Brushing down the cobwebs

Time to emerge from the winter. Well thats how I feel even if the weather is trying to persuade me otherwise. By the end of February I always feel like the clock it ticking. I get very twitchy going into March the the gites "undone". Oh well, Phil has started to work again on the new bathroom facilities in three of our gites, with the promise that one will be ready to re-paint in a week! Goody, must get the paint rollers out (actually I probably need new ones!)

The major talking point amoungst fellow gite owners at the moment is Chez Nous, and some of the other major advertisers which we use to promote our gites. Chez Nous has recently re-launched their website, however we all feel that it has totally lost its way. The main search focus is map based, and when you request gites in the Loire on the search facility, gites from the entire middle of France are displayed in price order from lowest to highest. For us professional gite owners, who charge a realistic price (ie one that we can make a living on) our gites are not ranking high on there search. The reason being is that the many hobby gite owners who are able to charge an unrealistically low price just for a bit of pocket money, are getting priority. Normally these gite owners do not declare their earning from letting, and are therefore illegal. These gites basically have the power to put the professionals out of buisness. And there are more and more of them as the Euro is so strong and buying power of the second home owners in France has been greatly reduced. So I am somewhat miffed. The proof in the pudding is that I and my colleagues have had no hits from Chez Nous since the day they swapped over to there new "improved" site. Chez Nous seem to have forgotten who their customers are...its the advertisers who pay for advertising space! Grrrrrrrr.....

Anyhow back to thoughts of the summer and more importantly food. Whilst remembering past holidays (and there hasnt been many ...ahhhh) food has played a major part in whether I and Phil have enjoyed ourselves. So whilst musing on this for a while and wondering how my guests could have a better food experience (without having to pay to eat out all the time) I decided to buy French recipe books for all my gites and a barbeque manual! I know when I am away, I often think....oh I wish I know how to make pancakes off by heart, or how did that chef make that Ile Flottant, or wow....how do I make that special sauce that goes so well with sandre. So now the gites all have books to help us eat well on holiday and inspire regional cooking, bought with ingredients from the local markets. I hope the guests like the idea!

Right back to pursuing Chez Nous.......