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AdvertiserThe

NORMANDY FREEGRATUIT

March 2011 - Issue 15

www.normandyadvertiser.com

Outcry grows oversea windfarm planHundreds of giant wind turbines will ‘blight Allies’ landing site’

A HUNDRED giant wind turbines set tobe built at sea off Arromanches-les-Bainswill blight the area where the Allies cameashore in 1944, opponents say.

The vice-president of the SustainableEnvironment Federation, Hervé Texier,said the scheme, part of government plansfor 600 turbines along the Breton andNorman coasts by 2015, is “unthinkable”.

Mr Texier, from Calvados, said the proj-ect was referred to by the government asbeing at Courseulles-sur-Mer. “It knowsCourseulles is not well-known, comparedto Arromanches, which is very well-knownbecause of the Winston Churchill Port.”

Port Winston, of which vestiges remain,was a temporary harbour built in Britainthen towed to Normandy and used to dis-embark 2.5 million men.

Mr Texier said: “An enormous number ofAllied soldiers disembarked there and it isnot acceptable they should put thesemachines in the sea now. They will be10km offshore but that’s nothing. You willsee them as if they were up close.”

Mr Texier added that installing the tur-

bines was expensive for the amount ofelectricity produced; moreover they wouldbe made abroad and installed by foreignengineers, so creating no French jobs.

“Big firms are pushing the government toput these turbines up but it’s not aboutecology. They only work when there iswind, about a quarter of the time, and theyare putting in place new fossil-fuel powerstations to take up the slack.”

Offshore turbines are also planned atDieppe/Le Tréport and Fécamp in Haute-Normandie, at Saint-Brieuc, Brittany andat Saint-Nazaire near the border ofBrittany and Loire-Atlantique. The govern-ment plans to pay €10 billion and says the

turbines will produce 3000MW, equivalentof two nuclear power stations.

Opposition is rising in Dieppe and LeTréport, where the government claims 142turbines, 14km offshore, would provide900,000 people with electricity. One resi-dent, retired electrical power engineer PatWard-Lee, said: “The Le Tréport site wouldsupply less than one kilowatt per person. Ifeveryone switched on their supply at thesame time in the early evening, this wouldgenerate only enough for lighting andmaybe a little cooking. The promise ofelectricity for 900,000 is spin.”

The director of the fishermen’s coopera-tive in Le Tréport, Olivier Bécquet, said:“The politicians want to ruin our liveli-hood. They forget our 50 boats representfamilies. The turbines will be where wecast our nets and lines and would hamperour work and disturb the fish.”

He believes the government may havechosen Le Tréport to avoid upsettingwealthier coastal resorts or inland areas:“They want to impose this here, where theless well off have to feed their familiesfrom the money they earn from the sea.”

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by OLIVER ROWLAND

Special report: pages 6-7

BAKERS from Coutances have won a national Mercured’Or, a prize that honours the best artisans and shop-keepers in France.

Nadège and François Grandserre, right, went to Paris tocollect their trophy from Small Business MinisterFrédéric Lefebvre.

They were the only candidates from Basse-Normandieto receive a prize, and one of only 23 winners nationally.

Mrs Grandserre said: “We had to put together a dossier

arguing why we deserved it; explaining our dynamism,capacity to innovate, management skills, savoir-faire andperformance.”

“My husband has been working towards this for years,”Mrs Grandserre said. “We make 18 kinds of bread,although our specialities are the pavé coutancé, which is atraditional loaf, made in the old-fashioned French way andthe pain du marin, made with Guérande salt, three differentflours, and cereals. It’s super with Manche oysters.”

Normandy bakers win national award

The wind turbines willdominate theview from thebeaches, saycampaigners

“They want to impose itwhere the less well offhave to feed their familiesOlivier BécquetFishermen’s cooperative director

A THREE-YEAR study has been launched intobottlenose dolphins off the coast of Normandy.

There are thought to be hundreds of the ani-mals, from Cap Fréhel in Brittany to theManche and up to the Channel Islands, but little is known about them.

The Cotentin Cetaceans Study Group fromCherbourg will be taking photographs with aview to recognisingeach dolphin bymarks on its dorsalfin.

“The idea is tofind out the size ofthe population andknow how it isevolving,” said itsdirector, FrançoisGully.

The groupbelieves there areat least 650 dol-phins at any onetime, about half ofwhich stay perma-nently in the area,making it one ofthe largest popula-tions in France.Bottlenoses arealso found in the

Iroise Sea (off the west coast of Brittany) andalso in the Mediterranean.

Skin samples will also be taken to improveunderstanding of the animals’ diet and levelsof contaminants in their bodies. They will be analysed by scientists at the bio-logical studies centre in Chizé (Deux-Sèvres)and at the University of La Rochelle. “At pres-

ent we have no ideaabout the dolphins’state of health,” MrGully said. “Theultimate goal is thepreservation of thespecies at a timewhen offshore activ-ities are increasing:wind and marinecurrent turbinesand extraction ofaggregate.”

The scheme isbeing partly fundedby insurers MAAF,thanks to the SaveYour Logo founda-tion, which encour-ages firms to donateto projects involvingcreatures they use intheir brands.

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2 News The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

ANGLERS are getting ready for the opening ofthe trout season on March 12. The season lastsuntil the third Sunday of September. A “secondcategory” season, for carnivorous fish such aspike (pêche au brochet), lasts longer, from May1 to the last Sunday in January; other “white”fish can be fished all year round.

Fishing in publicly owned waters is overseenby regional federations which group local asso-ciations; to fish you need to buy a permit (cartede pêche) from your association. They areavailable by the day, for a holiday or year-round and usually include the right to fish inneighbouring partner departments. Sea fishing,however, does not require a card.

Régis Lemasquerier, of the Calvados federa-

tion, said the first category relates to the wholesalmon family, which includes salmon, charand grayling as well. “Opening the season onMarch 12 protects their life cycle; these fish areborn around the end of December. About 80per cent of our waters in Calvados come underthe trout-fishing category.”

“In our department, about 5,000 sea troutcome into our waters; it is a prized fish amongthe great migratory species.

Fishing cards can be bought from as fishingtackle shops and tourist offices, and, in thecase of some associations, online. For the siteof your local federation, which will give detailson how to get one in your area, visithttp://tinyurl.com/fishingfederations

Stolen Degas will bereturned to Le Havre

Cattle breeders call on prefect for help

Dolphin survey under way

Anglers get ready for trout seasonBottlenose dolphins’ health examined

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A DEGAS painting stolen from Le Havre38 years ago is coming home after it wasspotted at an auction in America.

Blanchisseuses Souffrant des Dents(“Washerwomen suffering withtoothache”) was bequeathed to the state inthe 1950s before being placed in the Muséedes Beaux-Arts du Havre (now the MuséeMalraux) when it opened in 1961. It wasstolen in 1973 by an unknown thief, whodemanded a 400,000 franc ransom for itsreturn, before disappearing.

Last year an art connoisseur spotted itat a Sotheby’s sale in New York, listed asbelonging to a private collector, a surgeonwho had inherited it. It is not known howhis father came by it.

After negotiations, the owner agreed tohand over the painting, whose value isestimated at $400,000, free of charge.

The painting is being checked andrestored in Paris and will be brought backto Le Havre for the museum’s 50thanniversary celebrations.

Photo: Didier Plow

yMCC

Blanchisseuses Souffrant au Dents will be back on show in Le Havre

FARMERS’ unionists in the Orne arecalling for action because cattle breeders are in despair over business difficulties.

Three breeders from the ConfédérationPaysanne went to tell the Orne prefecthow bad things have become.

The breeders said that shortages of hayand straw for fodder were partly toblame: it had become necessary to travela long way to buy it at a high price.

To add to their problems, some of theirformer customers who used to buy calvesfor fattening were turning to more

profitable lines such as cereals instead.The trade unionists suggested the state

help by requisitioning hay and straw andmaking them available cheaply, as well ascompensating farmer for extra feed coststhat were incurred because of dry weath-er last year.

EMERGENCIESSamu (medical aid): 15Sapeurs-pompiers: 18Police/gendarmerie: 17Duty pharmacy: 3237

More contacts, page 17

HOSPITALSCaen: 02 31 51 51 51Cherbourg: 02 33 20 70 00Avranches: 02 33 89 40 00Flers: 02 33 62 62 00Le Havre: 02 32 73 32 32Rouen: 02 32 88 89 90

GUESTS at theOrne’s biggesthotel, the three-sstarHôtel Béryl, cannow have their feetnibbled by smallTurkish fish.

The hotel, inBagnoles-dde-ll’Orne,says it is the onlyestablishment inNormandy offering“fish pedicures”. In“Le Fish Spa” youplace your feet in afish tank where tinygara-rruffas removedead skin from thefeet in a 20-mminute treatment. According tothe hotel, the fish “tickle your feet” andexperience is “fun and very gentle”.

“It is going very well; we have a lot of

demand,” said manager Sylvain Mauduit.The pedicures take place in the hotel’s spa,which was a key element in a five-yyear renovation costing €5.5 million.

News 3The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011 www.normandyadvertiser.com

THE regional president of Basse-Normandie is lobbying for it to begiven a special new status that couldattract up to three times as much EUfunding as today.

Laurent Beauvais has seized on anidea raised by the EU's regional poli-tics commissioner, Johannes Hahn, tocreate a new intermediate category of“transitional” regions, between thepoorest ones, that get the most aid,and the richest, that get the least.

Mr Beauvais has called the idea “veryinteresting”, adding: “We must notleave Mr Hahn alone on this, becausethere is a lot at stake for us.”

It could mean Basse-Normandiegetting two to three times as muchmoney from 2014, Mr Beauvaisbelieves.

He has discussed the idea with MrHahn and also joined representativesof other French regions that couldbenefit, such as Picardy orLanguedoc-Roussillon, in meetingMEPs and the Committee of theRegions, an assembly that givesEurope’s regions a direct voice withinthe EU institutions. He expects to

continue lobbying in the months tocome.

Mr Hahn has said that his idea ofextra help for “transitional” regionswas thought up with France particu-larly in mind. At present, those areasthat are helped most are ones with aGDP of less than 75 per cent of theEuropean average. However Francehas many which have never droppedas low as that, but which none the lesshave never risen higher than 90 percent.

It is this sector that Mr Hahn thinksdeserves extra help. “This is the rai-son d’être of the new category that wewant to introduce so as to create fair-er treatment,” he said.

One fly in the ointment is that theFrench government does not seem tobe encouraging the idea. France,Britain, Germany and theNetherlands recently wrote toBrussels saying they thought the EUshould take austerity measures in thenext few years and freeze its budget.

According to Mr Beauvais, this wasa spur to the regions: “It made usrealise how urgent it was to act,” he said.

Basse-Normandie lobbiesfor more money from EU

Lottery winnersaves hiswork mates

Let fishnibbleyour feet

Lime trees to make way for cyclepath

Region’s president rushes to beatfreeze on spending proposed by Paris

Where the money is: the European Commission headquarters in Brussels

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A HUNDRED and thirty-three lime treescould be cut down as part of plans for acyclepath in Coutances.

Opposition councillors have raised concernsover the scheme, which came to light at arecent meeting of the municipal council, wherethe regional council’s agreement to part-fundthe cyclepath was discussed.

It involves constructing a “green way” along-side the embankment on Boulevards Gentil-de-la-Galaisière and Jeanne-Paynel linking theRue de la Croûte roundabout and the prison.However the space is currently planted withtrees.

Councillor Delphine Fournier said: “Cuttingthem down is an attack on the countryside andour history, since these trees grow along thesite of the ancient fortifications of Coutances.”

The mayor, Yves Lamy, said he plans toreplant one in two lost trees near to the new

path; the others would be replanted elsewhere.However he said his opponents’ concerns werepremature because he was awaiting a study bythe firm that would do the work, which wouldnot be complete until June.

“The only thing that’s sure so far is that BlvdJeanne-Paynel will be redeveloped, involvingabout 40 trees being removed and 25 newlimes being planted. We are a long way fromthe figures the opposition have cited,” he said.

One opposition councillor, Didier Feuillet,however said a “green way” with “tiny” treeswould look strange.

The council agreed that the mayor wouldsign off an agreement with the region on itsfinancing.

The mayor said that, in any case, Coutanceshad far more trees today than in the past:“There were 1,800 trees 20 years ago and 4,000today.”

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A LOTTERY winner has savedthe haulage firm he workedfor from bankruptcy: by buying it.

Caen firm VictoriaTransport was in debt, underadministration and expectedto be liquidated in a fewmonth’s time.

That was until one of itsdrivers, a man in his fiftieswho has been identified only as “Philippe”, won €10 million on the lottery.

The lucky winner has nowbought the firm, which he isgoing to name after himself,and has saved his col-leagues’ jobs.

His ex-boss is staying on ashis employee. He told FranceSoir: “That doesn't botherme, on the contrary. What hehas done is exceptional andeverything happened verynaturally.

“He came into my officeone day and said ‘I'm goingto try to save the firm’.Without him, I wouldn’t havecoped. He appeared like amessiah.”

Colleagues said the newboss still takes the wheelwhen they are short-staffed.

SAINTE-Thérèse ofLisieux is one of the best-loved Catholic saints,despite living relativelyrecently.

She died aged just 24and is known for her“Little Way”, that is, hersimple approach to faith,and yet, paradoxically,the basilica built in herhonour is one of thelargest and grandestchurches of the 20th cen-tury. Moreover, she wasmade a “doctor of thechurch” by Jean Paul II, atitle given to saints whoare deemed to have pro-vided theological teach-ings of exceptional value.They include StAugustine and ThomasAquinas, but only twoother women: Catherineof Sienna (died 1380) andTheresa of Avila(died1582).

Sainte-Thérèse bears the title Sainte-Thérèseof the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, but ismore commonly known as the “Little Flower”,after her book The Story of a Soul, which shedescribed as “the spring story of a littleflower”.

Thérèse Martin was born at Alençon in theOrne in 1873 to petit-bourgeois parents whoran a lace factory. Highly religious, theyattended mass at 5.30 before work every day.

Thérèse lost her mother aged four, and thefamily moved to Lisieux. All four of her eldersisters went on to become nuns and she joinedtwo of them in the Carmelite convent ofLisieux when she was 15.

