[bouldermonkey]

Hey all..

I'm having real difficulty finding quality info on gites and accommodate in the font area... plenty of info out there if you speak French, not so much if you dont, and even less if you dont speak French, OR know much about Font/France to start off with.

Is anyone able to recommend a suitable gite/accommodation for 3 male mates, looking for a relatively cheap week in Font during September... ideally near a bar or two, but not essential...

Any recommendations/pointers in the right direction greatly appreciated, as the search is getting more than a little tedious now.   

Thanks.

[Paul B]

Last time i went we used the Gite De France website which has an english version. We got stung a bit on the heating bill for the place which was a bit of a downer at the end of a great week but if we'd have filled the gite it would of been fairly negligible...

[bouldermonkey]

Sorry Paul, for a moment there i thought you said you had to pay for heating too.....

 

Come again!?

How do gites actually work.. i presumed they were like chalet's type things... you pays your fee, you stay, you leave... deal done?  You mean there's extra fee's on top of the advertised price? 

[runt]

Yup the extra  charges are  but seem to be the owners rice bowl. You'll get a heating one, a charge for bed linen unless you bring your own, and a cleaning charge unless you do a good job yourself at the end of the stay.

Or hop in an F1 or mister beds motel, might be cheaper for just 3 of you?

[Scouse D]

it's the French/european way I'm afraid. You'll have to pay for linen too and cleaning. Just factor maybe an extra 15% in and then consider that as 'the price', no point in getting upset about it really.
Generally you rock up and give them a deposit (have plenty of euros ready), try to be friendly as generally the gite owners are decent (although some are grumpy and may try to get extra money from you). At the end of the week linen, heating and cleaning are taken from the deposit. We cleaned the gites ourselves a couple of times but it rarely impresses enough for them to waive the fee (basically they employ a cleaner so would rather you let them clean it and not have to send the cleaner home). Recently we've resigned ourselves to such fees and found the whole thing less stressful, rather than trying to get a gite spotless the night before (we generally give it a tidy just so they don't think we're nobs)

[Paul B]

Yeah, for us it cost a lot more than 15% but I guess we got a very good last minute deal. What really ticked me off was that the owner told me to ring her when I got close, which I did and she said "oh i'll show you where it is, the key is under the doormat but i'll show you....", I told her there was no need as I'd been in the same village before etc but she insisted. When they took the money for the extra's from the deposit they charged us for their fuel to show us the way! Cheeky bint. We didn't have time to argue as they were very late returning any of the deposit and we needed to leave. 

[bouldermonkey]

Thanks for the info guys, very much appreciated.

I'm having a nightmare planning this... one of the guys is in the RAF and has just told me that sepember is now all booked up for him with courses etc... other guy is complaining about the cost... seems to think a flying from Leeds to Paris return for £60 is expensive!! 

So.... Looks like my dreams of Font will remain just that... Dreams.
  

Anyway, the RAF guy is talking about going to Spain november time for a week in the sun (boring if you ask me), so i'm wondering, is there any decent bouldering to be done at any of the coastal resorts in Spain? 

[neil h]

Hey all..

I'm having real difficulty finding quality info on gites and accommodate in the font area... plenty of info out there if you speak French, not so much if you dont, and even less if you dont speak French, OR know much about Font/France to start off with.

Is anyone able to recommend a suitable gite/accommodation for 3 male mates, looking for a relatively cheap week in Font during September... ideally near a bar or two, but not essential...

Any recommendations/pointers in the right direction greatly appreciated, as the search is getting more than a little tedious now.   

Thanks.

we have just purchased a nice big house near buthiers, it has 4 appartments with it, you are more than welcome to rent one from us, they are a little bit basic at the moment, how moch you willing to spend?


its not far from the rocks and 2k to the nearest bars and shops


drop me a pm if interested

[Sloper]

Congratulations on making the move, hope its working out.

CAn you PM me with details etc

regards

[dave]

living the dream eh? good effort word.

[neil h]

yep living the dream. when it finally hapens, we should have moved 2 weeks ago, but now its going to take another 2 weeks, but hey as long as we get there. Will pm everyone once we have actually signed on the dotted line. should be good though, I might actually start to climb a bit better again