Get-togethers and season endings...

In a tough year for tourism here in France we have just about managed to keep our head above water with renting out our holiday homes...it seems to get more difficult every year. The market place is saturated with offers of holiday accommodation as people try and supplement their depleting income.With so many ('Holiday Lettings' has nearly 500 alone) holiday homes available in the Loire Valley it is getting increasingly difficult to stand out and also be 'found' and it's a constant battle of David and Goliath proportions to compete with the 'TripAdvisor' and the likes. Google have advised me that my sites are not 'mobile friendly',which I already knew and I am loosing a lot of traffic because of this. To 'fix' this I have to redo hundred of pages...so that's the winter evenings taken care of !

Anyway...we have chosen our careers as holiday hosts and cleaners and the ups far out-way the downs. This year has been made more difficult by our making the 'Old Walnut Mill' available to increase our chances but as our 'project' is not moving on as it should we have been nomads again (we did say we'd never do it again) staying in whichever property wasn't rented or in friends homes (how kind you all are) when we needed too.

This year we have enjoyed so many great get-togethers and outings that you could kid yourself you are permanently on holiday (if not for the changeovers and Pauline's bed linen ironing) in an idyllic part of the world.

As the season draws to a close and friends return to their 'other' homes (in the UK) we can only be thankful to have chosen a part of France that has been adopted by a lovely bunch of people as the location for their 'maison secondaire'.as well as a very friendly bunch of locals.