After nine years there, Thérèse died of tuber-culosis. During her illness she went through along “dark night of the soul” period, havingdoubts about the afterlife, though not about

the existence of God. Asin the case of MotherTeresa, however thechurch deems such expe-riences no obstacle tosainthood, the importantthing being continuingbravely in faith despitedoubts and fears.

After her death, shebecame famous becauseof her book, in which sheoutlined her "Little Way",in which she recognisedher own smallness andinsignificance and need torely, with confidence, onGod.

Pius X opened thecanonisation process in1914; Benedict XV thendispensed with the usual50-year wait betweendeath and beatification,making a speech in whichhe recommended her sim-ple confidence in God; itis suggested that he may

have been trying to boost people’s faith afterthe First World War. She was beatified in 1923,then canonised in 1925. In comparison, forexample, Joan of Arc died in 1431, but wascanonised in 1920.

Beatification (giving the title “the blessed”)and canonisation involve recognition that thesoul is in Heaven, as opposed to Purgatory orHell, and therefore able to intercede for the liv-ing with God. One miracle following prayer tothe person is required for beatification, two forcanonisation.

Jean Paul II gave further recognition to Ste-Thérèse by declaring her parents venerable.They were then beatified under the currentpope, in 2008 during a ceremony by a papallegate in the basilica at Lisieux.

The basilica is France’s second biggest site ofCatholic pilgrimage after Lourdes.

4 News The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

Basilica toscreen TVcoverageof step tosainthood

John Paul II’s ‘soft spot’ for Normandy’s Sainte-Thérèse

THE Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse in Lisieux will beshowing the beatification of John Paul II on a bigscreen on Sunday May 1. It will be preceded by aSaturday night vigil and followed by a specialmass.

The basilica authorities want to give a specialemphasis to the occasion because of the close linksJean Paul II had with the Norman saint, who diedin 1897 at 24.

A basilica spokeswoman said: “The pope wasvery fond of Saint-Thérèse: she was the only sainthe elevated to doctor of the church. When hecame to France towards the start of his pontificate,in 1980, he particularly wanted to come toLisieux.”

Jean Paul II, who created more saints (480) thanall his predecessors combined since 1588, wasrecognised as “venerable” in 2009 (the first steptowards canonisation), just four years after hisdeath. This involved agreement by Catholicauthorities that he showed “heroic virtues”, andrequired dispensation from the usual five-yearwait for the start of sainthood process.

Sainte-Thérèse in 1895 as a 22-year-old Carmelite nun in Lisieux

Photo: _Tango7174

The Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse in Lisieux

News 5The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011 www.normandyadvertiser.com

PASSENGERS travelling to and fromPortsmouth will be passing througha new eco-friendly terminal fromEaster.

The facility, which replaces onedating from 1976, has been designedto be both a first-class ferry andcruise ship terminal and the mostenvironmentally friendly building ofits kind. It is part of a £16.5 millionrenovation of the port, which servesCaen, Cherbourg, Le Havre andSaint-Malo.

Port manager Martin Putnam saidthe old terminal had reached the endof its life: despite major roof repairsin 2005, it became clear that com-plete replacement would be neededby summer this year.

The new one is “state-of-the-art”,he said. “We are sure it will furtherenhance our reputation as a hassle-free gateway to the continent.”

The building covers about 2,700square metres and is the first in theUK to use a sea water heat pump,transferring thermal energy from thesea to heat and cool the building. Itis estimated the building will useonly 20 per cent of the energy usedby one with a traditional boiler andair-conditioning system.

Sea water will also be used to flushthe toilets, “dramatically” reducing

water consumption, according to theport authorities. “Windcatchers” havebeen installed on the roofs, cuttingthe need for mechanical ventilation.

The terminal offers a café withfreshly cooked meals, a shop, abureau de change and ticket offices.New drop-off areas and roads havealso been built to improve access.

The opening of the terminal comesas officials at Caen-Ouistreham planimportant improvements on theirside of the Channel.

An €18 million scheme is underdiscussion, which will extend theterminal from a 10 hectare plot to14, partly reclaimed from the sea.The current space is consideredinadequate to house all the cars andlorries that embark at peak times.

The expansion would allow for 280spaces for unaccompanied lorriesand trailers, and seven newembarkation queues to ease the flowof vehicles, as well as a third exitroad. A small building with toilets, acafeteria and showers is alsoplanned.

The scheme comes on top of otherimprovements being made at theport, such as a new centre for weigh-ing and registering fishermen’scatches, and a container shuttle service between Caen and Le Havre.

New Portsmouth ferry terminal ready by Easter

Anger at designer clothes plan

Ouistreham announces €18mplan to reclaim land from sea

Above: work inprogress onthe new termi-nal. Below:how it will look

BUSINESSPEOPLE in the Eure have beenprotesting against plans for a McArthurGlendesigner clothing outlet.

About 200 protesters held up placards saying“No to a designer outlet village” outside theoffices of the Communauté d’Agglomérationdes Portes des l’Eure, the local authority thatwants to permit the scheme.

McArthurGlen, which specialises in sellingdesigner clothes at bargain prices, says it wouldcreate about 1,000 jobs for the area.

However local opponents say the scheme, onwasteland along the A13 motorway, coulddestroy several thousand jobs in existing shopsin nearby towns and villages.

The outlet is meant to open at Douains, nearVernon, in 2014, with 200 boutiques spreadover 40,000 square metres.

McArthurGlen already has outlets in Troyes

(Champagne-Ardenne) and Roubaix (Nord-Pas-de-Calais).

One opponent, Didier Bazin, told televisionstation France 3: “It might not kill the towncentres, but it will certainly weaken them. AtTroyes, in the two years after McArthur Glenopened, 140 shops closed in the town centreand 300 closed in the department.”

However a spokesman for the firm said:“We’re not going to damage the town centre;we will develop a parallel shopping offer, thedesigner outlet village.

“We have 19 centres in Europe, and we seethat, in Italy or Britain, we enrich the areaswhere we set up, both by providing jobs andattracting tourists.”

The department’s commercial affairs com-mission was set to give a final yes or no to thescheme as The Advertiser went to press.

6 News feature The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

In Dieppe and Le Tréport, a four-month public debatebegan last September to try to achieve some kind of com-promise between the government and local fishermen,elected officers, and environmentalists. But now that the

President has given the green light to the first wave of investorswho want to tender, opposition has increased.

Even though the turbines will be 10km or so offshore, and willsimply look like large matchsticks on the horizon, residents inDieppe, Le Tréport and Fécamp, which is also affected, are furi-ous.

In the latest plans, it is estimated that 142 windmills of 5MWeach, 14km from Le Tréport, would provide 900,000 people withelectricity.

Locals, especially fishermen, are worried about the damage totheir livelihood and to tourism and many residents are con-cerned that Mr Sarkozy seems intent on ruining the beautifulFrench coastline which inspired the likes Monet and Sisley.

Bloggers on the Le Figaro website have posted comments like“France is disfigured” and “This massacre of our beautiful land-cape”; one asked, “Would Sarkozy like these monstrosities infront of the Eiffel Tower?”

Pat Ward-Lee, a retired EDF electrical power engineer, lives nearLondinières, Seine-Maritime, a small town half way betweenDieppe and Le Tréport. He is doubtful about the amount ofelectricity these parks would generate:

“The figures just don't add up,” he says. “For instance, the LeTréport park would supply under one KW per person. If threepeople live in one house, they would, theoretically, get 3KW. Ifeveryone switched on their supply at the same time, such as inthe early evening, this would generate only enough power forlighting and maybe a little cooking.

“If the turbines are not running and disconnected from thegrid, they won’t provide any power at all and the National Gridwould take over. The promise of electricity for 900,000 con-sumers is spin, not fact!”

“I travel frequently through France and see many turbines thatare disconnected. Some don’t move all year. I use the Channelcrossings from Dieppe or Calais 10 or 12 times a year, and oftenthere is simply not enough wind to drive them.

“There is no proof of the life of these éoliennes in terms oftheir construction and the reliability of their electrical controlgear. The purpose of wind turbines is to ‘peak lop’, which meansthat they are available when nuclear and coal-fired stations areunable to cope with the power demand. They were never meantto be used as a ‘base load’.

“It has always been understood that both nuclear and coal-fired stations should work at their optimum, (ie. near fullload conditions) for maximum efficiency. If you use turbinesinstead, you compromise the efficiency of the power stations.Why, then, ruin one of the most beautiful coastlines in theworld? Daft!”

Olivier Bécquet is gérant (director) de la Co-operative de Pêcheurat Le Tréport, and represents the owners and crew of 50 fishingboats. The well-respected former capitaine de pêche is furiousabout the proposals:

“Le Tréport is the principal fishing port of Haute-Normandie.We catch everything here, supplying a huge area.Our herrings,seafood and white fish are superb. The Le Tréport catch goes tothe top restaurants and our famous fish market, which is thebest in the area. The town is famous for its wonderful gastrono-my. Our spectacular fruits de mer are renowned; people comefrom all over the world to eat here,” he says.

“Yet the politicians want to ruin our livelihood. They forgetthat our 50 boats represent families, not just fishing captains.

“The proposed 12 miles of turbines are 14km offshore, butthey would be constructed exactly in the part of the oceanwhere we cast our nets and lines and would hamper our workand disturb the fish. What’s more, to create this ‘park’, it wouldbe necessary to dig into the sand on the seabed, and upset theecology of fish production in the area. The whole thing is a dis-aster waiting to happen.”

Olivier, 52, retired from fishing in 1998 and now runs BateauEcole Itag, a popular navigational school based in Le Tréport, aswell as representing the fishermen.The battle against the windfarms is his top priority.

It is made more complicated because Olivier and his marinercolleagues believe that political pressure has influenced thechoice of location for these wind farms.

“Originally, these turbines were to be built further up thecoastline, towards Calais,” he says. “But, of course, the mayor ofLe Touquet, which is a rich resort, doesn’t want them spoilinghis coastline,” he says. “There is also pressure from people whodo not wish to have them on the land, either. It is is amazinghow some landowners have suddenly decided that these tur-bines are a blot on the landscape. Wealthier people than us havemore influence. So, they want to impose this on Le Tréport,where the less well off have to feed their families from themoney they earn from the sea. It is appalling.”

However, Olivier is hopeful that it is not too late to fight theproposals: “We have initiatives in place, and are talking to EDFEnergies. It is not a done deal yet. The more people who protest,the better.”

However, some people are less pessimistic. Uli Rohsaint isGerman, but has lived in Fécamp for 10 years, where she worksat the Office de Tourism. She is cautiously upbeat about theimpact of the wind farm proposals.

“I know that many people in Fécamp are against the plans,particularly fishermen,” she says. “However, the turbines will be

Coming soon to a view The French government’s plansfor 600 turbines, constructed onfive stunningly beautiful coastalsites between Saint Nazaire andLe Tréport, will, according toPresident Sarkozy, produce 3000MW of power, the equivalent ofabout two nuclear power stations.He wants an investment of €10billion from firms wishing to buildthe parks. But experts doubt thatthey will ever deliver enough electricity to offset the visualdamage done and opposition tosimilar parks is now growing allover the country, with more than700 organisations opposing theproliferation of wind turbines.SALLY ANN VOAK reports

News feature 7The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011 www.normandyadvertiser.com

near you: 600 of these

“The power produced by these turbines isminimal: not enough to cook a good roti de porc, have a bath and watch television

Pat Ward-LeeFormer EDF electrical power engineer

“They want toimpose thison Le Tréport,where the lesswell off haveto feed theirfamilies fromthe moneythey earnfrom the sea.It is appallingOlivierBécquetFormer trawler captainout of sight, or at worst, just very small blobs on the horizon.

There is also the important point that building the turbines willbring much-needed employment to the town, which has 20,000inhabitants.From a tourism point of view,” she adds, “this pro-posal is not necessarily a negative, either. We can organise boattours to go out and view them.”

Fishermen fear that constructing wind tur-bines offshore will ruintheir fishing grounds

Photo: © yobidaba - Fotolia.com

March 16, Le Tilleul – LaurentianSingers from St Lawrence Universitywill bring Duruflé, Dufay and Ravelalong with French chansons to theEglise St Martin in a free concert.

March 17, Calvados – A special foryoungsters as Stravinsky takes onBach in the Orchestre de Caen’sDiscovery series of concerts. Foursessions are held throughout the dayfor children at 9.15, 10.15, 14.00 and15.00. The orchestra playsStravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaksconcerto, followed by Bach’sBrandenburg concerto at the GrandAuditorium.

Contact 02 31 30 47 70

March 18, Bagnoles de l’Orne –Pop, swing and acoustic music fromthe band Bel Air Line in the Centred’Animation at 20.30.

Contact 02 33 30 72 70

March 19, Alençon – La Luciolewelcomes the French singer Arnowhere he will premiere his newalbum Brussld, which is due out onMarch 29.

Contact 02 33 32 83 33

March 20, Caen – Jazz for young-sters in the Mini series of events inthe Grand Auditorium and otherlocations. Music from Lhiver,Méchali and Chesnel features in theprogramme which shows childrendifferent aspects of jazz.

Contact 02 31 30 46 86

March 22, Lisieux – EternalMoments concert in the Théâtre deLisieux features the work of Jean-Marie Machado on piano and DaveLiebman on saxophone.

Contact 02 31 48 31 85

March 23, Bagnoles de l’Orne –Argentinian tango musician andsinger Daniel Melingo takes to thestage in the Centre d’Animation forMaldito Tango as part of the sixth

Printemps de la Chanson. Contact 02 33 30 72 70

March 23, Valognes –A history of jazz, a concert with TrioGPS at Hôtel-Dieu €5/€3

Contact 02 33 95 82 31

March 24, Caen – The Orchestre deCaen under Vahan Mardirossian playBeethoven’s Egmont Op84 and theBrahms piano concerto No2 Op83 inthe Grand Auditorium. It featuresRussian pianist Viktoria Postnikova,who is noted for having recorded allthree of Tchaikovsky’s works forpiano.

