Running a Gite in Brittany

Winter season work

Now the occupany for the gites has slowed right down it's time to concentrate on some of the winter jobs. There may even be time to paint, decorate and update the house. That's something that has been on hold for the last four years, as the gites took precedence.

There's quite a bit to do in the winter; Internet marketing, website updates, some painting and sprucing up in one of the older gites, lawn mower servicing, hedge and tree cutting, fencing, updates to the play area, christmas cards, ... There is always something.

 brittany Gites

|   12:35:43 PM   Winter season work   

New gites one year on.

Well, it's been a full season with the two new gites. Thats five in total now.

We always knew that in order to make a living five gites would be required and judging by the success of the last year, the two extra gites have made the difference. The renovation of the gites was hard work but the extra income is worth it. With the extra gites it also means that the fixed costs don't bite into any profit quite as much.

All the guests this year in the new gites have been very impressed and having two slightly different layouts meant they catered for each type of families requirements. One gite has a ground floor bedroom and en-suite for wheelchair access and the other gite with the extra upstairs space for larger families.

Fortunately there were no breakages or problems to note, so the extra attention to detail paided during the gite renovation was worth it. We do have a couple of lettings over winter and I'm hoping all the extra insulation in the walls and roof will make them comfortable and less expensive to heat.

 brittany Gites

|   12:15:48 PM   New gites one year on.   

Local Museum and Zoo Trips

As part of my research for guests staying at our gites, I took the children to the Reptile Zoo and Motor Museum recently.

The reptilarium, Alligator Bay, is close to Mont St Michel and spread over a fairly large site. Outside there was a display of tortosies and turtles, some really huge ones that the children could touch. Inside a massive collection of crocodiles and aligators, and another building with various snakes and reptiles. The snake house had glass tubes running through the snake cages that the children could crawl through. Very strange experience being 'in' the snake pit.

The motor museum, just South of Rennes, housed a huge collection of cars through the ages, with special sections for Ferraris and Lamborghinis, along with a dummy grid of about 20 Formula One cars. Outside there are a couple of circuits for driving, a Rally Cross circuit and a normal race track. On the day we went, the circuit for was open for individuals to race their own cars. Very entertaining seeing a chaotic mixture of young lads in tuned up 205's to 'gentlemen' in Porsches etc.

Both attractions were excellent and I would recommend a visit to both.

|   9:35:09 AM   Local Museum and Zoo Trips