Hugh, après avoir découvert la possibilité de relancer des gîtes. Ils n'ont pas hésité à quitter leur région du sud-ouest de l'Angleterre et venir s'installer pour rénover l'ancienne ferme de la Lohuas, située entre Évran et Lanvallay.

"Nous avions l'habitude de venir en vacances en Bretagne, et nous apprécions à l'époque le rythme de la vie à la campagne, contrairement à ce que nous vivions en Angleterre. Alors, on s'est lancé le défi de venir s'installer ici, avec la volonté de s'intégrer au plus vite au mode de vie français. C'est important, même encore maintenant, malgré la difficulté de la langue ", raconte Caroline.

Dès leur arrivée, ils avaient organisé un pot d'accueil pour leur voisinage et pour continuer de s'impliquer dans la vie de leur commune, ils participent aujourd'hui à l'association des parents d'élèves de l'école, ce qui leur a aussi permis de se lier avec d'autres parents. " Je crois que c'est à nous de nous adapter à la vie française, si on fait, l'effort, la population saura le reconnaître et nous accueillir. " Les Haycox possèdent trois gîtes, et programment d'agrandir les hébergements cet hiver, la demande est, grande, et leurs clients viennent désormais de très loin comme d'Amérique, d'Australie et bien sûr d'Angleterre ou Irlande, grâce à leur site internet. " C'est aussi une manière de recevoir des étrangers et leur faire découvrir la région. "

Pratique. Ian et Caroline Haycox, gîte de la Lohuas aux Champs-Géraux. info@brittany-holiday-gites.com par e-mail.

|   2:30:07 PM   La Rentree   

B17 Memorial

Saint Augustin

Wednesday's B17 memorial as covered by Ouest France.

Les Champs-Geraux

Une gerbe en memoire du crash du B 17

Mercredi, en fin d'apres-midi, le comite du 29 mai 2003 accueillait deux personnes etrangeres, qui comme eux, font des recherches sur; le « 94e Bomber Group » dont le B17 faisait partie.

Pascal Lhermitte et ses amis du comite du 29 mai etaient tres fiers de recevoir deux personnes etrangeres, qui comme eux sont des passionnes d'histoire, et plus particulierement d'aviation et des evenements qui se sont produits lors des raids aeriens pendant la seconde guerre mondiale. Graham Crabtree, president d'une association anglaise qui restaure la tour de controle de Rougham d'ou etait parti le 94e Bomber Group, et, John Adams, membre actif d'une association americaine qui fait des recherches sur le 94e Bomber Group, ont apporte des renseignements precieux et quelques documents supplementaires a I'exposition des Champs-Geraux qui a dure tout I'ete.

« Nous avons entendu parler du crash du B17 aux Champs-Geraux, alors, avec le nom de la commune, et grace a internet j'ai fait des recherches, et j'ai trouve le site du comite, c'est comme cela quel j'ai souhaite entrer en contact avec ses membres », explique John Adams. Le B17, qui s'est ecrase le 29 mai 1943, faisait parti d'une des trois escadrilles du 94e Bomber Group, base en Angleterre. Durant la guerre, le 94e a effectue 325 missions, les Champs-Geraux etaient la 8e. « Il y a des points d'histoire que nous pouvons maintenant mieux interpreter, grace a ces echanges de documents et d'informations, aussi pour leurs associations respectives. Ces gens sont des relais importants, avec qui il serait peut-etre interessant de creer un jumelage, en tout cas l'association le souhaiterait », rapporte Pascal Lhermitte.

Pratique. L'exposition du crash du B17 aux Champs-Geraux, se prolangera jusqu'a fin septembre, aux heures d'ouverture de la mairie.

|   8:51:37 PM   B17 Memorial   

Taupe dissuasion

Saint Monique

Mole deterrent ? Only one small mole hill this morning, mind you it was only a couple of meters from the ultrasonic beeper. I'll give it a few more days before passing judgement.