Contact 02 31 30 46 86

March 29, Avranches – Orchestraand choirs perform Mozart, Haydnand Decoust in the ThéâtreMunicipal. Directed by Jean PierreWallez, it features the Ensemble deBasse-Normandie, the choir of theMusiciens du Paradis and La Scholade l’Orne.

Contact 02 33 89 29 40

March 29, Caen – Eglise St Pierrewill echo with madrigals from tenorIan Honeyman, accompanied byJeanne Boëlle on archiluth, as theyperform works by John Bennet,Thomas Morley and ThomasWeelkes.

Contact 02 31 30 46 86

Until March 13, Neubourg –Festival du Dessin Animé. A lastchance to enjoy the French craze forcartoons with films varying fromTarzan to Jacques Tati and FantasticMr Fox.

www.le-neubourg.fr

Until March 27, Caen – Sacred andprofane etchings from the Bologneseartists such as Carrache on show inthe Musée des Beaux-Arts in the lastfew weeks on display. Dating from1560-1660, the richly drawn master-pieces are taken from the museum’sMancel collection.

Contact 02 31 30 47 70

March 11, Vire – For the Printempsdes Poètes 2011, the Médiathèque isholding a poetry reading. It will havelive readings and also pre-recordedfrom 14.00

Contact 02 31 67 57 01

March 15, Falaise – Duo(s) danse etjazz. Improvised dance at 20.00 withHéla Fattoumi and Delphine Caron,along with the Big Band du Pays deFalaise.

Contact 02 31 90 89 60

March 4-9, Granville – the biggestand oldest carnival in the north ofFrance draws in tens of thousands ofvisitors each year.

Contact 02 33 91 30 03

March 5-6, Evreux – Wine-lover’sdégustation weekend, with more than50 appellations varying from AuxeyDuresses in Saone-et-Loire to Volnayin the Cote-d’Or. The event is in theHall des Expositions and the moneyraised goes to charity.

www.rotaryevreuxbeffroi.org

March 5-7, Lisieux – The Foire auxArbres et aux Plantes (tree and plantfair) is the oldest in France and cele-brates its 552nd anniversary thisyear. Held in the Espace Victor Hugo

it has the special theme this year ofrediscovering the vegetable garden. Contact 02 31 48 41 53

March 18-21, Caen – Salons desVins et de la Gastronomie at the ParcExpo. www.salondelagastronomie.fr

Contact 02 98 44 25 33

March 19-21, Mortagne-au-Perche –The Orne’s annual black pudding fes-tival, La Foire au Boudin, celebratesthe bloody marvel.

http://foireauboudin.free.fr/

March 9-13, Deauville – Asian filmfestival expects 30,000 visitors.

www.deauvilleasia.com

March 20-22 – Printemps duCinéma at all participating cinemassees reduced prices of just €3.50 fordozens of films. Nearly three millionviewers take advantage each year.

www.printempsducinema.com

March 26, Agon-Coutainville –Beach clean-up. Anyone who usesthe beach is invited to go along andhelp clear up the worst of the win-ter’s mess. T-shirts, gloves and rub-bish bags are provided. Meet in theafternoon at the Pointe of Agon.

wwww.agoncoutainville.fr

Out and about

FilmEvents

Dance

Art and poetry

Music

Saturday 5Beuvron-en-Auge, Calvados (antiques)Cherbourg Manche (Puces) Sunday 6 St-Lô, Manche(records/books); Honfleur, Calvados (brocante);Lengronne, Manche (vide-grenier);St-Pierre-sur-Dives, Calvados(antiques-brocante)Saturday 12 L’Aigle, Orne; La Haye-du-Puits, Manche (booksand brocamte); St-Germain-d’Aunay, Orne (books) Sunday 13 Caen, Calvados (vide-grenier); L’Aigle, Orne (local produce);

St-Germain-d’Aunay, Orne (books)Sunday 20 St-Lô, Manche (covered brocante); Argentan, Orne (vide-grenier);Bagnoles-de-l’Orne, Orne;Colombelles, Calvados (vide-grenier);Granville, Manche (antiques);Mortain, Manche; Tourlaville, Manche Saturday 26 Portbail, Manche(books/postcard fair) Sunday 27 Agon-Coutainville,Manche (brocante) Clinchamps-sur-Orne, Calvados (vide-grenier/brocante) Hermanville-sur-Mer,Calvados (vide-grenier) Pontd’Ouilly, Calvados (vide-grenier)

VIDE-GRENIERS

A TRIP back in time and a wel-come surprise as MarianneFaithfull takes the stage at LaLuciole in Alençon on March 18to introduce her latest album,Horses and High Heels.

Coming two years after her lastalbum, Easy Come Easy Go, wasacclaimed by critics, MarianneFaithfull is once again producedby her long-time collaborator,Hal Willner.

She has written five of the songsherself and the album alsoincludes cover versions of classicsincluding Carol King and GerryGoffin’s Goin’ Back, AlainToussaint’s Back in Baby’s Arms.

She also introduces a newsound, combining country, souland pop, a far cry from the daysof her hit single with Jagger andRichards’ As Tears Go By in 1964

Tickets for the show are pricedat €28 in advance or €30 on thenight with season-ticket holderspaying €25.

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March 11, Agon-Coutainville –Concert with La Planche à Laver,playing Mississippi jazz at theEspace Culturel.www.agoncoutainville.fr

8 What’s On

MarianneFaithfull

Looking to buy a

house?See page 23 for a wide

range of properties

The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

What’s On 9The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011 www.normandyadvertiser.com

March 11, Alençon –Pop/rock folk concert in LaLuciole with The Bewitched

Hands, the band that wonthe 2009 Inrockuptibles

newcomers award. Prices from €16.80.

Contact 02 33 32 83 33

THE giant Lisieux fair returns at the end of the month for its 64th edition withsomething for everyone.

Running over the weekend of March 25-27, the Foire de Lisieux et du Paysd’Auge at the Parc des Expositions has a wide range of exhibitors, taking infurniture and decoration; arts and crafts; food and wine, cars and motorcycles;tourism and leisure; nature and agriculture.

Entry is €3, more details from www.lisieux-expo.fr

SPRING is coming and that meansthe arrival of shows and exhibitionsshowing what you can do to giveyour home a fresh look.

However, with many families stillsuffering the effects of the financialcrisis, it is also a chance to see whatyou can do that gives the best value.

Le Havre welcomes the Salon del’Habitat et de la Décoration fromMarch 11 to 14, which will have 160exhibitors over 7,000m2 covering allaspects of the market: building, reno-vation, outside living space, swim-ming pools, gardens and kitchen.

www.normand-expo.frA week later Caen hosts the Salon

Mon Habitat, which has grown out

of the original concept of decor anddecoration to become an event witheverything to do with your home.

The 15,000m2 space will show thelatest in home design, wooden build-ings, decor, furniture, DIY, renewableenergy and arts and crafts.

www.caen-expo-congres.comOn a more modest note, Agon-

Coutainville has an exhibition onsustainable development, architec-ture and places to live, at the ArtsCentre from March 12 to 19.

March also sees a month of eventsacross Normandy covering contem-porary architecture, with open daysas many sites.

www.ma-lereseau.org/

Expert tips onpruning fruit treesFRUIT trees can respond well toexpert pruning and some of thesecrets will be revealed at an eventbeing organised at Ouilly-Le-Vicomte on March 20.

Whether you are looking for a niceshape, better fruiting or just adviceon the difference pruning can make,you can learn more from Jean-Jacques Dutrait at the event, beingheld at the home of ChristianGlasson, Chemin des Hares at 10.00.

Contact 02 31 65 08 32

Club business on holdACTIVITIES at the Club Franco-Anglais/Anglo-French Club inCoulimer are on hold at the momentbecause of work commitments, butDanielle Houzé and MaureenPhillips hope to get back on track atthe end of spring.

Annual meeting setTHE amicale Culturelle Européennegeneral meeting will be held in theGrande Salle of les Unelles inCoutances on March 19. Starting at10.30, it will be followed by aperitifs.

GET FIT and find out more aboutyour local area in a series of walksthat have been organised by localgroups and tourist offices.

At Valognes, the tourist office hasorganised three randonnées: onMarch 6 at Rocheville, leaving fromBourg car park; on March 9 atHuberville, leaving from the mairie,and at Hemevez on March 23, leav-ing from the Porte du Marais carpark. All start at 14.00.

Contact 02 33 40 11 55

A day walk has been organised bythe Aventuriers de la Nature atLessard et le Chêne on March 27.

Leaving from the mairie at SaintGermain de Livet at 9.30, the circular walk will cover about 10km.

Contact 02 31 31 72 77 or 06 50 63 83 84

Elsewhere, the monthly BaladeManerboise will leave from the Salledes Associations at Manerbe onMarch 7 for a randonnée aroundPrêtreville.

Information is available from thetourist office at Cambremer.

Contact 02 31 39 59 14

THE 2011 Tour de Normandie cyclerace takes place from March 21-27,with the prologue stage inMondeville. The 4.5km section givesriders a work-out over the streetsand back roads of the town beforethe tour proper starts:

March 22, Colombelles to Forges-Les-Eaux; March 23, Forges-les-Eaux to Grand-Couronne; thenGrand-Couronne to Elbeuf surSeine; March 24, Elbeuf sur Seine toFlers; March 25, Domfront to Agon-Coutainville; March 26, Gouville surMer to Bagnoles de l’Orne; and thefinal day over 135km from Bagnolesde l’Orne to Caen. The finish is inCours Général de Gaulle at 15.30.

The Tour is a warm-up for nextmonth’s Paris-Camembert race,which is run over 206km fromMagnanville in Yvelines toVimoutiers in Basse-Normandie onApril 12. Last year’s event was wonby Frenchman Sébastien Minard,from the Cofidis team.

www.tourdenormandiecycliste.frhttp://paris-camembert.ifrance.com

Riders get awork-out for2011 Tour

The Ligue pour la Protection desOiseaux (LPO) is holding its bienni-al Nuit de la Chouette (Night of theOwl) on March 19.

Events are organised all over thecountry for the one night and inNormandy LPO volunteers will takegroups out into the night to discoverthe local varieties of owl.

You will find out what chouettehulotte (tawny owl), l’effraie desclochers (barn owl) and chevêched’Athéna (little owl) eat and whatthreats hang over them, rangingfrom loss of habitat to pesticidesthat kill prey further down the foodchain.

You may also see the other crea-tures that prefer the cover of dark-ness, such as foxes and badgers.

There are 12 events in Seine-Maritime, five in Eure, three inCalvados, two in the Orne and twoin Manche.

Events range from nocturnal out-ings to see and hear the owls to con-ferences, talks and workshops.

http://nuitdelachouette.lpo.fr

Find outmore aboutnight owls

Discoveryour localarea on foot

What’s the best way togive your home a lift?

64th fair takes over Lisieux

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or order by calling (free from France)0800 91 77 56 or from UK 0844 256 9881 (4p/min)

Connexion, has a series ofhelpguides on the subjects

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everyday life in France that we regularly receive. These include how tofill out a French income tax form, localtaxes, residential care homes in France,

employing help at home such as a gardener and letting out your French

home to tourists.

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10 Food The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

A collection of restaurants in Normandy

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Look out for the ‘forgotten vegetables’MARKET-FRESH vegetables are one of thethings many people love about France, but whystick to the tried-and-tested varieties?

In many better-stocked markets or supermar-kets you will find some of the légumes oubliées,that is “forgotten vegetables” that people oftenneglect in favour of the more standard ones.

These often have interesting colours orflavours. Even among common vegetables, spe-cial varieties can liven up the dinner table. Didyou know you can get red carrots? Or that beet-root comes in white- or yellow-fleshed kinds, aswell as betterave Chioggia, originally from Italy,with a white flesh with pink concentric rings?

There is also an old variety called betteravecrapaudine (literally “toady beetroot”) that hasan elongated shape, similar to a parsnip. Itsname comes from its rough, cracked skin and ithas a violet-red colour and a sweet, tasty fleshand is best cooked. However, many kinds are infact tasty raw as well as cooked, giving acrunchier texture. Look out for the raw veg-etable (make sure they have not been pre-boiled) and try them grated in a salad or slicedthinly carpaccio-style, with a few chives, wal-nuts and a dash of walnut oil.

Parsnips themselves (panais) are traditionallygiven to animals in France, but are making acomeback and increasingly seen on the shelves.

If you cannot find a “forgotten” vegetable,check farmers’ markets or perhaps try growingyour own from seed. Baumaux (www.graines-baumaux.fr) or Fabre (www.fabre-graines.com)are among suppliers with a good choice.Specialist collections of old varieties, calledpotager (vegetable garden) conservatoires, orconservatoires de légumes, may also sell theirproduce and supply seeds. The PotagerConservatoire de Beaumésnil, in Haute-Normandie, for example, has a collection ofaround 500 unusual varieties, and is open for

visits (www.1001legumes.com) or there is theJardin Conservatoire du Pays d’Auge in Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives, Calvados or Oh!Légumes Oubliées in Sadirac, Gironde(www.ohlegumesoublies.com).

Here are some other vegetables to look out for:Black salsify (scorsonère): similar to the com-mon salsify (salsifis), but often thought to havea superior taste. After peeling, boil it in chunks.It goes well with meat and you can also cook it

as a gratin or dipped in batter deep-fried.Jerusalem artichoke (topinambour): Duringthe Second World War these were grown inlarge quantities for both people an animals, aswere another “forgotten” vegetable, the rutaba-ga, or swede. They were then rejected in favourof carrots and potatoes etc. Originally fromNorth America, the French name comes from aBrazilian tribe, the Tupinambas, who wereerroneously associated with the vegetable.Cooked, it can be eaten in a salad, as a meal

accompaniment, mashed or fried and it can beeaten raw in slices or grated.Parsley root (persil grosse racine or persil tubé-reux): This is the root of a parsley variety culti-vated for this purpose. Cooked or as a crudité ittastes similar to celeriac and looks like parsnip.

(Clockwise) Black salsify, Jerusalem artichokes, red carrots and Chioggia beetroot

Potimarron soup

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THE POTI-MARRON’Sname is a mix-ture of potiron(pumpkin) andmarron (chest-nut) because itis related to thepumpkin andits flavour ischestnutty.Unlike its big-ger cousin, itcan be cookedwith its skin, unless it has been kept sev-eral weeks. Steamed or roasted, the skinsoftens enough to eat. Uses include as agratin, a soup, purée, risotto or even as asweet, made into jam, cakes or flan.

