Lay My Hat

I have a good friend, Frances Taylor, who is Bristol-based photographer, specialising in weddings and interiors. She may be worth a look. She is in partnership with another photographer and their website is: http://www.evokepictures.com I am sure she would be happy to travel to Devon but don't know ...

Just realised that I'm one of the barbeque'ers
This is the definitely wrong way to spell it and I'm usually quite strict about spelling!
I think it comes from the BBQ abbreviation - some of us have obviously become a little confused!

We bought a cheapie freestanding B&Q charcoal barbeque last year and hardly anyone cleaned it, it got rusty and was a right old PITA :( We are planning to build a brick one next year as that seems the easiest to clean and maintain but in the meantime have bought one of these http://www.amazon.co...

I love the red touches too, both on the site and throughout the house. What an intriguing space. Also like the way the front windows echo the old fire station doors. First impressions are of a very respectful and sympathetic conversion. I have only had a brief look through the site, but here is some...

I'd recommend checking Ebay too. I have bought two sofas, and loads of other furniture for my own home from Ebay and have got some real bargains. You can get a good feel for a trustworthy seller from the quality of the pics, the advert wording and, most importantly, previous feedback from other buye...

Hi Vic Vic, Great you have joined Lay My Hat :) I'm sure you'll find it really useful and friendly here. I have been absent from this forum for a while but thought I'd chime in with my opinion/experience. It's hard to say if £200 is expensive without knowing more about the property and what is inclu...

Well chosen - those throws look gorgeous together!

As a guest, I certainly would not expect thick over-throws like this to be washed between stays. If the linen is spotless (as I'm sure yours is) then I would have no problem with this at all.

Thanks everyone and sorry for late reply. Am at the cottage and no Internet set up yet! We have gone with Cottagesure. Tried NFU, very friendly but could only offer insurance if we lived onsite. Bowshers will only insure properties that are currently, or imminently going to be let and our own insura...

Yay!! After 9 long months of waiting, we finally completed on our cottage this afternoon. Hooray, Hurrah etc!! Going to get keys tomorrow so all very exciting :D Now need to sort insurance as a matter of urgency and would really appreciate your advice. 1) We're not going to be letting until June/Jul...

:lol: :lol: Brilliant - Thanks everyone. Really have laughed out loud to these and you've started my day off with a big smile. I once sat next to a lovely old woman on a bus in Costa Rica and felt very pleased to be holding a conversation in my broken Spanish. Suddenly she looked a bit sad and surpr...

Do you need a promotion/advertising budget as well as a booking agent? Do you plan a two pronged approach of having an agent but having a contract that will allow you to do some of your own letting? That is quite a significant cost if so. We are thinking of starting by using a booking agent, advert...

Great stuff! Thanks alot. (Special points to Nemo for spotting the minor omission!) Laundry - we are offsite so are going to have to use a laundry service. We were erring on the side of hiring linen but it sounds as though this could be a bit of a nightmare from your experience Greenbarn. Thinking a...

Just re read my post. Can anyone spot the major 'start up' expense missed out on the list?

Thanks for your responses. The links, and Google search advice are really helpful. It is quite reassuring to read that people generally go on gut instinct and seat of the pants as this has been our approach so far :lol: We aren't attempting to do a full costing/business plan, just do a bit more than...

Hi All, We're doing some number crunching in preparation for (hopefully) starting to let early next year. We are trying to work out ballpark figures for running costs and have searched for threads on that topic on here without much luck. I am sure they are out there so if anyone can point us in the ...