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Everything you always wanted to know about France |
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Rentals-France Newsletter October 24 1999. Number 10
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1. Building in France, a Cautionary Tale When you come to France, you may be tempted to buy a home here. Many of our guests ask us about property prices and opportunities here. It is very tempting, prices have been low for a long time (for many reasons they are now beginning to rise rapidly). French families tend to prefer to live in modern "Villas" on the edge of town and they have been pleased to sell the old village or town houses of their Grandparents, or to sell the big old farmhouses in the country. It is these old properties, often with a parcel of land, which are the most appealing to visitors. They are always made from local materials, frequently stone, with massive wooden beams and Roman tiled roofs. Building techniques here remained the same for many centuries. It is only in the late 19th century that more modern materials and construction methods were used. The prices asked for these properties seems low. However, most properties need some alteration or repair. My advice learnt from ten years of practical building experience here is to ask locally for the name of the best local mason and to request an quotation from them for the work you wish to be done and to also ask the advice of the mason about the property. If possible get two quotations and opinions. Masons here use the latest equipment and technology but also they usually have a wealth of experience in traditional building techniques. They have to pay annual subscriptions and taxes to be registered in their profession. They also have to pay insurances which have the vital benefit of giving you a guarantee of their work, even in the event of their ceasing business. Obviously this level of assurance and expertise carries a price tag. The work on old houses is expensive and you could find that the repairs may cost several times that you would have expected in countries where wood and brick are the standard materials. The alternative is to find a local chap (often an ex-pat) who works for a daily rate for cash. These people often cost a half or even a quarter of the price of registered masons. My advice is, don't even think about using them unless you are an experienced builder yourself. In fact using unregistered labor is illegal and paying in cash for any large work can be against the law. Also, these builders are not insured and if there was any accident you could be liable. My tale concerns the quality of the work. Against all my experience, recently I had a team of three local builders do some work for me on another house about 2 hours drive from here. I had seen their work locally for neighbors and their price was very attractive. They assured me they would give me invoices for the work so everything seemed OK. I have been trying to spend time rebuilding my websites and offering more information, tours castles etc for our visitors and thought that by getting these builders to do six weeks work to finish this other house, I could catch up with my work. I meant to go to see them each week, but never seemed to be able to leave the desk here, so each week they reported on the progress and I paid them. After four weeks I was able to get there and realized my mistake. Far from being experienced builders, they knew a little about some things but a lot about nothing. I had already paid them for most of the work and now faced having to demolish and redo all the interior work, which they clearly had never done before, and clear up an appalling mess on the exterior work. For the last three weeks and for the next month I must travel down to the Spanish border and work on the house, luckily some friends are helping me. It took our new team the first week to clear 6 truck loads of expensive mess (and countless beer bottles) to the local rubbish tip. I have at least four more weeks hard building work to do to get to where I should have been over a month ago. If you buy a house here and a local 'builder' tells you they can do the work for you for a "special" price. get references, demand to see the registration papers, ask to see their insurance certificate and above all get three references for the same sort of work you are asking. Pay by cheque and get proper invoices. It will be far cheaper in the long run. As usual in life, "you get what you pay for".
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Tony Carole and family
It's so sad that our time has gone Zoom, which means we'll have
to come back and finish what we didn't do/see. We came to relax
but mainly did the opposite- "it's Thursday so it must be
Barcelona"
We will spread the word about your undiscovered part of the
world in our country-the Antipodese. If you ever get downunder,
you're welcome anytime...
We admire your industrious labours in making your "paradise". We
will return ...
There are many magnificent walks in this region, this is the first in an occasional series. A lovely walk on the Mediterranean coast which takes you about 1 or 2 hours. Cap d'Agde's relief is the result of a marine volcano that erupted 750 000 years ago from the southern extremity of the Auvergne range (Massif Central). From the cliffs there is a spectacular view of the Mediterranean to discover during a walk which starts from the top of the Rue de la Garnison and leads up to the summit. This path follows the crest of the coastline. right from the beginning, there is a magnificent view of the sea and the multiple blue reflections which change and play with the sky and the light. The rocky coast which has been constantly eroded by the sea, sinks its basalt claws into the water depth and the little creeks that have been formed are the delight of those who enjoy the sea from swimmers or sailors. The successive volcanic eruptions can be seen in the variety of soils: solidified lava flows, volcanic tuff with sediments and vitrified scoria, etc. The underwater trail (marked by yellow buoys in summer) , is at the foot of the cliffs. It enables a view of the underwater world from depth of 2 to 5meters. The walk continues toward the promontory's summit (cross the Fortin car park) towards the Grande Conque cove, with successive view points over the crescent shaped, black sanded beach and the rocks "Les deux Freres". The high point of the cliff (21m) affords a clear view of Cap d'Agde, the coastline and the sea - sometimes you can see right through to the Pyrenees. After la Plagette, the monolithic blocks indicate the entrance to the Richelieu Jetty. A Cardinal who had the ambition of building a great port in the region, in the XVII century. It points towards Fort Brescou Island which was meant to be the outer point of the harbor. The project was abandoned upon the Cardinal's death.
Follow the Quai de L'Estacade where fishing barges are moored
alongside leisure boats and listen to their music. Go along the
Quai du Vieux Cap which leads to the heart of the yachting
harbour along Fishermen's Island. At the end of the quay, enter
the Technical Zone which is the nerve of the nautical activity.
Cross the zone along the quays. At the exit, take the staircase
opposite to gain access to the bridge. It leads you to the
Thalassotherapy Institute which you go around to the right
following the Allee des Gabelous and back to the cliff top path
(for safety it is important not to leave the pathways on the
cliffs (covered with gravel) and above all not to approach the
edges where there is a risk of landslides.
====================== It has started, the new wines are here (hic!!). After a terrible harvest around here, the villages are back on form and celebrating, it was not the first time a storm has hit the crops and it will not be the last time. Farmers are tough, they have to be. As usual the wine tastes like nothing else, it is fresh , only a few hours old in some instances and reasonably strong 12% to 13%, it tastes like a fruity flat cola. In truth it is not good wine, but it is very easy to quaff two or three bottles and have a mild headache the next day;
To support the local industry I am getting into training to
drink as many bottles as possible over the next few weeks, if
any of you would like to come to help me we will make you very
welcome and you can drink as much as you like for free while you
are here.
======================== Our policy is to only offer properties in these regions which we know or which a local manager knows personally, which offers good value and which we are confident to recommend. Our client is you, the person or family taking the vacation, not the owner of the property. We do not make any charge to the property owner for putting their home on our site, this is to ensure we are free to act in your interests and to try to make your vacation in France the best possible. If we receive complaints about a property, we remove it from our lists. |