Ingredients: 1 potimarron, ½ litre of milk,salt, pepper, nutmeg, a few lovage leaves(livèche), 50g butter.Method: Heat milk and add the season-ings. When it boils, add pieces of potimar-ron (washed and cut into chunks), bringback to the boil and lower heat. When thepieces are tender, take off heat, add butterand liquidise. Serve with croutons.

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Recipe: Norman seafood quicheIngredients:

400g shortcrust pastry150g prawns1 doz oysters 2 litres bouchot mussels (cultivated onpoles, as in the Mont-Saint Michel bay)1 glass white wine2 shallotsKnob of butter3 eggs250ml crème fraîcheMilkNutmegParsleySalt and pepper

Method:

Shell the prawns and set the tails aside.In a pot, brown the finely-choppedshallots in butter then moisten withwhite wine and season. Add the musselsto the pot and leave to open. Removethe mussels from their shells and putthem to one side. In a small saucepanadd the liquid from the cooking thus far

and reduce it over a high heat. Open theoysters and poach them for a minutewithout bringing to the boil.

Butter and flour the flan dish, line itwith the shortcrust pastry and cook in ahot oven for 10 minutes. Spread theprawn tails, the mussels and the oystersover the pastry. Mix the eggs, the crèmefraîche, the reduced liquid from themussels, salt, pepper, chopped parsley

and a pinch of nutmeg and pour themixture over the flan dish. Add milk ifnecessary. Bake in a hot oven for half anhour and serve immediately. It wouldgo well with a crunchy salad.

From Recipes from Normandy (LesRecettes de ma Grande-Mère), by AnnePrével, with translation by Alex Bramble.Published by Christine Bonneton

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RISING insurance costs are one of the constantfactors this year as increases have already beenimposed on car, health and housing insurancepolicies.

Health insurance premiums have gone upbetween six and nine per cent, house insuranceby 3.5 to eight per cent and car insurancebetween 2.5 and 4.5 per cent. Whether the rea-son was the devastation caused by Xynthia, thefloods in the Var or the changes in SécuritéSociale reimbursements, the end result is thatyour insurance policies are costing more.

Aviva’s director of insurance products, ClaudeZaouati, said the price rises were “necessary”.He added: “Maybe we all went a bit too farwith price cuts in recent years.”

Axa France director-general Jacques dePeretti warned, in an interview with Les Echos:“If we have another bad year in 2011, theseprice rises will not be enough.”

As spring and summer approach and, per-haps the anniversary of buying your house inFrance, now is a good time to rethink yourinsurance needs, with the aim of reducing costsor improving cover: this period often marksthe start date for various insurances.

It is important to keep an eye on your policiesbecause the anniversary of starting the policy isnot always the date for major changes to hap-pen: for health policies, it is often the new year.

Insurance policies are also governed by a legalprocess known as tacite reconduction, whichmeans that, unless either side terminates it,contracts are automatically renewed after a cer-tain period of time defined on the contract.

Beware also that you cannot terminate a poli-cy just with a phone call; you must send a for-mal lettre recommandée avec avis de reception(registered letter) to the company quoting yourpolicy details. Although insurance contractsare now limited to one-year duration, and theduration has to be mentioned prominently inthe contract, this automatic renewal can catch

many unawares. This is despite changes to thelaw in recent years to give more rights to theconsumer and an obligation for the insurer totell customers of the rolling nature of the con-tract and the deadline of the notice period toterminate it.

Under Loi Chatel, the insurer should send theavis d’échéance between three months and 15days before the deadline to end the policy (youmust give two months’ notice to cancel mostpolicies, three months for health policies).

In practice, companies rarely send out the letters before the deadline so the Loi Chatelprovides new protection for policy-holders inthe form of a new legal deadline.

If the notice is given in the last 15 days of thecontract or later, the customer has 20 days todecide whether to keep the contract and shouldbe informed of this right in the letter.

Some insurers have also been accused ofmissing the deadline and then hiding the avisd’échéance in the small print, often in lettersadvising of the next year’s premiums.

They also often put one date on the letter andthen post it much later (or it may be delayed inpassing via your insurance agent), so the best advice is to keep the envelope as well asthe letter.

The posting date is the date when the 20-dayclock starts ticking. If the insurer’s letter doesnot arrive before the renewal of the contract,the customer can terminate the policy free ofcharge by sending the company a lettre recom-mandée avec avis de reception anytime.

Non-French people are often surprised by thenumber of insurance contracts that peoplehave in France, with people carrying cover fortheir homes and their cars, but also for civil lia-bility, their children and their pets.

Indeed, many French people are themselvessurprised to discover what insurance coverthey have: a recent survey for radio station

France Info discovered that two thirds of people have a legal expenses insurance policy,but most of them did not know it.

Protection juridique policies are often includ-ed with those for home or car insurance, butholders often do not know it unless they readtheir policy documents carefully.

The insurance pays for legal expenses, forexample, if you have a dispute with a workmanover work done on your home, or with agarage over work done on your car. It may alsocover you in a neighbour dispute.

Elsewhere, it is a legal requirement to havethird-party insurance for your vehicle, property liability insurance for tenants, liabilityinsurance for children on school activities andcivil liability insurance.

Optionally, people will have top-up healthinsurance, comprehensive motor insurance, lifeassurance and travel policies.

EVEN IF YOUR CAR is off the road it must still beinsured, with the legal minimum cover beingau tiers, or third party.

Tous risques, or comprehensive cover, is themost common and there are as many differentpolicies as there are companies offering them.

The detail of the small print must be checkedto spot any unintended exclusions.

Premiums are heavier for younger drivers andsome companies are reluctant to insure drivers

who have less than three years’ experiencesince passing their test.

Several options are available, which includedifferent levels of risks from minor accidents todamage to others (car or person), theft or fire.

Many insurers will give you a courtesy car incase of breakdown or theft, and will look afterany repairs. Certain others have special pricesfor occasional drivers and some have policiesoffering insurance per kilometre driven if youare an infrequent driver.

Some firms will insure a UK-plated vehiclebut, as cars should put on French plates aftersix months, such a policy will be void.

The green insurance sticker must be promi-nently displayed on your windscreen, to thebottom right-hand corner.

You must have the attestation d’assurance andthe certificat d’immatriculation registrationpapers with you to present to police or gendarmes at a contrôle. However, it is unwiseto leave these documents in the glove compart-ment, although you should keep a copy of theaccident report form constat amiable d’accidentthere (alongside a compulsory fluorescent vest).

HOMEOWNERS ARE UNDER NO obligation to signup for home insurance, unlike tenants; howev-er, it is advisable.

Most insurance [multi-risques habitation]covers basic risks: water damage into anotherproperty, fire, attacks, electrical damage, theft,storms and exceptional climate events, naturaldisasters and broken glass.

Further options for more security are available in the more inclusive types of con-tract, which often include third-party damageand can also include insuring your goods whileyou travel, insuring your car while it is parkedat home etc.

Other personalised cover is available toinclude objects from musical instruments toswimming pools. Be aware, however, that valuable items are often only covered up to a

Takecover

Insurance premiumsare rising so it is time to make surepolicies are in order

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Insurance 11The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011 www.normandyadvertiser.com

“Even if your car is off theroad it must still beinsured, with the legal minimum cover being au tiers, or third party.

THE authoritative guide to buying a home in France

See our website www.connexionfrance.comAvailable in English from The Connexion, priced €7.50 or £7(plus postage and packaging)

Written by the Notaires de France and published by Conseils des Notaires.

certain proportion of the total contents, unlesscovered separately.

To organise home insurance, you will firstneed to get a devis (quote) from several com-panies, which will state the price of the kind ofprotection you are looking for according to thedifferent companies’ criteria.

For this, you will need to have the house’sbasic information ready: house floor surface,outbuildings surface, garden surface, numberof rooms, the value of your goods (furniture,tableware, electronic tools), jewellery, valuableobjects (art, designer goods, pianos).

You can also take photographs of your belong-ings in situ, making sure to get yourself into thepicture to show that they belong to you.

If you have devis from several companies, youcan see which one is the cheapest, but bewarethat degrees of protection can vary from onecompany to another.

In the event of damage by freak weather, it isimportant to find out whether it was caused bya tempête (storm) or catastrophe naturelle(natural disaster), as the insurance claims aredifferent for the two.

A natural disaster covers naturally occurringfloods, landslides and earthquakes, and it mustbe declared as such by ministerial decree determining the time and area concerned andthe kind of damage. This is what happened inthe Var floods in June 2010; an arrêté de catas-trophe naturelle was issued, which allowed peo-ple affected to process their insurance claims.

Insurance for storms, on the other hand,would include tiles blown off, trees falling onyour property etc. In a very violent storm, bothmight come into play – damage from floodingfrom water running off the surface of theground or raised river or groundwater could bea natural disaster, while damage by the windwould come under storm cover.

YOUR INSURER BEARS THE COST if you sign upfor responsabilité civile insurance and cause anyaccidental damage: whether a Ming vase at themuseum or the flowerpot that might fall off awindow ledge.

Such insurance is compulsory and intendedto cover the cost of damages caused by you andthose around you to third parties.That includesdamage to third parties caused by negligenceor carelessness, children living with you, staffyou may employ (baby sitter, gardener, clean-er), pets or animals you may have, objects you

may have or damage caused by your property.If you are a small-holder, this is highly advis-able – imagine the damage a goat could causeif it got on to a main road. This insurance isoften included in multi-risks home insurance,your work insurance if you are self-employedand you may already be covered for specificparts included in your car insurance.

CHILDREN CAN OBTAIN INSURANCE cover whenthey start school and you can opt for coverduring school time only, assurance scolaire, orone that protects your children outside school,

at home and away during the holidays, calledassurance extra-scolaire.

Schools may ask for an attestation d’assurancescolaire, which may be part of your homeinsurance cover.

You should ask your insurer for a certificate.School insurance is optional, but is usually

mandatory for school trips and other activitiesthe school offers. Your children might alreadybe partially covered by your own personal lia-bility (responsabilité civile) insurance and it isworth checking the extent of the protectionbefore taking out more insurance. It may alsoprovide illness teaching cover to allow yourchild to continue to receive schooling if off ill.

FOREIGN RESIDENTS IN FRANCE have the same“need” for top-up mutuelle or complémentairesanté health insurance as French people. If youare relatively young and healthy, you mightwant to risk not having one, but in general it is

advisable to have one, as many procedures donot attract a full reimbursement of the cost toyourself. Top-up policies vary in cost and inwhat they include, with some cheaper onesfocussing mainly on hospital stays.

However, treatment for certain long-term,serious illnesses (affections de longue durée) iscovered 100 per cent by the state.

Foreign residents may have their healthcarepaid for by France if they work or have workedhere, or if they are in the CMU system. Peoplewith a British state pension or on British long-term incapacity benefit are covered by the UK.

Mutuelle or complémentaire santé policies arenot compulsory, but 90 per cent of people inFrance have them. If you are on a low income,the state can also provide a type of top-upcover called the CMU complémentaire.

Dental and eye care costs are poorly reim-bursed, so this may be something to look atwith your private mutuelle policy.

Early-retirees coming to France have no rightto state healthcare reimbursements once theirtemporary E106 forms (under which the UKcontinues to pay for them) run out.

They have to buy comprehensive privatehealth insurance policies for the period untilthey become entitled again, through being statepensioners or through having lived in Francefor five years.

This private cover is separate and moreexpensive than top-up policies, as the insurerfaces all health risk costs and will demand thatthe insured person pays an excess.

If you are an auto-entrepreneur (self-employed person), you will become entitled toFrench state cover through your work.

Since May 1, 2010, British state pensioners(who get their French healthcare paid for byBritain via E121 forms) have to have EHICsissued by the UK.

These continue to be needed by French-resident people to access NHS care on visits tothe UK, as for care in any other EU country inwhich they are not resident. For advice call0044 191 2181 999 and select option one, orvisit: http://tinyurl.com/EHIC-change

Banks will require you to take out life insur-ance to pay off any loans that you have withthem, but you should beware the bank’s owninsurance cover, as you may find better andcheaper cover in the open market.

There are two types of life insurance: assurance vie is a long-term savings and invest-ments policy that will pay out if you die beforethe policy ends; assurance décès pays your fam-ily if you die, either by accident or through ill-health. Policies that provide cover for accident-only fatalities are much cheaper than openpolicies that include ill-health.

FRENCH LAW SAYS PETS are the responsibilityof their guardian, the person who is in chargeof the pet at the time of an accident/whendamage occurs – and not necessarily the petowner. This excludes short periods of timesuch as when someone walks the dog for halfan hour.

Pet insurance covers you for the damageyour pet causes to third parties and for itshealth. Your home insurance should include apersonal liability (responsabilité civile) guaran-tee including a clause on damage caused byyour pet to a third party, but this will notcover any damage to members of your ownfamily. If you are asked to look after a pet,even if only for a holiday, you should checkyour home insurance and the extent of cover-age for third-party damage caused by a pet.

A number of insurers also offer protection foryour pet’s health which can reimburse surgerycharges if your pet becomes ill or has an acci-dent and vets’ fees as well as other medical fees.

You can also choose to include an option tohave your pet taken care of if you are in hospi-tal or have help finding it if it is lost. Some ofthose contracts are only available to petsbetween three months old and 10 years old.

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Business 15The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011 www.normandyadvertiser.com

A CHERBOURG firm that buildsFrance’s nuclear submarines is hop-ing to start a new line in mini-nuclear power stations that would lieon sea beds around the world.

DCNS’s Flexblue power stations arebased on nuclear submarine technol-ogy. They look like long, slim tubes,around 100m long by 15m, andwould be situated at a depth of about60-100m.

It is planned that the facilitieswould be able to supply between100,000 and a million people, withelectricity coming ashore via anunderwater cable.

A DCNS spokesman said: “This isa very new idea, born from two fac-tors: you need a firm that knowshow to build nuclear submarines andthere aren’t many of those in theworld, and a firm that is also inter-ested in energy.”

