Life in Limousin: Tips for the B&B to be (Part 1)

Hi Welcome to Life in Limousin, France

Fed up with work? Need a change of direction? New career? Ever thought about earning a living by setting up and running a Bed and Breakfast, holiday cottage, gite or tourist accommodation in France? We started Les Trois Chenes farmhouse Chambres d'hotes and gite last year, to live the good life in the depths of the French countryside. We did not expect to earn a fortune, but aim to make a modest income. We love it here and would do it all again - but better! Here are a few things I'd like to change and a few tips I would like to pass on to you to help you make money in France.

While vacuuming the bedrooms and struggling to make beds this morning, it occurred to me that I could have avoided many of the pitfalls I have set up for myself, if I had only taken the time to do a little research beforehand. So here are a few things to avoid, and a few tips I have picked up along the way.

I am not one of life's natural housekeepers and one of the few jokes I can remember was by Phyllis Diller "They say housework won't kill you, but why take the risk". Or words to that effect. If this is you, you need to work especially hard. You need to be meticulous and make a real effort to provide a 'lovely home' and a great welcome for your guests.

We are based in France, and the rules and regulations may well be different in different countries. Also remember, the rules change! When we started out with our project six years ago a Chambre d'hôtes could have six bedroom. By the time we finished all the building work and actually set up the B&B as a business, the number of rooms allowed was five. So much for intricate and exacting businesss planning!

Check out the rules where you are - but be prepared for changes.

We came to France because property was cheap, schooling and health provision excellent, the weather, food and wine is very much to our liking and my mother speaks French. We chose our house because we thought it was lovely, had great potential for a b&b, gite, studios and even café or gallery. It was in lovely countryside, quiet and, above all, only five minutes from the lake of Videix with a host of facilities to make a perfect family holiday. What we didn't take into consideration was:

• Videix is so small it doesn't appear on the map
• Videix has its own commune so it isn't included within a larger region as far as address goes
• Videix begins with a 'V'

In practice what this means is that when someone from Belgium or England sits down with a map, calculates that this area would make a good stopping point, chooses a town or two in the area to google - we don't even appear in the lists.

Secondly, if you Google Rochechouart, the main town, only 10 minutes away, we are still not there, because we are the village of Videix in the commune of Videix

Thirdly, if we advertise in printed books, they list in alphabetical order, so we always appear last in the list for Limousin, or Haute-Vienne. The accommodation here is very high quality so why choose the last when you could choose the first?

Finally, although this is a great place to visit, nobody has heard of it. We really are the 'Hidden heart of France!' People in Paris don't know where Limousin is - can you believe it? Better to choose Provence or Bordeaux, somewhere really famous, or at least well-known. But then the property prices would be higher, wouldn't they. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

How about setting up in Aubusson in the Creuse, beautiful town, starts with 'A', famous for tapestries, fabulous landscape?? It's too cold in the winter, that's why!

1. Buy good bedding - ironing sheets is a killer. Good quality polyester/cotton mixes wash easily, dry quickly and always look super.
   
2. Buy good matresses. Your guests are buying BED and BREAKFAST. They need a good nights' sleep.
3. Make sure all your beds, matresses, duvets bed linnen and pillows are standard and all the same. It is maddening to try to match duvet covers to different sized quilts. Winter project - cut my king-sized duvets and covers down to match the others.
   
4. Provide a wide choice for breakfast - everyone has different ideas about what they want to eat first thing in the morning. (More of that to come)
   
5. Vacuum up before cleaning the bathrooms and suck up all those hairs!! Yuck - but is real life and the bathrooms need to be spotless.
6. Finally, for today, make sure you do do your housework and do not spend all your time on computer! There are always the odd suprise guests.
7. By well but buy cheap. A good way of doing this is to buy reputable second hand goods. Have a look on ebay or Le Bon Coin for bargains that could be deliverd to your door.
   

All the guests that have used this room have made a bee-line for the bed on the left; this included by niece. I wondered why and the possiblities I came up with were:

1. It's in front of the door
2. It's separate from the others
   
3. It's higher than the others
4. It has an old-fashioned wooden frame and high bed head.

But when I asked my niece she said it was because of the patchwork quilt, the one thing I hadn't taken into account.

By chance, I had decided to make patchwork quilts myself for all the rooms. Of course I have not done any market research at all. My interior design choice was based on one casually heard radio programme which said that people like pink and green rooms. I thought this good advice. It went with my overall concept of the place as a rustic French farmhouse so, with this vaguest of ideas, I set about implementing it.

Started accordingly with curtains and then decided to make quilts to match, even ordered more curtains than I needed so I could chop them up for the patchwork; (this is another story). The curtains were a rather pale, blueish green, and I matched the painted bedroom furniture to them. Then totally messed up with The Great Bedding Disaster. Ordered cheap poly/cotton sheets that were A. Not cotton and B. Needed ironing as if they were cotton and C. the wrong colour; thus getting the worst of all worlds.

The sheets now don't go with the Vert de Provence curtains and the Vert de Provence furniture. But, take heart, remember, you can't please all the people all of the time and what one person hates, another adores.These sheets for example:

• Ordered lime green sheets by mistake. Didn't like them. 
• BUT best friend loves this colour and thinks it is bright. She also has clothes and napkins in this vivid green.
• Asked guest for feedback. She told me that people prefer white. So do I, so I believed her and panicked.
• Oh no, said another friend - too clinical. You don't want to stay in a place that reminds you of hospital.
• Well, I ventured, all my own sheets are dark red - don't show the dirt et al.
• She didn't like this either. According to her, red is bad karma.
• So USE YOUR HEAD. You are not choosing for yourself. Have an overall concept for your chambre d'hôtes and within this, go for neutral. Be practical, a pattern hides spots etc Don't choose something that some people will object to: too bright, strong, dark, light too feminine or too masculin.

Keep checking to see what people think. One tip I was given by a fellow guest house proprietor is always to provide a new loo roll. 'Like no-one else has ever used the room before the guest'. I asked around a cross-section of friends and found that they, like me, find this a bit excessive. So I plump for the middle route and remove rolls as they come to an end. We use these ourselves. What do you think? Remember, the devil is in the detail.

Our new trampoline! Great for the kids and keeps them amused so that you can get a bit of peace and quiet. Having said that, our Mums and Dads can't resist a bounce. Excellent way to keep fit.

• The Torbay Lodge Guest House in South West Scotland Private Parking -  High Level Of Repeat Business – Established For 50 Years. Built in the 1860’s, the Torbay Lodge Guest House provides 4 star (Visit Scotland rating) bed and breakfast Dumfries with excellent facilities.To the front of the Torbay Lodge Bed and Breakfast is a large car park where you can leave your car for the duration of your stay in Dumfries.

  We are just two minutes from Dumfries Train Station and less than five minutes walk from DG1 Leisure Centre and the high street.