Bought both the Le Petit Bleu and Ouest France today, but nothing. Ah well we can live without the fame.

|   10:38:09 PM   Taupe dissuasion   

In print again

Saint Natacha

On Wednesday night Caroline went out for the evening as part of the www.b17-29mai.com commitee and to welcome some people from America and the UK to show them the memorial and exhibition in the Mairies office. As with almost all events (fetes, school plays, sports, etc.) in each of the communes, they are covered by one of the local papers. Ouest France (daily paper for the west of France) and Le Petit Bleu (weekly paper for Cotes d'Armor) both covered the event, so expect to see Caroline's fisog in the paper again.

|   10:48:32 AM   In print again   

Mole wars

Saint Louis

I've been having a few problems with moles, here, here and here, but this last week it has turned into an epidemic. Almost everyday for the last two weeks I have been gassing moles with smoke cartridges. Some days it's just one or two but the other day I used a marathon seven. I think my obsession has got so bad it is rubbing off on the children staying in the gites. The last few mornings they have come running up to me with cries of 'Ian, Ian we've found another mole hill. Can we kill it please, please'. So this afternoon I queued outside the mobile shop for over a hour to buy a solar powered ultrasonic mole deterrent. It's a great shop, they deliver a catalogue, then the lorry turns up in a nearby car park about two weeks later full of bargain tools and accessories for the home and garden. Anyway my 'Solar Moler' (yes it said that, I think it's a Chinese to English to French translation error) is now stuck in the mud and with luck it should shoo them darn pesky critters away from my croquet lawn. I know it's not going to kill them but maybe if I buy several more I can corral them into a corner of the garden. Fingers crossed.

|   7:02:47 PM   Mole wars   

Golf and driving

Saint Bathélemy

I felt that I needed a break from the gites today and decided to spend the day with the kids, bike riding this morning along the canal at Evran and then going to the park at Dinan and playing mini golf in the afternoon. The last two times we played mini golf Caroline won, but this time it was my turn. It did help my victory that Caroline had stayed at home all day bashing in the accounts.

On the way home I encountered that slightly crazy French road system priorité a droit. When the priorite a droit applies you must give way to vehicles entering from the right, even though you are driving on the main through road. The yellow diamond sign means you have priority over people from the right and is usually displayed when leaving a built-up area. If there is a black diagonal stripe through the sign is means 'give way to the right', or 'be on your toes'. I obviously wasn't quite on the ball today and driving down the main road I had to slam on the anchors to let someone out of a side street. At first glance the rule seems like an accident waiting to happen, but I have heard it argued that it adds to road safety because traffic in towns is more cautious. Another little idiosyncrasity.

|   8:45:56 PM   Golf and driving   

Doing porridge

A bit more clearing and tidying in the barn today. Removing the old 200 litre hot water boiler from the wall was a little hair raising. It was bolted to the wall right above the main water supply and meter for the house with nuts rusted solid. I had to angle grind the boiler supports and tops off the bolts but I really did not want this humungus chunk of metal falling on my rising main and flooding the place. Not to mention the embarrasing phone call that Caroline would have to make to the water board. Some demon grinding, fancy footwork and a carefully placed collection of breeze blocks and planks saw the monster slide gracefully down the wall and roll across the floor.

Flushed with success, it was time to tackle the big sliding door between the barn and the lean-to shed. A fairly standard runner and roller farm door needed dismantling. Some slightly less adept work and the door slid shut with a Norman Stanley Fletcher clunk I was trapped in my own little jail with a broken water heater and an angle grinder. I couldn't get to the door catch so I just hacked the end stop off the rail with the last few millimeters of the grinding wheel to escape.

At least I don't have to give my name and address to the man at the recycling depot now I'm a regular.

|   6:07:02 PM   Doing porridge   

Hospital trip

Saint Fabrice

For the second time this week we have made a trip to the local hospital with one of our guests. Yesterday afternoon one of the mothers put her foot in a hole in the sand on the beach and badly twisted her ankle. She couldn't put any weight on the bad leg so had to spend the evening at our BBQ party laid up in the garden being fed and watered. We tried lots of wine as a remedy for the pain and suffering, but to no avail. This morning we all agreed a trip to the hospital was needed. I went on Wednesday with a guest with a suspected collar bone fracture, so this time it was Caroline's turn as translator and guide. Two hours later they returned, X-rayed, break confirmed, plastered, injections to prevent thrombosis and a pair of crutches. The French health system does provide superb service. It's arguably the best in the world.