Preliminary in-house studies havealready been done and a two-yearphase of commercial and technicalstudies is beginning in partnershipwith state-owned reactor buildersAreva, French electricity giant EDFand the CEA (a public body oversee-ing nuclear matters).

Compared to traditional power sta-

tions, the underwater versions wouldbe cheaper, making them potentiallyattractive to many markets. Untilrecently, France was mainly touting itsthird-generation EPR reactors, butthey do not suit all countries, especial-ly those which do not have highlydeveloped electricity networks.

The new mini-power stations would bebuilt in Cherbourg and it is expectedthat the port would also take care ofmajor maintenance work and refuelling with uranium. Thespokesman said: “Every two to fouryears, the equipment would be lifted

out of the water and placed on atransporter boat and brought back toCherbourg, or possibly other loca-tions, depending on the countries weend up working with.”

Waste would be recycled at thesame facilities used for other nuclearpower stations, he said. Safety wouldbe a high priority.

“We hope to be able to offer thesame guarantees as with the third-generation reactors. There are twoother factors that bode well: first,there are 150 nuclear submarines inthe world and there has never beenany problem with them. Secondly, if

there is any problem with nuclearreactors, you have to pour water onit; it would already be underwater sothat would immediately stop theproblem. Also water forms a naturalbarrier so radioactivity could notdispersed into the atmosphere, ashappened at Chernobyl.”

The spokesman added: “We will bedoing studies of technical feasibility,marketing and safety, both inCherbourg and in Paris, and if theygo well, we will install a prototypewith a customer country. Howeverwe have to find one yet, it could beanywhere in the world.”

Cherbourgfirm plansnuclear reactors onthe seabed An artists’s

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To help readers prepare for moving to France, and make the mostof life once living here, we have produced a series of helpguideson practical topics.The guides address questions about everyday life in France that we frequentlyreceive at our offices. These include how to fill out a French income tax form,understanding residential taxes and inheritance law, how to legally employ a gar-dener or cleaner at your home and letting out your French home. The helpguides, priced €5 and €7.50, are produced independently byConnexion journalists or in association with Conseils des Notaires (the official publishing arm of the notaires).

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The Connexion can print out and post copies of the helpguidesto you. The cost for this is:

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This is in addition to the €5 (or €7.50) cost of each guide. Youpay this postage charge only once regardless of the number ofhelpguides on the same order.Please tick the boxes of the helpguides you require and indicatethe total including postage as the bottom. Payment must be byeuro cheque (from a French bank). Cheques should be madepayable to The Connexion and sent to: The Connexion, Subscription Services BP 61096, 06002,Nice Cedex 1, FranceYou can also order buy calling (free from France) 0800 91 77 56 or from UK 0844 256 9881 (4p/min)

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JOBS OFFEREDSSECRETARY / OFFICE MANAGERRequired. Experienced Secretary /Office Manager required for racingstables in Ige (Close to Bellême) (61)Approximate hours 9am - 1pmMonday to Friday. Applicant must beexperienced with all office duties,flexible, self-motivated and hardworking. Book-keeping skills wouldbe an advantage. Experience withhorses would also be favourable.Tel: 02 33 25 43 68EXPERIENCED EXCERCISE RIDERRequired to ride thoroughbred race-horses. Location - Ige close toBellême (61). Applicant ideally under10 stone. Monday - Saturday 7am -1pm. eoghanjoneill@hotmail.co.ukTel: 02 33 25 43 68PART-TIME WEEKEND YARDPEOPLE required. Part-time experi-enced weekend yard people requiredfor racing stables near Bellême (61).Duties to include handling thorough-breds, mucking out stables, feedinghorses and other related duties.Saturday 7am - 1pm and 4pm -5.30pm. Sunday 8.30am - 10.30amand 4pm - 5pm.eoghan jone i l l@hotma i l . co .uk .Tel: 02 33 25 43 68

COMMUNITYCSF NORMANDIE are on the look outfor some bookshelves if anyone hasany unwanted ones to display all thebooks at the new Day Centre inBuais. Obviously delivered would begreat but collection is a possibility.Please contact Jenny Luck on02 33 60 27 82

PROPERTY FOR SALE

Make cash from your unwanted items. Classified adverts are FREE for private sales of items under €€250. Place your advert via our website www.normandyadvertiser.comCLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIEDSDo you have a car or unwanted item to sell?Would you like to rent out a property - ormeet new friends? Reach people local to youfor FREE with The Normandy Advertiser If you have an item to sell or give away, if you are looking to buy or sell a home or a caror are offering accommodation, we can help. The Advertiser, the English-languagecommunity newspaper for Normandy, offers great visibility with our small advertsappearing in print and also online at our website www.normandyadvertiser.com All readers offering items of a value of under €250 on a non-commercial basis canplace an advert of up to 150 characters COMPLETELY FREE. Personal adverts, com-munity items, job adverts and items involving animals and pets are also FREE for 150characters. The maximum time for free adverts to run is 3 months.Adverts can be placed online at www.dordogneadvertiser.com and should appear onthe site within one working day and in the next edition of the Normandy Advertiser(the deadline is the fifth of the month for the next month’s print edition). If you are selling an item whose value is over €250 or are placing a commercial classified, you have three options for paid advertising.

1: Lineage. Up to 150 characters = €25 TTC. Up to 300 characters = €50 2: Bold lineage. Up to 150 characters in bold = €30 TTC. Up to 300 characters = €60 3: A special feature box: this is an ideal way to sell a property or a car. This comprises up to 150 (or 300) characters in a box with a colour photograph =€50TTC (or €75TTC for 300 characters).* See examples above.

Rates are for one print edition and 45 days online. To place a paid-for advert of morethan 150 characters please email the text to smallads@normandyadvertiser.com and call us to make payment.*Item is not boxed but runs with a photograph on our website

YOUR ADVERT AS IT APPEARS IN PRINT

YOUR ADVERT AS IT APPEARS ON THE WEB

To place a classified advert go to ourwebsite www.normandyadvertiser.com

or email the text tosmallads@normandyadvertiser.com

and call us to make payment.

Adverts placed here appear in print in the Normandy Advertiserand on our website www.normandyadvertiser.com. Check thewebsite daily to see what’s new Ads are FREE for any private individual wanting to sell an item under €250

16 Classifieds The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

LA HAYE DU PUITS AREA Prettylongere with large interiors, out-building and garage. Fenced gardenof 900 m². 2 miles to the superbbeaches opposite Jersey.ENERGY CLASSIFICATION ON WAYL'Immobilier du CoinREF: 57 PRICE: 40,802€agency fees and notaire's fees inclusivetel : 02 33 45 36 73 email: immoducoin50@orange.frwww.immoducoin50.com

SAINT SAUVEUR LE VICOMTEAREA Stone-built house of 5 mainrooms situated in the countrysideand just 2 miles to the lovely townof Saint Sauveur le Vicomte. Fencedgarden of 1068 m² ENERGY CLASSIFICATION: G L'Immobilier du CoinREF: 171 PRICE: 113,480€agency's fees and notaire's fees inclusiveTel: 02 33 45 36 73 email: immoducoin50@orange.frwww.immoducoin50.com

CARENTAN AREA Lot of characterfor this cottage situated in a quietposition in the country side, 10 mnsdrive to the town of Carentan andthe train station. Land of 1 acrewith outbuidlings.ENERGY CLASSIFICATION ON WAYL'Immobilier du CoinREF: 122 156,957€Agency fees and notaire's fees inclusivetel : 02 33 45 36 73email: immoducoin50@orange.frwww.immoducoin50.com

2 COTTAGES SOLD TOGETHER,ideal gites/income. A well situatedproperty in the Bay of Le Mont StMichel ideal for rental/tourism. Onebuilding with 2 separate semidetached cottages with garden.Sold furnished. Ideal for letting.Only 24 km to Le Mont St Michel.Possibility to purchase nearly plot.ENERGY RATING E. 99,975 €REF: 1100207 Agence de la Seulles Tel: + 33 (0)2 31 36 06 02Email: info@agencedelaseulles.fr

PRETTY VILLAGE HOUSE - ideal forholiday home. This terraced townhouse, is situated in the centre of apleasant village is opposite a popu-lar restaurant and provides easyaccess for scenic country walks,bike rides etc. The mediaeval townof Domfront, with a range of ameni-ties, is a 15-minute drive away.ENERGY RATING E. 72,695 €REF: 1100212 Agence de la Seulles Tel: + 33 (0)2 31 36 06 02Email: info@agencedelaseulles.fr

EXCLUSIVE-COTTAGE PROPERTYin stone with two gites. Olde Worldecharm in a peaceful country settingis a worthy description of this stoneproperty with two gites and delight-ful gardens. The cottages compriseowner’s house attached to which isa separate holiday gite. A further detached cottage makesup the ensemble. ENERGY RATING D. 212,000€REF:1100180 Agence de laSeulles Tel: + 33 (0)2 31 36 06 02Email: info@agencedelaseulles.fr

GER: Eco house with 3 beds,kitchen/living rm and conservatoryin a quiet position within walkingdistance of shops. Virtually no run-ning costs and great letting poten-tial. Over ¼ acre. ENERGY CLASS :A. PRICE 161,900 EUROS inc.Agency fees. (REF: 2930 MORTAIN)Contact Suzanne Pearce on00 33 (0)6 22 71 66 64.

BESLON: Spacious "longère"restored to a high standard. Over 4acres. Quiet rural position. Openviews. Detached 1 bed gîte and fur-ther 2 outbuildings. ENERGYCLASS: D. SOLE AGENCY. PRICE :351,900 EUROS inclusing agencyfees. (REF:3957 VILLEDIEU)Contact Suzanne Pearce on00 33 (0)6 22 71 66 64.

8 KMS FROM VIRE: Detachedhouse which would benefit fromsome modernisation. Enclosed gar-den of just under 1/2 acre.Outbuilding. Loft space suitable forconversion. SOLE AGENCY. Idealfirst-time buy. ENERGY CLASS :N/A. PRICE : 65,300€ includingagency fees. (REF : 1459 VIRE)Contact Suzanne Pearce on00 33 (0)6 22 71 66 64

Advertise yourhouse herefrom just

€€75 TTCYour advert will also go

onto our website normandyadvertiser.com

emailsmallads@

normandyadvertiser.comor call 0800 91 77 56

Classifieds 17The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011 www.normandyadvertiser.com

Validity of university degrees IN the last two editions of the Normandy Advertiser we have lookedat ways of finding the equivalents in France for UK qualifica-tions. The information given was valid for professional and tradequalification however university degrees are slightly different. Dueto the fact that we are part of Europe there is a European standardfor degrees meaning that undergraduate, masters and doctoraldegrees are acknowledged between the two countries. As a guidehere are the equivalent levels in French for degrees :

Bachelor Degree - LicenceBachelor degree with Honours - MaîtrisePostgraduate Certificat, Masters, MBA - DEA , DESSDoctorate - Doctorat

However, even though degrees are recognised this does notnecessarily mean that it will allow you to walk into your desired jobdue to the fact that there are different approaches in teaching thedegrees between countries. Again if in doubt it would be best toapproach ENIC-NARIC France for advice. there is an Englishoption on their website. We would like to thank reader Brian MilnePhD who kindly wrote to help us clarify this point.

How do I find a job near where I live in theNormandy which needs an English-speaker?

Screen one1. Go onto the Pôle Emploi website www.pole-emploi.fr2. On the home page the screen is divided into red on the left for jobseekers and green on the right for employers.3. On the red section for job seekers click on the line Recherchez desOffres d'Emplois (Looking for Job Offers) as per the green arrowabove.

Screen two5. Click on Recherche Avancée tab

Screen three6. Scroll down to the heading Formation et langues (qualificationsand languages) and select anglais, to find jobs which require Englishthen your commune / Normandy department under Lieu de travai

POLE-EMPLOI JOBSBILINGUAL HOTEL RECEPTIONISTJJoobb ooffffeerr 884488558866ii - CCaallvvaaddooss - CCDDDD2244 mmoonntthhss. Cover for maternity andparental leave. You will be responsi-ble for the reception, secretarialduties and checking in. FluentEnglish a must. Previous experienceof reception worked required, mini-mum six months. Working hoursbetween 7am and 7pm. Please seejob details for further information.RECEPTIONIST FOR TOURISTOFFICE JJoobb ooffffeerr 664422336644ii - CCootteennttiinn- CCDDDD 66 mmoonntthhss.. Your role will involvegreeting visitors in person and overthe phone, keeping statisticalrecords and the sales in the shop.Ideally you should have a soundknowledge of the area. You should beeligible to apply for the CAE, CONTRATD'ACCOMPAGNEMENT A L'EMPLOI,Fluent English required.VIDEO TECHNICIAN JJoobb ooffffeerr664422339955II - DDeeaauuvviillllee - CCDDDD 66 mmoonntthhss..You should be able to work multicam,production and framing, when report-ing. Also required, knowledge ofsound, framing and command ofvideo tools, adobe, with basic graspof compositing, after effects. Abilityto communicate and good eye for apicture. Position available immedi-ately. Beginners welcome. Bac plustwo years qualification required orequivalent in audiovisual media.Good command of English.GUIDE INTERPRETER JJoobb ooffffeerr884488556622ii - CCooqquuaaiinnvviilllliieerrss - PPaarrtt ttiimmeewwoorrkk oovveerr 66 mmoonntthhss.. You will giveguided tours of the company, andtastings of the products as well asselling the products at the end of thevisit. Fluent English required and

