midway stopovers in the loire region?

[chris mooney]

as i'm about to open my recently renovated farmhouse in the indre region of the loire....as you can imagine we are really excited...i was thinking whether anyone would be interested in working out a 2 centre type of holiday particularly with someone who has a property in the south of france or further afield in spain?? as my place is about 5-6 hours drive from calais would it interest any owners in the south to advise their guests of a useful midway stopover in the centre region?? i personally find that 5-6 hours drive is about enough and as i am on holiday i don't want to get the other end exhausted!!if anyone has any thoughts or comments i would be interested to hear them,whether on the laymyhat forum or to our website...www.laconfiance.net
ps..laymyhat an excellent site...loads of useful info and tips andadvice from the 'seasoned owners'!!

[Alan Knighting]

Chris,

Most of our guests drive straight through, from and to, the channel ports but some take a stop over on their way. The stop over is always in the Loire and, if you are offering daily terms for B&B or chambre d'hote, I will put you on my suggestions list.

Because I like my food the chef bit intrigues me. Joan and I owe ourselves a trip to Normandy early in the New Year to visit a friend (the "friend" knows who I am talking about). Your place looks like an ideal watering hole en-route. Do you tolerate smokers or must I "take to the hills" while I indulge my disgusting habit?

Alan

[chris mooney]

alan...thanks for the reply to my midway stopover suggestion.we are thinking of doing minimum 3 nights as a stopover...we obviously wouldn't want to lose a weeks booking because of a 1 day booking if you see what i mean.we were thinking of also trying to set up a little ring around network near to us as we know of 3 b and b's within a 10km radius of us and i'm sure we can help each other out in the busy times...they all drank loads of wine at my wedding reception so they owe me !!! unfortunately we wont be opening up till end april so can't accomodate you on your trip to normandy...the artisans are beavering away as we speak so we are going to give ourselves 6 weeks to furnish and decorate before we open up our 'fawlty towers'....me and 'sybil' can't wait to get going...when you have a thousand plans you can't wait to put them into action...i don't know if you felt the same.i'd be interested to hear your experiences down your area..we've had numerous holidays at our place but as its been run as a gite for 2 years we've only really had snapshots of life over there.luckily we've got brilliant neighbours and good friends in the village..all the artisans are a good team and they have been sympathetic to the renovations.obviously you and your good lady are more than welcome to call in next year...you might catch me in the courtyard flambe-ing my foie gras so work up an appetite before you get there!!!have a look at our website...www.laconfiance.net at the food section and you'll see me in action!!!!

[Alan Knighting]

Chris,

I know exactly what you mean about losing business by taking one-night bookings. We run self-catering and during anything you could call "in season" only take Saturday to Saturday bookings. Out of season we are more flexible but still don't take bookings for a day or two, it simply isn't worth the effort.

Most of our guests are looking for an overnight stay on their journey up and down France. However, some like a twin location holiday so I will keep you in mind.

Your "typical" menu is just right for Joan and myself. Joan would die for tiger prawns in garlic butter.

Good luck with the renovations and future business.

Alan

[enid]

We would perhaps be interested in a double centre offer - take a look at our site and let me know if it would fit with yours.