No accidents for two years then two in one week.

|   8:36:09 PM   Hospital trip   

Le Petit Train de Dinan

Saint Bernard

Tourist day in Dinan for the family. Personal recommendations for the gite guests are much better than a leaflet from the tourist office so we have tried to visit most of the zoos, parcs, beaches, attractions and a fair few resturants. Today it was the turn of Le Petit Train de Dinan. It's about a thirty minute ride from the port by the canal in Dinan, round the old part of the town taking in the Jacobian theatre, the Basilique and Le Jardin Anglais. Enjoyed by all.

In preparation for the new gites I stayed at home and started clearing out the barn of all the old junk left lying around. It's taken me all day and several trips to the dechetterie to get rid of most of the rubbish. For the stuff I wanted to keep it meant cleaning a space in another outbuilding to put it. It's very nice having lots of space and outbuildings but it's easy to never throw anything anyway.

There is still a load of old dead pipework and wiring to be ripped out before the builders arrive at the beginning of October.

My trip to the dechetterie reminded me of our French lessons in England. We were told many times to be able to say, spell and remember our name, address and telephone number in French. You are constantly having to provide you name, address etc. and today at the dechetterie was no exception, Quelle commune, Quel nom, and because it is not a common French surname you need to be able to spell it out, ash ah eegreque say oh icks.

|   6:06:06 PM   Le Petit Train de Dinan   

Fireplace finished

Saint Helene

Caroline and the childen went with the grand-parents to La Bourbansais Zoo today. I got left with the mowing, strimming and finishing the fireplace. Put the last coat of paint on. Here is the story of the fireplace in pictures.

The weather has been awful this last week or so. It's rained every day and today was really windy and a little cold. The worse August I can remember

|   9:53:08 PM   Fireplace finished   

Doctor doctor

Saint Hyacinthe

One of the children (10) staying in the gites walked into the table tennis table and hurt her shoulder, then before you knew it she fell out of the hammock right onto her bad shoulder. SHe was in agony and we suspected a broken collar bone. I went with her and her parents to the local hospital in Dinan where she was X-rayed and seen by a couple of doctors. Fortunately nothing was broken but she has to wear an arm sling and take pain killers.

No sooner back from my mercy dash to the hospital than a dash to the car doctor. Well a controle technique (MOT). Checked all the usual thinks, lights, brakes, etc. and it passed. That's sorted for the next two years. The odd thing was is that they gave me a loyalty card. After 4 visits the fifth one is free !

|   9:43:04 PM   Doctor doctor   

Foyer insert inserted

Saint Marie, Assomption

Fireplace is almost finished. Caroline has done all the pointing and this morning I installed the wood burning insert, refitting all the bits back together and connecting up the flue and hot air feed. The silver pipe to the left with the kink is a hot air feed from the fireplace right up to the top floor of the house. Above the 'fire box' there is a separate heating box which generates huge volumes of hot air out of two vents on top of the fire. One is capped off but the other is ducted up through the house to pipe hot air round the house. There is a fan to blow extra hot air, but we have never used it and often have to close the vent upstairs because it can get too hot. The fire is rated at 11 KW, and there is another identical unit the other end of the house that feeds hot air to the second floor. Thats all the heating we have for the whole house, and only when it gets very cold for prolonged periods do we keep both fires running 24 hours a day.

The last bit of work is to clean up the stonework to the left (so it's the same as the right hand side) and build a simple sheet metal shroud (hood?) to cover the outside of the fire and the pipework. Normally these fires are encased in a brick clad 'fake' fireplace but hopefully it should look a bit better with a black tall housing. A slightly simpler version than this.

