And another review request, please.

[la vache!]

Lou,
I agree with Fraise - I run the place on my own nearly 100% and if I have to refer to the owner(s) I use we/us on the site. I think in the same way as it may discourage weirdos, it may also put off some people if they think the property is run by a woman on her own!
However, when I deal with enquiries/bookings etc. I use the first person singular.

[Fraise]

Lou,
I agree with Fraise - I run the place on my own nearly 100% and if I have to refer to the owner(s) I use we/us on the site. I think in the same way as it may discourage weirdos, it may also put off some people if they think the property is run by a woman on her own!
However, when I deal with enquiries/bookings etc. I use the first person singular.

Yes, I think it's important then to be more personal. I used to use "dear Mr../Mrs etc when replying to the initial enquiry too but soon abandoned that in favour of "dear Jim " etc, unless they'd actually signed themselves Mr/Mrs.

[Jimbo]

does it really make a difference to bookings by mentioning a sunny micro climate

When we were looking to buy in France, we must have viewed a dozen or more gite complexes from Brittany to the Dordogne. Without exception - this is true - every owner, no matter where they were located, claimed they had a 'micro-climate' which 'improved their local weather considerably'. In the end, an owner only had to mention micro-climate and we'd fall on the ground and roll around.

Jim

[la vache!]

Jimbo, I agree, it is an overused term. When I was a student, I had a summer job for 5 months in the famous 'microclimate' of the Vendée working on a campsite. It rained for about 4 of the 5 months, but at least I was being paid for being there, unlike the poor guests on the site!

[Alan Knighting]

Jim,

How right you are. As Michael Caine would say "Not many people know this but excessive flatulence can make a great difference to a micro-climate". Were your prospective sellers all old f**ts?

Fluffy

[marcus]

I'm going to start talking about our 'macro-climate' instead, see if that impresses anyone.

[mpprh]

Lunel, about 10km from me, claims a microclimate of 330 sunny days per year. The other areas claim 300+ sunny days.

Depends how you define a sunny day, I suppose.

We normally only get rain 2 or 3 times during in the summer. When it comes it is by way of torrential overnight electrical storms, followed by another sunny day.

We had zero rain from October 05 to April 06. The clouds came, other villages had a sprinkle, but they always missed us.

Maybe I have my own microclimate, too ?

Peter

[la vache!]

Peter, I think you are right, it is possible to have a so-called micro climate in your back garden, it is that specific, so impossible to generalise by region as is so often done.

[Giddy Goat]

Hours of sunshine are only part of the equation when it comes to assessing climate, surely? It's lovely to have sunshine on a summer's day on hols, but if it's still not warm enough to jump into the pool...

Here's some more stats from Peter's link for France weather:

I am not too sure when these stats were collected, but they represent the number of days per year that the mean temperature exceeded 25 C. A bit vague to be taken too seriously, but serve to illustrate something anyway!

Abbeville 15
Agen 65
Ajaccio 88
Alençon 26
Ambérieu en Bugey 55
Angers 38
Auxerre 43
Bastia 94
Beauvais 23
Belfort 31
Belle Ile en Mer 8
Besançon 39
Biarritz 33
Bordeaux 53
Boulogne sur Mer 7
Bourges 44
Bourg-St-Maurice 43
Brest 6
Caen 12
Calvi 104
Cambrai 19
Cannes 67
Cap Béar 56
Cap Camarat 70
Cap Cavallo 45
Cap Corse 79
Cap de la Hague 1
Cap de la Hève 9
Cap Ferret 42
Cap Pertusato 49
Carcassonne 71
Cazaux 49
Challes les Eaux 61
Chartres 28
Château-Chinon 17
Châteaudun 33
Chateauroux 33
Chatillon sur Seine 38
Cherbourg 2
Clermont-Ferrand 51
Cognac 52
Colmar 52
Crozon 8
Dax 71
Deauville 11
Dieppe 5
Dijon 47
Dinard 9
Dunkerque 5
Embrun 53
Epinal 35
Gourdon 55
Granville 9
Ile de Batz 1
Ile de Bréhat 2
Ile de Groix 8
Ile de Poquerolles 70
Ile d'Oléron 14
Ile d'Ouessant 0
Ile d'Yeu 13
La Rochelle 28
Langres 19
Le Bourget 33
Le Luc 115
Le Mans 36
Le Puy 38
Lille 19
Limoges 41
Lorient 15
Loxéville 27
Lus la Croix Haute 22
Luxeuil les Bains 42
Lyon 57
Mâcon 51
Marignane 95
Melun 36
Metz 35
Millau 35
Mont de Marsan 70
Mont St-Vincent 21
Montélimar 83
Montpellier 85
Mulhouse 43
Nancy 34
Nantes 34
Nevers 41
Nice 63
Nîmes 99
Orange 92
Orléans 35
Orly 31
Paris 34
Pau 53
Perpignan 96
Phalsbourg 20
Pointe de Penmarch 5
Pointe du Grouin 5
Pointe du Raz 1
Poitiers 41
Reims 33
Rennes 26
Romilly sur Seine 40
Romorantin 44

[Overboard]

I really like the colour and layout of your website. Nice and neat and easy to navigate, lovely property too! However, when I'm looking to rent I always scan the description and then look for the pictures! I couldn't find any.. so, my input would be to have a gallery created as soon as possible with some nice clear large images, or at least link the thumbnail pictures to the larger image?

