Brittany Ferries basically have the monopoly on the sea crossings between the South of England and Brittany. There are other companies available, but they dock further along the coast, which is not so convenient. I know there are many people who 'knock' Brittany Ferries, but to be honest, we have no complaints on their service, and especially their timekeeping.
We joined the Property Owners Club, which has become Club Voyage I think now, and receive discounts on each journey. For us, it is well worth the money we pay annually.
We soon developed our own routines aboard each ship. We always have a cabin, whether its a day or night crossing, as it gives us a base, somewhere to put our bags, somewhere to shower, and a bit of privacy. We made a BIG mistake once, when there were no cabins available in the High Season, of booking Recliner Seats - NEVER AGAIN..........neither of us slept at all, and we ended up, arriving here and then having to go to bed for a couple of hours. Now, if there are no cabins available, we change the date !!
We have had issues, but have found that the Customer Service has been very good, and we have had all our problems rectified immediately. Maybe we have been lucky, but I have no complaints in general.
As our neighbours got used to our frequent comings and goings, they started to chat, invite us for 'aperitifs', and even meals, which was a godsend, when we only had a microwave, grilling machine, and a kettle. Oh, I almost forgot, we had a single gas burner too ! It made us feel more comfortable leaving the house too, as we felt that they would keep an eye on it. They had our contact details, so could relay any issues to us, if necessary.
We always knew that we wanted to make pretty drastic changes to the house, and put in a half-hearted attempt for Planning Permission. I say half-hearted, as now I know the proper procedure, I know that our first attempt was quite poor ! It was quite difficult to complete the forms - the French love their bureaucracy, and biggest issue was - that we weren't here all the time, to answer the questions etc.
I can remember one job that we completed quite early on during our short visits - the kitchen ceiling ! The floor boards for upstairs formed the ceiling for downstairs - so every time someone walked upstairs, dust would fall down into the kitchen. It didn't take us long to realise that we need to prioritise this work. It took a couple of days, but we managed to plaster board in between the beams to make a huge difference to the room. It even meant that we could have some lighting (instead of the one bulb hanging down, which wasn't even in the middle of the room !). In this picture, you can see the upstairs floor boards forming the kitchen ceiling, and a hole where the floor boards were rotten anyway .............
Before we left the house each time, we always had the inevitable tidying up sessions. Locking everything away as much as possible, cleaning, reloading the van with the dirty washing, and switching off the water and electricity. Due to the amount of building materials we had here, we had to leave some outside (well, under the hangar), so we tried to keep them as tidy and contained as was practical. It wasn't easy, but we did the best we could.
As our ferry left from St Malo, our journey always started at some unearthly hour of the morning, which inevitably meant switching the water and electricity off in the dark - and often in the rain too !
It was always a little sad to leave each time, but knowing that we had made a little difference was a help, and of course, the thought of a hot shower and a flushing toilet was an even bigger positive !
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