Caroline spotted some baby Koi Carp in the fish pond this afternoon. Well we think they are baby Koi. They were about 3 or 4 all 2-3cm long, brown (translucent ?) and very difficult to spot against the bottom of the pond. I did see the big Koi thrashing and splashing about in the shallows when is was very warm at the end of June this year, so I'm hoping that they were spawning and this is the result. It would be fantastic to have a pondful because I'm sure there must be more we haven't spotted yet.

|   5:12:49 PM   Foyer insert inserted   

Gite Gite Gite

Saint Évrard

Gosh, Saturday's seem to come round so fast. Three gites to changeover this week, but the good news is all three families are staying for two weeks, so we get next Saturday off ! I've no idea how we are going to manage with 5 gites. To do all three gites today took Caroline over 7 hours and me about 4 hours. Caroline does the bulk of the cleaning in the gites and I do all the fetching and carrying of linen, supplies etc., clear the patios and gardens and and minor maintenance jobs. Fortunately this week there was nothing broken, just a bit of preventative maintenance on the septic tank. One of my favourite jobs :-)

The last day or so has seen better weather and the farmers have been collecting in all the straw today as it's had a chance to dry out. In fact it's just going dark at 22:00 and a Combine Harvester has gone past. I'm not sure if that is good or bad weatherwise. At least we are not getting battered by hurricanes like in Florida.
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Fifteen die in Florida hurricane

|   10:27:18 PM   Gite Gite Gite   

Hedge haircut

Saint Hippolyte

A break in the wet weather so a morning spent trimming the other leylandii hedge. Cutting to just above head height is very very easy, you just wave the hedge trimmer about and voila a pile of cuttings on the floor. Cutting the top half proved a little more difficult. I made some progress balanced on a step ladder on the trailer attached to the mower, but the hedge is too tall, and consequently too wide to cut into the center. The only thing for it was to climb up inside the hedge and perch myself up each tree with my head poking out above the top. Whirling round like a demented Dalek produced a great result, sorting out the center part a treat. I think for safety's sake I will have to lop the top half of the hedge out to made it more managable in the future.

|   6:57:43 PM   Hedge haircut   

Painting and pointing

Saint Clarisse

Caroline finished pointing the fireplace yesterday and it makes a huge improvement. She experimented with a few different mixes of lime, sand and cement and ended up with a 5 parts sand (sable) and 2 parts lime (chaux). Using even a small quantity of cement made the mix too grey. This morning she finished brushing the excess off the stonework to leave a nice clean finish. I think if there had been cement in the mix it would have set onto the stones and looked messy.

I've been stuck scraping the remains of wallpaper off the stairwell in our house. When I say wallpaper it was actually a pink carpet-like material that must have been stuck on with evo-stick. It's been a nightmare to clean and fill ready for painting.

As you can tell the focus shifts from the gites to our own house during the summer. Whilst the gites are occupied we concentrate on the gardens and general DIY in our own home. However the weather has been very showery for the last week keeping us out of the garden and off the beach.

|   11:13:11 PM   Painting and pointing   

French DIY Books

Saint Claire

Chipped out loose and small pieces of cement that were proud between the stones of the fireplace and hearth ready for Caroline to point with chaux et sable. Whilst I was working inside the fireplace I put an uplighter on the hearth so I could see what I was doing. Caroline suggested a couple of downlights hidden above the mantelpiece inside the chimney because the light showed off the stones beautifully. It did look very good, so that's another job on the list.

To help the the barn renovation into two gites I ordered La Plomberie and L'installation électrique from Amazon which arrived today. They are both in French, surprise surprise, but do provide the rules and regulations and best practice and lots of pictures :-)

|   12:31:14 PM   French DIY Books   

Hedge trimming

Saint Laurent

Had lunch with some friends at La Vielle Auberge in Trefumel today. I can thoroughly recommend the restaurant. The menu du jour was just 9€ for feta cheese salad, veal and rice, cheese, dessert and wine. It was obviously a local favourite, as parked outside were tractor and trailer combos, a La Poste van, several white vans and various local cars. It gave the place a nice authentic local village atmosphere.