[Ju]

Hours of sunshine are only part of the equation when it comes to assessing climate, surely? It's lovely to have sunshine on a summer's day on hols, but if it's still not warm enough to jump into the pool...

Here's some more stats from Peter's link for France weather:

I am not too sure when these stats were collected, but they represent the number of days per year that the mean temperature exceeded 25 C. A bit vague to be taken too seriously, but serve to illustrate something anyway!

To be fair I have never seen anyone claiming the area to be one of the warmest, just one of the sunniest.

I do think the micro climate exists. We certainly get better weather than brittany for example. We have often gone further inland camping to find the weather worse than here, and we have guests who have gone further south after staying here and been disappointed by the weather.

However, I do think that by using the climate as a selling point we are to an extent setting ourselves up for a fall. We get people coming at the end of September and expecting to have a beach/pool type holiday. They pack bikinis and sun tan lotion and not a jumper. Yes the climate is nice, but it isn't the cote d'azur, we don't get the same temperatures. You can sunbathe at the end of September - sometimes. But there are loads of other things to do in the area.

We really should have this discussion elsewhere so as not to distract from Lou's website.

Ju

[Giddy Goat]

We really should have this discussion elsewhere so as not to distract from Lou's website. Ju

True, Ju - got a bit carried away, as the micro climate claim has rankled for some time. Lou already knows that I've looked at her site and love it, and am waiting for the right moment to post something more in depth.

[Jimbo]

We really should have this discussion elsewhere so as not to distract from Lou's website.

Hi Lou

I've held off from this review because your site is a work in progress and the pictorial content has a way to go. If the pix that are included are representative of what's to come, I'd say you'll need to work a little bit harder on them.

The site is very smart and attractive and I love the orange - gives guests a warm feeling already before they've arrived. As others have said, I keep wanting to click on the orange links and feel a bit disappointed when I don't go anywhere. I wasn't too sure about your 'degrees of urgency' tab in the contacts sections - if potential guests are making enquiries which might turn into bookings, usually the early bird will make off with the worm.

Rocky, your 'soft old dog' sounds delightful. I'd be tempted to give him, the cats and chickens their own section to 'warm' the site a bit - particularly as you accept guests' pets which could be a good selling point for you (not many owners do).

Good luck, look forward to seeing the completed site in due course.

Jim

[Loopy Lou]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the positives. Please can we leave the subject of micro climates now and get back to my questions!!!

A bit of a disaster regarding gite clients and their dogs. One got loose and killed one of my chickens - not outright unfortunately. They were distraught and helped me rush the poor thing to the vet, but she was too wounded and shocked to survive more than two nights, so the husband dug the grave and we had a burial ceremony. I suppose that even with the warnings I give regarding free range chickens and the cats and that dogs must be kept under control at all times (also that the property is not fenced and the RN10 is not at all far away) accidents will happen so I didn't throw a wobbly. In the end, I am here to make a business and a nice holiday for my clients and although I am attached to my chickens I can always get a replacement if necessary. If it had been one of the cats or Rocky, it would have been a different story.

The remaining two chickens are now confined to barracks for the rest of these clients' and their dogs' stay here. Oh well.

I will review welcoming pets, but it does seem to make a bit of a difference to bookings. Huge sigh.

I'm seeing my webmaster tomorrow to try to finalise the site sufficiently to get it on line properly with future tweaks probably necessary. I think I'll keep the orange colours for the time being - if many people think they mean links, I might have to think again.

Ju, I have tweaked the prices down a bit for Easter and up a bit for peak. They should be added to the website tomorrow or should I say later today!

A bientot, mes amis

Lou

[Giddy Goat]

Sad to hear about the trauma over that poor little chick, Lou. Awful situation and an unwelcome step in the learning curve.

Re the orange writing - I also thought they were links at first, but just concluded 'OK, good colour co-ordination!' I'm a fan of the colours, as I said.

Getting ready to go away, so perhaps I'll keep the rest of my feedback until my return, and after your webmaster has revisited. Meanwhile, continuing bon courage!