basic knowledge of German.Minimum one year's experiencerequired. Degree level qualificationsin Modern Languages preferred. Cardriver, a plus.CAMPING RECEPTIONIST JJoobb ooffffeerr664433551100ii - PPoonnttoorrssoonn - SSeeaassoonnaall wwoorrkkJJuullyy aanndd AAuugguusstt.. Duties involve over-seeing the arrival of clients, reserva-tions, help at the bar and restaurant.Would suit student. 2 days off aweek. Hours 7.30pm to 3pm and3pm to 10pm. 2 year qualificationpost A level preferred, ideally intourism studies. Very good level ofEnglish required with good German.HOTEL RECEPTIONIST JJoobb ooffffeerr664433664466ii - HHoonnfflleeuurr - CCDDII.. Tasks tooversee the reception, greetingguests in person and over the tele-phone. Giving instructions duringtheir stay. Responsibility for reserva-tions. Applications from beginnerswelcome with minimum A level stan-dard. Excellent English required.GUIDE INTERPRETER JJoobb ooffffeerr664422005544ii - BBaayyeeuuxx aarreeaa - CCDDDD 66mmoonntthhss You will accompany English-speaking tourists to sites inNormandy, welcoming them, andguiding them. You will be passionateabout history and Normandy. You willhave a driver's licence for at least twoyears. The job interview will be con-ducted in English, so fluent English isessential.. Minimum six monthsexperience in tourism required.SPORT ACTIVITY LEADER Joobb ooffffeerr664411997766ii - LLaa FFeerrrriièèrree-HHaarraanngg - CCDDDD 77mmoonntthhss.. You will be responsible forbungey jumps. You will train up ateam of 10 in this discipline toinclude the procedure to follow

before and during each jump plus thesafety procedures. You will speak flu-ent English and have a minimum of 5years experience in the field of jump-ing. Certificate in Bungey Jumpinspection required.HOTEL RECEPTIONIST JJoobb ooffffeerr664422775599ii - LLiissiieeuuxx - CCDDDD 2244 mmoonntthhss.You will be responsible for the check-ing in and out of clients, taking book-ings, processing payments, cashingup, double checking invoices. You willalso have to lay out the breakfast buf-fet and keep the hotel clean.Beginners welcome with CAP, BEP orequivalent in hotel management.Fluent English required.HOTEL RECEPTIONIST JJoobb ooffffeerr663399664466ii - JJuuvviiggnnyy-ssoouuss-AAnnddaaiinnee -CCDDDD 88 mmoonntthhss.. For a four star hotel,you will greet visitors, provide anyinformation required about their stay,look after the formalities etc. Theposition is vacant from 01/03/11.Possibility of CDI at the end of thecontract. Two year previous experi-ence of hotel work required and flu-ent English. INDUSTRIAL QUALITY MANAGERJJoobb ooffffeerr 884466666633 ii - CCaallvvaaddooss -TTeemmppoorraarryy wwoorrkk oovveerr 55 mmoonntthhss.. Youwill be responsible for customer liai-son internationally, you will deal withthe non-conformities brought to yourattention by customers and organisedipatchments. Fluent English isessential. Minimum experience oftwo years in a similar role and twoyear university or equivalent qualifi-cation in quality control required.LIFEGUARD JJoobb OOffffeerr 664400662277ii - SSttAAuubbiinn ssuurr MMeerr - CCDDDD JJuullyy aanndd AAuugguusstt..You will monitor the swimming pool of

a campsite and oversee the safety ofthe swimmers. You will speak fluentEnglish and will have an AFPS orequivalent qualification. Minimum 6months experience required.GUIDE TOUR LEADER JJoobb ooffffeerr664400883388ii - BBaayyeeuuxx - CCDDDD 77 mmoonntthhss..You will welcome English- speakingtourist and drive them in a minibus tovisit the D Day landing beaches. Youshould have a sound command ofthe history of the Second World WarTotal command of English essential.Possible accommodation andbabysitting. Minimum experience 1year in tourism.ART GALLERY MANAGER JJoobb OOffffeerr888822440055NN - CCaabboouurrgg - CCDDDD 55 mmoonntthhss..Cabourg Gallery is looking for a man-ager for this coming season from01/04 to 15/09. Your role willinclude greeting and advising clients,selling and negotiating. Good presen-tation and command of French nec-essary. Fluent English preferred.Minimum one year's experience insimilar post. Degree level educationpreferred.ON BOARD STAFF, SEA CRUISE JJoobbOOffffeerr 664433336644ii - CCaaeenn,, CChheerrbboouurrgg,, SSttMMaalloo aanndd RRoossccooffff - CCDDDD 66 mmoonntthhss..For the season from April toSeptember. You will be responsiblefor greeting passengers and lookingafter their needs, 85% British. Youwill look after their safety and gener-al well-being. In the shop, restaurantor cabins, you will fulfill a sales andcustomer care role. 2 years previousexperience in similar sector required,hotel, catering, sales etc…A level ortourism qualification equivalentrequired. Fluent English essential.

Accueil des Villes FrançaisesFor newly arrived residentshttp://tinyurl.com/avfnorm

Alcoholics Anonymouswww.aabassenormandie.comBilingual meeting every Friday inPicauville (50).Alan: 02 78 08 41 23

Alliance Anglo-NormandeFrench and English lessons, meet-ings and a social calendar. Basedbetween Livarot and Vimoutiers.secretary.normande@orange.frwww.alliance-anglo-normande.info

Amicale Culturelle EuropéenneCultural events for all nationaltieswww.amicale-culturelle.euhegarty.thomas@orange.fr

Anglo-French Club, The PercheEcole de Français Du Perche (61)Lessons, monthly events andwalks. Maureen or Danielle: 02 33 25 25 63www.efdperche.com

AnglophoneAssociation,CoutancesA social and cultural associationfor English-speakers of any nation-ality. Liz Armstrong: 02 33 72 25 32lizarmstrong22@hotmail.com

Association Euromayennewww.euromayenne.orgFrench language classes inMayenne and Gorron for all levels.Contact John Robinson on02 43 03 36 75 or email robin-sonj@wanadoo.fr

Association Française des Soloswww.asso-des-solos.frCaen: 06 08 37 06 11Saint-Lô: 06.34.47.47.64Cherbourg: 06 45 50 57 69Dieppe: 06 61 16 68 84Rouen: 06 60 18 54 91

Association Franco-Britanniquede Buais (50)French tuition, all levels welcomeJuliet Sharp: 02 33 69 36 55juliet.sharp@yahoo.co.uk

Association Franco-Britannique,Barneville Carteret (50)An informal group of French andBritish residents who meet forsocial events on the Cotentinpeninsula Claude Bastian: 02 33 93 10 70http://francobrit50.wordpress.com

Bocage GardenersFor gardening enthusiasts, offeringadvice, meetings and outings.groups.yahoo.com/group/bocagegardeners

British Embassy (Paris) 01 44 51 31 00

Calvados Polo ClubPolo matches and events in Lisieuxarea (14). Open to non-members.Mme Garmond: 02 31 31 19 85polocarol@wanadoo.fr

Cancer Support BasseNormandieJenny Luck: 02 33 60 27 82jennyttluck@hotmail.comwww.cancersupportfrance.info

Classic Car and Bike Club of Désertines (53)Meets last Thursday of everymonth at the Red Lion Pub,DésertinesAlan Soutter: 02 33 69 55 62alan.soutter@orange.fr

Christ Church CoutancesEvery Sunday at 11.00 in thechapel of the Lycee Germain, Rued’Ilkley, All the services are in English andare Church of England based andall are welcome.

Call 02 33 58 86 76christchurchcoutances.com

Club Franco-Anglais deConversation de Gacé (61)Weekly conversation exchangebetween local French and EnglishLynn and Phil Slade: 02 33 34 53 20philip.slade@orange.fr

Elizabeth Finn CareGrants and advice for Britons andIrish in financial need.Mary Hughes: 04 68 23 43 79

Epona TrustCharity helping sick and mistreat-ed horses and poniesAnn: 02 33 61 88 41www.eponatrust.org

The 50 Photo ClubMeets on first Thursday of themonth at Laforge Pub in Le Petit-CellandJackie: 02 33 48 89 64laforge@nomotech.net

Gay Normandiewww.gaynormandie.com

Groupe OrnithologiqueNormandRegular bird-watching outings02 31 43 52 56www.gonm.org

Mayenne and Orne Writers Relaxed, friendly creative writinggroup on first Thursday of monthat the bistrot in Passais-la-Conception. Kitty Stephens: 02 33 64 12 20kitty.stephens@virgin.net

Neufchâtel Twinning AssociationEnglish, Spanish and Frenchtuition for all levels. Various activitiesneufchatelwhitchurch@free.fr

Orne LinkAnglo-French network for the Ornehttp://ornelink.orne.frScarlet or Véronique: 02 33 81 62 97

Royal British LegionNormandy/Calvados districtbranchhttp://rblnormandy.wordpress.comGoona Naidu: 02 31 78 36 40Ron Matthews:elronmat@wanadoo.fr

Royal Naval AssociationFrance Nord branchOpen to all ex-service membersand anyone with an interest in thenavyGeoffrey Baldock: 02 97 51 54 77gbaldock@yahoo.com

Société Protectrice des AnimauxCherbourg: 02 33 20 49 74Cabourg: 02 31 28 09 71Etalondes: 02 35 86 88 51

SOS HelplineTrained listeners provide confiden-tial, anonymous counselling serv-ice in English to English-speakersliving in France. 01 46 21 46 46 from 15.00 to 23.00 daily.www.soshelpline.org

UK passport advice0044 208 082 4729(cost of call plus 69p/minute onyour credit card)

“Ville-Beau-Son” ChoirAnglo-French choir in Villebaudon(50). Meets every Wednesday.Sylvia Miles: 02 33 59 21 81moulin50410@hotmail.com

Get the latest news and eventsalerts by following us on Twittertwitter.com/NormandyNewstwitter.com/WhatsOnNormandy

Useful Normandy contactsTo get your group listed here, email normandy@connexionfrance.com

The deadline for adverts is the10th of the month prior to following month’s edition

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18 Directory The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

DEVILLE PROPERTYSERVICESBarn & attic

conversion specialists. We undertake all aspects ofrenovation & improvement

projects.We legally employ English

speaking staff& do not sub-contract.

Full 10 year insurance backedguarantee.

TEL: 02 31 67 76 90www.devilleservices.com

Areas: 14 , 50 , 61 Siret: 5026366000018

David Pickering CompleteBuilding Services

Specializing in Installation of FosseToutes Eaux - Mini Digger/Dumper Hire

Email: david.pickering@wanadoo.frTel: 02 33 17 24 82

Mobile: 06 20 14 73 69 Siret: 481 189 991

GENERAL BUILDERRoofs, Loft conversions,Plumbing & Electrical,

Groundworks.Experienced team forall renovation work.__________________________

TIMBER PRESERVATIONEradication of rot andwoodboring insects

20 year certificated guarantee covering all France

Tel: Jim +33 (0) 679274563Email: jimmoto@hotmail.co.uk

Siret 488081233

Chenil du Val KennelsSmall, friendly, professional kennel

Special care/attention for your pets.Quarantine alternative

Contact Angie: Tel 02 33 17 17 61Between Periers/Coutances/St Lo

Email: angie.clarke@wanadoo.frSiret 50993743900016

ANIMAL COURIERSExperienced couriers specialisingin pet travel between France / UK /

Spain or within France. Pet passport advice.

Tel: 0044 (0) 1483200123Email: animals@animalcouriers.com

Web: www.animalcouriers.com

GOLDENWAYINTERNATIONAL PETS

World Wide PetTransporter / Relocator

Ministry approvedNo. 61195004 – 61195001Offices CDG Airport Paris

Offices and Kennels NormandyTel: 01 48 62 87 25 CDG ParisTel: 02 33 38 41 32 Normandy

www.goldenwaypets.comSiret: 397549551

Acorn Kennels & Cattery

Qualified and professional careof your pet while you are away

www.AcornKennelsandCattery.comTel: 02 33 49 63 22

Siret: 479 825 168 00012

NORMANDY KENNELSSmall, caring and qualified

English run kennels and catteryContact Jon or Sue Tel 02 31 67 93 48

Near Vire Dept 14www.normandykennels.com

jonathan.moir@orange.frSiret 48914001200019

Chenil Les Mille Calins

English Run5 Star accommodation

for Dogs/CatsComprising of underfloor

heated kennels Qualified staff

Top Quality food and exerciseOnly 45 minutes south of Caen

Convenient Ferry AccessSAFETY COMFORT AND CARE FOR

YOUR PET, PEACE OF MIND FOR YOUwww.goldenwaypets.comTelephone 02 33 37 49 19Emergency 02 33 38 41 32

Fax 02 33 38 44 16

Advertise here AALLLL YYEEAARR fromjust €116655HHTT Call free on 0800 91 77 56 or email directory@connexionfrance.com

By advertising in ourdirectory you get the chanceto run advertorials(the news stories you see onthese pages.) 1/3 page, maximum 500words plus photo, €200HT

2/3 page, maximum 1,000

words plus photo, €400HT

We will keep you up todate with features and spe-cial events in your area ofFrance in all our publica-tions that could help toboost your business.

Your advert is included inour online directory FREE.

Want to advertise in ournational paper Connexion orsister paper the Dordogne?Get 50% off your seconddirectory advert.

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HOW TO BOOK AN ADVERTChoose the size of your advert from theexamples on the left. You can have ablack and white advert; or you canchoose a colour from the list below.Finally, you can now chose to haverounded corners to the box to help makeyou advert stand out (See right). Then,when you have made your choice, call 0800 91 77 56

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Find registered tradespeople quickly and easily

English-speaking firms nneeaarr yyoouuNORMANDY DIRECTORY

(1-15 words)

B&W €€165HT

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47mm x 50mm

Treble47mm x 75mm }

}Single

47mm x 25mm

For your security, we check that the French businesses in this section are officially registered with the authorities

GARDEN MAINTENANCEGarden Clearance - Grass Cutting

Hedge Cutting - Strimming and WeedKilling

Tel: Charlie 02 33 91 78 05Email: habin.charlie@wanadoo.fr

St Sever Area Siret 49763502900018

Mark Dupee LANDSCAPE GARDENER

Est 1994Tel: 02 33 90 92 28

Mobile: 06 68 74 83 41Email: markdupee@hotmail.com

Siret 49509842800016

Seans Garden ServicesLawns – Hedges – TreesOvergrown plots cleared.