Full of wine in the afternoon meant it was an ideal opportunity to play with my new power tool whilst standing up a ladder. If I did have an accident at least I'd be half anaesthetised already. Because lunch took so long I only managed to clip one of the hedges. The hedge trimmer (a Bosch AHS 6000 PRO-T) scythed through the bits I could reach but becomes very heavy when you are stretching to reach the top and middle. The slight advantage the electric trimmers have over the petrol ones sf the weight. Even stood on top of a picnic table balanced on the trailer attached to the mower I still couldn't get to the top properly. The hedge is about 3m high but also 3m wide. Note to self, never ignore a leylandii hedge, keep it short and thin.

|   9:28:35 PM   Hedge trimming   

Saint Armour

Finished cementing in the stone around the fireplace, ready for pointing.

The two big leylandii hedges at the front need a bit of a haircut so whilst buying half-a-tonne of sand for the pointing we also bought a hedge trimmer. 24 inches (600mm) of pure German cutting power.

The oil drum BBQ made another appearance this evening. We have got three families staying in the gites this week that all know each other so everything swung along very well indeed and all the kids behaved superbly. One of the advantages of living on-site with the gites is that our evening entertainment is close at hand and we don't need baby sitters.

|   10:40:49 PM      

Fete Du Ble

Saint Dominique

Went to the Fete du Ble et des Vieux Metiers in Pleudihen-sur-Rance, Brittany today. In very stereotypical fashion Elizabeth liked the animals and Hugh liked the parade of old tractors and farm machines. I think we have overdone the festivals a bit this year, this is the forth one. They are all very enjoyable, and if you have never been to a fete then it is definitely worth the trip. Personally I like starting with the trestle table lunch and wine. Inexpensive, basic food which sets me up for the afternoon.

Click on the thumbnails for approx 20K images.

|   8:02:11 PM   Fete Du Ble   

Three gite change

Saint Gaétan

All the animals profit from a gite changeover day, especially when we have all three gites to change, like today. The guests leave bread, vegetables and salad stuff which makes great chicken, goose and duck food. The goat is partial to the odd carrot or apple as well. I'm partial to the odd beer, but we don't get left many of those.

Maybe it's all the food scraps, but the ducklings have really grown much larger. They are almost too fat to get through the fencing. When they were small they used to wander out of the enclosure through the squares in the fencing, Lucy the goose gave a quick honk, and back they would waddle. Now they are larger they seem to spend much more time in the pond catching flying insects.

Finished the carrelage round the fireplace this afternoon. The hole was skimmed yesterday and the tiles laid in the evening and then this afternoon finished off with grout. Just the stonework under the hearth and I can re-fit the wood burner.

Had a good curry evening the other night with an English friend from the the next village who is a CORGI registered plumber now living in France. He's thinking of setting up a business as a Brittany Plumber, so if you need a good English speaking plumber in the Dinan area mail me.

BTW, For the summer evening what better than a cruise in a convertible. I happen to have another friend selling a LHD 2003 Peugeot 206 Cabriolet 2.0 in Silver for 16,000€. A topless pocket rocket.

|   8:21:26 PM   Three gite change   

Heat, light and power

Saint Abel

Non stop today.

Chopped three small trees down (about 15cm across) that were just touching the overhead power lines. EDF came last winter and topped a load of trees under the power line, but these grew into the light 'corridor' under the lines and would most probably caused the power to trip if they had been left. A bit more firewood for next year.

The Butagaz man came in his lorry to re-fill our underground gas tank. Another 900 Kg of butane ? to run the hot water system. It was only filled about 15 months ago, but I suppose it does supply all the hot water for our house all year, and the three gites during the holiday periods.

Fitted the granite slabs for the new fireplace hearth and concreted around the side to build up the level ready for the floor tiles. It took a couple of big wheel barrow loads of concrete to get it almost level. I'll finish off with some self-levelling skim before laying the tiles.

Marathon mowing and strimming session. We had a fantastic thunderstorm a few nights ago and the grass has only really just got dry enough this afternoon to cut. It was still a bit too damp and clogged the mower several times, but it just seems to grow so fast at the moment.

Went to fit the new magnesium anode in the hot water boiler (it's meant to reduce hard-water scale build up), but the old one was not that badly corroded. Cleaned it up and re-fitted, at least I've got a spare now.

Hugh has got the surfing bug. Caroline took the kids to the beach this afternoon and she couldn't keep him out of the water. He's only 4 and just messes about with the body board in the waves but has a wail of a time.