Free quotes for one-off jobs.Call Sean 02 31 09 27 00

Email: sean.melanaphy@wanadoo.frSiret: 50139841600013

FRENCH INSURANCE - IN ENGLISH

For people who live in/ own property in

FranceStraight-forward, honest advice onthe best house, car, life & health

insurance policies for youOver 15 years experience inFrench insurance markets

English, Dutch & German spoken.Philippe Schreinemachers

www.insurance.frTel: 33 00 05 62 29 20 00

Email: contact@insurance.frRCS Auch B479 400 657 - Regions: All France

AXA INSURANCE

J. LECLUZEST HILAIRE DU HARCOUET - 50600

HOME - CAR - HEALTHWe insure UK registered cars

ENGLISH SPOKEN(call Angeline) - 02 33 49 12 34

agence.lecluze@axa.fr

AllianZ InsuranceCAR HOME

HEALTHInsurance in Lower Normandy Christophe Marie, Vire - Tel: 02 31 68 01 96

Email: christophe.marie@agents.allianz.fr Siret N° ORIAS 07/022 348

bml angloagence.comEnglish registered cars

House insurance - Health cover1700 British clients trust us

02 96 87 21 21contact@angloagence.com

Dinan, Brittany

AXAInsurance

Agence Vigneau CherbourgYour French Insurance In English

Health - Home - Car Call Thomas: 02 33 52 87 46

agence.vigneaucherbourg@axa.fr

AllianzInsuranceMayenne

Friendly, English speaking agent

House, Car andHealth Insurance

plus savings account

at 4% netinterest, free withdrawal.

Tel 02 43 05 21 824005417@agents.allianz.fr

www.english-speaking-insurance.com

Orias 09052461

HOUSES ONINTERNET

Do you want to sell yourhouse quickly?

Our fee is only 2.5%Find out how on:

WWW.HOUSESONINTERNET.COM

Tel: 05 55 65 12 19

Francois LabadieAgence immobilière

Currently looking for more housesto market on our portfolio

Ali Lamerton-Hunt 06 59 18 68 57 Email: ali-maisonsnormandy@hotmail.frWebsite: www.maisonsnormandy.com

Andrew Morgan

Electrician All works guaranteed and carried out to

French regulations standard.Tel: 02 31 67 34 40

Email: morbox@orange.frRegions Covered: 50,61,and 14 - Siret: 49427469900011

YESYou Can Learn French !

Language and Leisure inLanguedoc - Learn at your own

speed - In private lessonsWith professional teacher

(British) Study-Holidays instunning scenery: Tuition

Plus self-cateringAccommodation.

Tel: 06 78 15 19 29www.cours-a-cucugnan.com

Email: campbellclaire53@yahoo.fr Regions Covered: All france

Siret: 521701474

NORMANDYFRENCH TUITION

Qualified bilingual teacherSmall groups, 1 to 1 online,

intensive courses, translationTél: 02 33 65 39 73 Mob: 06 15 76 37 34

www.normandyfrenchtuition.com

Crafts at Les LandesSpinning and other crafts.

Half, Full day tuition orresidential B&B

www.crafts-at-leslandes.comtel: 00 33 (0)2 33 960904

SIRET No 489 459 438 00011

Help with theFrench system

• Paperwork, Phone calls• Translation, InterpretingCall Hilary Reynolds

00 33 (0) 2 33 59 17 07www.leapfrogservices.net

JS MenuiserieJohn Shipton - 02 33 55 15 90Carpenter/Joiner

All kinds of handmade furniture and carpen-try work. From door fittings to kitchens.

email: jshippo1962@gmail.comsiret 499 313 658

English Carpenter/JoinerMichael Bambridge BSc

Very experienced in renovation and carpentry including stairs and furniture

Tel: 02 33 50 40 24Email: summit@west-telecom.com

Siret: 48131662800017

Stuart Upton CARPENTRY & ROOFING

Full 10 year Insurance Backed GuaranteeTel: 02 33 64 89 28 / 06 06 43 52 28Email: upton_stuart@hotmail.com

Regions Covered 61, 14, 50Siret 48036552700013

LOW COST PRINT IN NORMANDY

Business Cards - Leaflets - Flyers - Postcards -Banners - Vehicle Graphics - Colour Labelswww.AardvarkPrintandDesign.com

02 33 91 88 16info@aardvarkprintanddesign.com

SW COMPUTERSPC repairs,upgrades, sales.help with

internet connections, call out or bring to us.Tel: Mark 02 33 90 64 93

Mob: 06 72 66 61 51www.swcomputers.eu

Siret: 483 973 863 000 10

Penny Graphicswebsites from

75€including design, hosting and

domain name

pennygraphics.net02 33 90 92 15

WWW.BOCAGERENOVATIONS.COM

For All Your Building &Renovations WorksLarge or Small Projects

( Many can be Viewed )Backed up by 10 year Insurance

14 years working in France

Tel: 02 31 67 62 51Mob: 06 19 91 29 48

Email: ave.goosey@wanadoo.frSiret: 48877612100011

MesnilRenovation

Areas 14/50/61Full / Part Renovations,

carpentry, masonry, plaster-ing, tiling, kitchens, replace-

ment windows and doors.www.buildersnormandy.com

Tel. 02 31 09 26 54Siret 48423125300010

NEWHOUSEChambre de Métiers registered

Stonemason, Structural Timber Roofingand Renovation Specialist - 100% Reliable

Tel: Terry 06 78 79 67 72 / 09 63 58 72 79Email: mjward@orange.fr

Siret : 509430009600016

Directory 19The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011 www.normandyadvertiser.com

IN THE late 1980’s and 1990’s the majorityof Reflex Moodys’ customers were movingto France with very little return traffic.

It is a very different situation today withmany households returning to the UK andthe company has adapted with two newservices to help anyone in France wantingto bring objects over from the UK andanother for people looking to move back.

The reasons for moving back are variedbut families often leave France prior topurchasing a new home in the UK. In this caseReflex Moodys can offer both short and longterm storage for this interim period.

With fewer moves going to France, the com-pany is widening its field, and will transport agreater variety of goods from the UK to France.

For customers who buy online from UK sup-pliers, Reflex Moodys offers the use of its ware-

house in Salisbury, Wiltshire as a deliveryaddress in the UK.

From there, the goods are then shipped toFrance on the next available trip, normallywithin two weeks.

Commodities that the company will currentlytransport include building materials, beds, tim-ber, flooring, to name a few.

Foodstuffs can be transported as long as theyare not perishable and Reflex Moodys is cur-

rently awaiting its first grocery order. Prices vary from £50+VAT for a five cubic-

foot carton (which can be shared) to£300+VAT for two heavy pallets of tiles.

Prices are negotiable depending upon thelocation of the customer.

Reflex Moodys Ltd (previously Reflex Move),was established in 1986 by Peter Rattue.

The company has specialised in moving cus-tomers’ belongings between the UK and Francefor the past 24 years.

Warehouse

They are based in Salisbury, Wiltshire, andthe company operates seven vehicles from theirmodern warehouse premises.

Vehicles range from 3.5 tonne vans, which areuseful for collecting part loads in the homecounties, to a 28-tonne lorry and drawbar trail-er which frequently travels to France carrying amultitude of part loads.

Such is the demand for moves between theUK and France, that Reflex Moodys send onaverage one vehicle to France every week.There are nine full-time employees, eight ofwhom regularly travel to France.

For further information please visitwww.reflexmoodys.com

Need goods transportingfrom the UK to France?We can move them atcompetitive rates sayReflex Moodys

Household movers expand their servicesADVERTISING FEATURE

ROLLING: The firm’s fleetranges from 3.5 tonnevans to a 28 tonne lorry

To take outa directory

advertcall us free

on0800

91 77 56or email

directory@connexionfrance

.com

LE BON CHOIXDEPOT - VENTE

Tel: 02 43 03 37 72www.lebonchoixdepotvente.com

BRITISH BEDSBY BEAUX

RÊVES2 & 4 Drawer Divans

Headboards & BedsteadsMemory Foam - Pocket Sprung

Vacuum Packed MattressesZip & Link Divans

Mattresses from 99€Beds from 99€

Opening Times - Tues, Thurs, Fri9.30-12.00 14.00-17.00Wed, Sat 9.30-12.00

Closed Sun, Mon23 rue de Bretagne

53120 GorronTel - 02 43 11 26 77

Email - beauxreves@hotmail.co.uk

WOODBURNERSAsh Grove Stoves

Supplier ofHunter - Villager

- Clean Burn - Fire Visible - Boiler versions available- Deliveries all over France- Prices on our website

Lowest Prices Guaranteed

Tel: 00 44 (0) 1392 861579www.ashgrovestoves.com

sales@ashgrovestoves.com

WOOD STOVE STUDIOWood burning stoves and Cuisinieres from

Cashin Camina CleanburnEsse Hunter Parkray

Stovaxon display at our dept 61 showroom

Selkirk chimneyand flexible liner

Full installation servicewww.woodstovestudio.com info@woodstovestudio.com

Tel 02 33 12 57 26Siret 498 597 632 00013

WOODBURNERSBY THE STOVE SHACK

ESSE - HUNTER - WOODWARM- Full lining and installation

of all Stoves - Free Survey and Advice

in Depts 14,50,61- Stoves eligible for

Credit d'impots- 20 yrs experience - HETAS and NVQ Qualified

Tel 02 33 17 25 21thestoveshack@gmail.com

www.thestoveshack.euSiret No 510 070 535 00016

INVICTA INTERNATIONALLIGHT HAULAGE SERVICESStore Collections, General Removals,

Motorcycle Recovery.France, UK, Europe.Tel: 02 33 64 99 31

Email: invicta@invicta-international.comSIRET Number 51407345.1-0001.5

REFLEX MOODYS LTDSALISBURY

REMOVALSUK - FRANCE - UK

• Weekly Service • Full & Part Loads• Container Storage

• BAR Members• On-line Quotation

• Internet Shopping Deliveries00 44 1722 414350

info@reflexmoodys.comwww.reflexmoodys.comCompany Regn No: UK 5186435TVA / VAT No: UK 864 7217 04

FISHFACE REMOVALS UK - FRANCE - UK Full and part loads You pack,

we move, you save! 0044 (0)1327 264627 UK

Email: info@fishfaceremovals.com www.fishfaceremovals.com

D & KREMOVALSLight Removals to and from

France. Best prices, best service.T: + 44 (0) 079705 30723

E: classicalternatives@msn.com

SELF STORAGE FACILITY 61SECURE SITE

NEW STORAGE CONTAINERSCOMPETITIVE PRICES

Tel: 02 33 30 89 20Email: martinpj@wanadoo.fr

Web: www.pjmselfstorage.comSiret: 41153948300020 - Regions: All of France

MOVINGTO OR FROM

FRANCE?Weekly services to

& from FranceFull or part loads, 4wks free storage,

25 Yearsexperience

Contact:Anglo French RemovalsTel: +44 (0)1233 660 963

Email: info@anglofrench.co.ukwww.anglofrench.co.uk

BERTIN COUVERTURE15 Years experience in roofing and zinc

New and restauration / Chimney Sweep02 33 38 28 86

With 10 years insurance - Siret: 50792761400010

POWER & LIGHT SERVICESELECTRICAL & PLUMBING

SERVICESALL WORK FULLY INSURED.

Tel: 02 33 70 88 24Email: john.hipwell@orange.frRegions Covered: 50,14,61,22

Siret: 515 210 847 00015

GENERAL BUILDINGSERVICES (76)Ground Works (mini digger)Septic Tanks, Renovation /

Refurbishment, Roofing and Joinery,Kitchens / Bathrooms, Maintenance /

Repairs - Total Project Management35 years experience (NHBC UK)

SIRET: 517 429 056 000 16Fully Insured

LAWS CONSTRUCTION02 35 97 00 56 06 21 09 08 23

annlaws@live.com

Chimney SweepWood StoveInstallationProperty

ManagementIain Davison

www.propertycarepeople.comTel: 02 33 14 09 55

Email: property.care@orange.frSiret: 494799968

ROOFING SPECIALISTCCoommpplleettee wwoorrkkss//rreeppaaiirrss uunnddeerrttaakkeenn

BBaasseedd iinn tthhee SSoommmmee aarreeaaAAllll NNoorrtthheerrnn rreeggiioonnss CCoonnssiiddeerreeddContact Chris or Barbara Wood

Tel: 03 22 32 59 50Barbara.wood@wanadoo.fr

Siret: 502368103

CHIMNEY SWEEPBlack Cat Services

Expert English Sweep, Mess FreeRegistered, Insured.

Certificate de Ramonage IssuedTel : 02 33 50 84 91

Email: steve@baintons.com

Chris HuttInstallation & Repair of English &

European TV and BroadbandInternet. All work guaranteed.

Tel: 02 33 91 69 29,email: chrishutt@wanadoo.fr

siret:491 624 367

CHIMNEY SWEEPPROPERTY MANAGEMENT

DEPT 50Stephen Ramsbottom - 0233172361

e-mail: manchepropertyservices@hotmail.com

siret: 51114827200012

ELECTRICIAN / PLUMBERand HEATING ENGINEERFrench Registered - Over 35 years experience

David Christie - 02 33 51 05 91Mobile: 06 31 97 58 15

Email: Christie.david@wanadoo.frSouth Manche Siret: 481 604 411 00019

Kilrush Cars Ltd

A large selection ofEuropean

Left Hand Drive

CarsOne owner - FSH - C.O.CTel: 00 44 (0) 1252 782883

www.kilrushcars.com

ENGLISHLANGUAGEFUNERALS

Your needs, your wishes09 65 35 17 56

www.englishlanguagefunerals.fr

20 Directory The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

ADVERTISING FEATURE

WOOD Stove Studio’s Nigel Campen has asense of déja vu watching a second consecutivecold winter thaw out into spring.

“This time last year we were reflecting uponthe long, cold winter of 2009-10 thinking thismay have been a one-off,” he said.

“Twelve months later we are just emergingfrom another long, cold spell which has putgreat demands on fuel to heat our homes.”

The wood stove industry has continued toflourish as more people recognise the manybenefits of burning wood to heat their homes,and the independence it gives against the risingcosts of oil, gas and electricity.

“At Wood Stove Studio we take great pride inthe advice and good service we give to ourclients, and we listen to their needs as well,” saidMr Campen.

“We often have clients asking for heating andcooking options when they have no chimney, orhave received expensive quotes to build one. Incases like these, we have some great solutions tooffer,” said Mr Campen.