Finished reading The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency -- Alexander McCall Smith, and found it most enjoyable. It's an easy read with some interesting characters and storylines. In fact we both enjoyed the book we have ordered the sequels.

|   11:43:28 PM   Heat, light and power   

Shopping in France

Saint J.-M. Vianney

We went shopping yesterday primarily for some more picnic tables for the gites and some slabs of granite for the fireplace hearth I'm renovating. It turned into a bit of a marathon shopping day.

Caroline's friend recommended a garden furniture and fencing place in Chateauneuf Ille-et-Villaine, close to St Malo. It was stacked full of pressure treated wooden fencing panels of every shape, size and style; wooden swings and slides; seats, tables, decking, sheds, trellis, etc.We've already got a couple of wooden picnic tables, but we wanted something a bit larger and more rustic for the garden. We bought two large picnic bench tables for less than 200€. Bargain.

We had already been to a quarry the day before to get a quote for a single piece of granite 1.8m by 0.7m for the new hearth, but neither of us was sure it was quite right. Today, therefore, was to find an alternative. We managed to find somewhere that did granite paving slabs of various sizes with a rough finish, rather than slices sawn from a large block. We picked up 3 pieces 60cm by 70cm to make up the full width of the fireplace. The finish on them is superb, light grey with a slight shimmering finish (a bit like fish scales).

Next stop, to buy a van. In order to renovate the barn in October we are going to need a van to collect supplies etc. The idea is to buy a second-hand van and then sell it a year later once the work is complete. A stroll around the lot soon makes to realise there are quite a few decisions to make made, size, height, width etc. The only easy decision is the colour, they are all white. Based on kicking a few tyres and poking around the inside with a tape measure, and keeping an eye on re-sale, I think we are most probably going to get a Peugeot Boxer or a Citroen Jumper. Basically they are the same van but age and price (approx 10,000€) will swing it.

While we were in the swing of it we bought the kids some new clothes in the sales, we also tried to buy ourselves some new clothes, but we are still stuggling to cope with the different size conversions from the UK. I did have a surf for conversion tables, but many of them contradict each other. For me all the size numbers for shoes, shirts, trousers, etc. are very similar, (40, 44, 48 etc.), plus various sizes S, M, L and 2, 3, 4, 5 for other clothes gets very confusing. I think I'm going to have to find things that fit them make up a laminated personal size chart for my wallet.

A few bits and bobs ready for 'back to school', and home. Phew.

All in all a fairly successful day, neither of us like shopping, so it's some of jobs we dislike over with.

|   12:52:48 PM   Shopping in France   

Mole hill madness

Saint Julien Eymard

I feel more and more like Bill Murray every day. These moles are driving me nuts. I don't mind a couple of mole hills, but this morning there was five in the croquet lawn. It doesn't make for straight shooting. I popped down few smoke cartridges this morning and then after the days chores I found 8 more this evening about 5 meters away from the original hills. I think I'm just chasing them around and around.

|   8:58:54 PM   Mole hill madness   

Fete Du Pain

Saint Alphonse

Caroline and I lifted a load of red and yellow onions from the vegtable garden this morning. A good crop considering the weather in July.

This afternoon we all went to Plage de Pen Guen in Saint Cast Le Guido. It's a great beach for small children because it is all sand and is almost level. We arrived about an hour or so before low tide and it took it a good 5 mins walk from the top of the beach to the sea. But once in the sea you could wade out for a very long way before even going over your waist. Once the tide turned it came back in fairly quickly, but that was part of the fun. At a slow walk you could remain in the sea and get most of the way back to your towels. The sea always seemed to be shallow, and consequently warmer. Hugh got his first taste of surfing (well gentle body boarding) and I couldn't drag him out.

Just to round of the day we visited the Fête du Pain at Plédéliac on the way home. Another small fun 'French country fair'. Obviously the central theme was bread (harvesting, milling, making, cooking) but there was plenty else to see, Charcol production, clog making, honey bees, old tractors and farm machines, oxen, ornamental chickens, etc. etc.

|   11:46:09 AM   Fete Du Pain