Wood Stove Studio specialises in installingmodular Selkirk twin wall chimneys. This high-quality product is designed to create a chimneyfor stoves where no masonry chimney exists.

“A typical Selkirk chimney costs about a third

of a masonry stack,” added Mr Campen.Installation takes one to two days, is clean,

efficient, and, for clients wishing to either makea feature of the chimney to compliment thestove, or to keep the appearance subtle, we canoffer a range of high temperature powder coatedcolour finishes.

“People wanting more information on thesechimneys and stoves often ask about the sort ofwood you need to burn. In fact any hardwoodsuch as beech, ash or oak is fine. These all havehigh calorific values, but it is important that allthe wood must be well-seasoned; we recom-mend at least four years,” said Mr Campen.

Nigel and Julie of Wood Stove Studio aremeticulous and only offer top of the range prod-ucts. To this end they have secured a tradingarrangement with ESSE of the UK.

ESSE, founded in 1854, offers some of thefinest range cookers available.

“With modern technology embraced with tra-ditional manufacturing skills, these fine and effi-cient range cookers will make a statement in anyhome,” said Mr Campen.

www.woodstovestudio.com info@woodstovestudio.com02 33 12 57 26

Burning issue over winter heating productsNEW IN 2011:Wood StoveStudio nowoffer CCTVchimney surveyinspections,professionalinstallation ofcustomers’ ownstoves, and amonthly ‘askthe specialist’ section of theirnews andevents columnson their website.Pictured: AnEsse rangecooker.

With modern technology, embraced by traditional manufacturingskills, these range cookers make a statement in any home“

Out and About 21The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011 www.normandyadvertiser.com

Acountry hotel in a 19th-centurychateau has started specialising in all-inclusive holidays for families. Theowner, Briton Jon Barnsley, said he

believes his to be the first luxury hotel inNormandy to offer such holidays and they are“selling at an extraordinary pace”.

“Many parents crave a taste of luxury on holi-day, but they are scared that chateaux and chil-dren don’t go together,” he said. “We haveretained the grandeur, but made it child-proof.”

Mr Barnsley, 49, bought Le Castel, inMontpinchon, Manche (le-castel-normandy.com) in 2004 as a chateau with justfour rooms. To turn it into a going concern, hecreated two new rooms in the main house, plusthree cottages in the grounds.

His 25 years in Fleet Street as a journalist,working on The Times, the Mirror, the Sun andthe News of the World, stood him in goodstead, particularly his time as showbiz editor,then travel editor, of the News of the World.

“In both jobs, I travelled the globe and sawwhat hotels got right and wrong,” he said. “Itried to incorporate some of the best ideas intoLe Castel, which is a cross between a boutiquehotel and a guest house. I seem to have found agap in the market for families who want luxuryclose to home.”

The holidays are for either the Easter or sum-mer holidays. The price varies according to theaccommodation (two-bedroomed suites in thechateau or two-bedroomed cottages in thefour-acre grounds) and includes seven nights’

accommoda-tion and full-board.

There arechildren’s din-ners at 5pm,with child-friendly menus,and adult-onlyones later. Alldrinks areincluded,including softdrinks and milkfor the chil-dren, and wineand beer. Afridge is keptstocked withdrinks, ice-cream and

snacks and four hours of child care is providedon most days.

Mr Barnsley said: “The idea is that parentsknow exactly what their holiday will cost inadvance and will not be hit with shockingextras at the end of their stay.”

Each suite or cottage has toys and children’sbooks and the chateau has a library withBritish TV, DVDs and books. Outside facilitiesinclude a “Camelot-style” play marquee withtoys, table tennis and table football, bicycles, asand-pit, swings and a woodland den. “It hasloads of of planks, tree trunks and branchesthat can be rearranged as much as the kidslike.” The hotel also arranges tours of the next-door dairy farm.

Mr Barnsley said childcare is on offer everyday apart from Thursdays (when the mealoptions are also reduced to breakfast and raid-

ing the fridge, or a meal at a local resturant).“Parents can stay in bed and send the chidlrendown for breakfast, where they will be lookedafter by our childcare team for a couple ofhours.

“During the day, you can go off to explore orsend the kids down to the play marquee, theden or the pool.

“Then, late afternoon, you can drop theyoungsters off again and they will be enter-tained and given meals. Parents will then beable to put them to bed and enjoy adult-onlytime in the evening.”

The family packages are aimed mainly atfamilies with children aged two to 12, butyounger or older ones are welcome, too. The hotel’s suites have kettles and microwavesfor warming baby food, and cots, baby baths,changing mats, monitors and sterilisers canalso be provided.

Child-proofchateau whereparents can livea life of luxury

“I seem to have found a gap in the market for families whowant luxury close to homeJohn BarnsleyHotelier

Child-care is

on offersix daysa week,and the

pack-ages are

aimedat two-to 12-year-olds

Former Fleet Street journalist Jon Barnsley,right, was keen to maintain the grandeur of Le Castel, above

22 Property The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

MORTGAGE interest rates areon the up compared to late lastyear.

By the end of January, theyhad hit an average of four percent over a 20-year repaymentperiod, up from 3.55 per centin October 2010. According toexperts, the rise is set to con-tinue this year. The averagerate is currently 3.8 per cent ifthe loan is over 15 years.

Online mortgage brokersEmpruntis are predicting a riseof another half per cent by theend of the second quarter, likelyto make the prospect of buyingmore difficult for many people.

Founder Geoffroy Bragadirsays a rise of that amount islikely to happen rapidly inParis and some of the bigprovincial cities, and prices arealso likely to rise there, byabout five per cent, over a sim-ilar period. A quarter of thosewhose banks were willing toloan money in October couldnow be rejected in the cities,Empruntis believes.

Last autumn, rates were his-torically low, comparable toautumn 2005, which, alongwith the imminent ending of certainschemes to boost home purchase, notablythe income tax credit on mortgage inter-est, led to a flurry of house purchases atthe end of the year.

Many pundits agree we will see a rise ofabout 0.5 per cent this year, because therates for government bonds are going up

and the European Central Bank is raisingconcerns over inflation, though noteveryone is as pessimistic as Mr Bragadir.

According to the largest mortgage broker, Cafpi, there is no reason for astrong rise to continue indefinitely.

It predicts we are going to see more

customers seeking loans again in thespring, and banks starting to be some-what more competitive in offers again.

Experts at the Observatoire CréditLogement, a research branch of the bodythat guarantees most bank loans that arenot made with the house as security(which is common in France) say they

think rates are going to stayfairly low for some time.

The body is also predictingthat sales will be boosted bythis year’s more generousterms for the government'sinterest-free loan.

They say this alone is theequivalent of about a 0.4 or0.5 per cent drop in interest

rates. The body’s head,Michael Mouillart, said theend of last year was so “crazy”it was necessary for everyoneto “catch their breath” beforethey could properly evaluatewhat is happening this year.The position will not emergeclearly until April, he believes.

He says two scenarios mayemerge: after prices stayingfairly stable in the first twoquarters, they may rise quick-ly later, with rises of about sixto eight per cent or more overthe whole year. On the otherhand, the new stricter BaselIII banking regulations maymake banks more prudentabout lending, in which case arise of about three to four percent up to summer 2012 is onthe cards.

The highest rates in recentyears were in October 2008:5.4 per cent over 20 years fora typical loan of €150,000.

“Last year was socrazy everyonehas to catch theirbreath before wecan evaluate whatis happening thisyear properlyMichel MouillartLoan market expert

Mortgage rates on the up

Prices and mortgage rates will have risen steeply by mid-year, some experts predict

Phot

o: ©

Tho

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IS -

Foto

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om

DIY

Build decking toenjoy the spring

t ips

SPRING is upon us and before the plants start to take overthe garden again it is a good time to think about preparingoutdoor living spaces.

Decking is an attractive way of creating an outside diningor sitting area, and is generally easier to make than a pavedarea. For the decking novice, it is probably wise to start witha ground-level deck.

First, mark out the area you wish to deck with cords andstakes making sure the ground is level. Lay breeze blocks atequal distances on ground about 60cm apart. Once these arein the correct positions, dig trenches that are 10cm largerthan the blocks and to a depth of roughly 20cm.

Flatten and firmly press down the bottom of the holes,place landscaping fabric along the bottom and sides and add10cm of gravel, which again needs to be pressed down.Place the breeze blocks into the trenches making sure they are level with each other then pour in concrete to sealthem in.

It is a good idea at this point to cover the area completelywith landscaping fabric to prevent weeds growing; this inturn can be covered with gravel to hold it in place and makeit even more effective.

Build the decking frame by placing the joists on the breezeblocks, being sure to check the alignment of the joists andthen fixing them with metal brackets. Ideally there shouldbe a gap of about 50mm between the ground and the top ofthe frame to allow air to circulate and water to drain away.

One by one, screw on the boards leaving a gap of about 5-10mm between each one; this is necessary to allow for theexpansion of the boards when they get wet. To make surethese gaps are evenly spaced, place pieces of wood or metalof the desired width between the boards. Finally screw theedging boards into place using the ends of the joists asguides.

If necessary, treat the wood, especially the ends that havebeen cut.

It is very important that treated wood is used and it isadvisable to consult a structural engineer or builder if deck-ing is to be built high off the ground.

It is advisable to treat the decking at yearly intervals tokeep it looking its best.

Material needed:Cords and stakes: cordeaux et piquets; breeze blocks:parpaings; landscaping fabric: film géotextile; concrete:béton; joists: solives; metal brackets: équerres métalliques;decking boards: planches de terrasse.

Decking creates an attractive outdoor living space

Photo: © G

erhard Führing - Fotolia.com

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GardeningFacts

Get readyfor summer THIS month in the garden, it is time for planting yoursummer bulbs.

Flower bulbs come in two main groups: spring-floweringones such as crocus and daffodils, which are planted in theautumn before the ground gets too hard, and those thatflower in summer, planted in spring after the frosts.

Start with those that are least sensitive to the cold, ie.daylilies (hémérocalles), crocosmias (often called mont-bretia in the UK), gladioli (glaïeul) and lilies (lis).

For other bulbs, such as dahlias, wait until the end of themonth, or perhaps the start of next month.

Dig your planting hole and put a layer of sand or gravel inthe bottom for good drainage, and a handful of wellbroken-down compost. Bulbs are planted with the shootupwards and usually at a depth of about three times theirheight plus 5cm for the compost.

The ideal distance between bulbs varies by species, butdense carpets of flowers can give an attractive effect.Garden centres sell plastic baskets that you bury and inwhich you plant your bulbs, making it easier for you to digup the flowers later on if you so wish. You might want toset aside one corner of your flower bulbs which you willuse for picking. It is also a good idea to insert a labelledmarker or piece of stick into the ground indicating whereyou planted your bulbs, for later reference.

The daylily gets its name from the fact that its flower issimilar to a lily, but is short-lived (its scientific name, hemerocallis, actually means “beauty of one day”). Theflowers usually open at sunrise and wither at sunset, buteach plant has a lot of buds that open at different stagesover a number of weeks. There are thousands of differentcultivated varieties. They thrive best in full sun and flowerfrom June to July, depending on the variety.

Montbretia give red, yellow or orange flowers, whichflower from early summer into October. They should beplanted in a sunny or half-shaded area. They are hardyperennials and you can leave the bulbs from one year to thenext. They will develop into thick clumps.

Gladioli are named from the Latin meaning a “littleswords”, because of their pointed, sword-like leaves. Theycome in various colours, like a sunny position and willflower until September. They are ideal for use as cut flowersand will last about 10 days.

Lilies are among the most spectacular of bulb flowers andwere used in French royal symbolism on the end of thesceptre or at the side of the crown. They flower from Mayto September and like to be in the sun.

by STAFF REPORTER

PROPERTIES AROUND FRANCE

PROPERTIES IN NORMANDY

Mayenne53Plantes et Bulbes

Mayenne 53 Garden Supplies

www.mayenne53.comTel 02 43 13 06 56

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Bare-root trees available to order now!

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Houses for sale in and around Normandy

REF: FIRFOL3220

€€117,500

ENERGY RATING = Not given

Calvados, FirfolStone/colombage and slate prop-erty (94m2), situated in a hamletin a peaceful setting with a gar-den area of 1,200m2. Garage.Modernisation and decorationneeded.

REF: IFPC16909

€€149,500

ENERGY RATING = Not given

Saint-Hilaire-du-HarcouëtAn attractive three bedroom dou-ble fronted detached stone farm-house with cottage to renovateand barns in grounds.

REF: 11048

€€196,200

ENERGY RATING = Not given

DomfrontA rare opportunity to take over athriving bar-restaurant lock,stock and barrel with category 4license, full alcoholic licence andperforming rights all in place.

REF: BNO-379

€€235,500

ENERGY RATING = Not given

DomfrontA detached house with gîte thathas been fully renovated in 2006and is situated at the edge of avillage.

REF: BOUREY4624

€€298,920

ENERGY RATING = Not given

Manche, BoureyStone and slate renovated prop-erty (south facing;150m2), lies inthe countryside in a peaceful set-ting, with a garden area of4500m2.

REF: 1046

€€93,000

ENERGY RATING = D & B

This wonderful 2 bedroom apart-ment is in very good conditionand is situated in a beautifulrestored Batisse in a Minervoisvillage on the Canal du Midi withall amenities.

REF: IFPC18756

€€115,000

ENERGY RATING = E & C

5km from GourinThis property is a beautifullyrenovated cottage/longère, set inthe heart of a small hamlet just5km north of the market town ofGourin in the Morbihan depart-ment of Brittany.

REF: IFPC20217

€€120,000

ENERGY RATING = Not given

Haute-Savoie, Chamonix-Mont-BlancStudio apartment with a livingarea with a double sofabed and asmall kitchen. The hallway hastwo fold down bunks and abathroom off it.

REF: IFPC20539

€€265,000

ENERGY RATING = Not given

Lot, LuzechAttractive renovated stone housewith pool overlooking vineyards120m2 habitable. Property is seton 2,200m2 of land with villagejust five mins away. Call: 0033 06 69 93 55 66

REF: 2477

€€294,000

ENERGY RATING = Not given

Pyrénées-Orientales,Amélie-les-Bains-PalaldaThree bedroom village house,48m2 each floor. Large terraceswith stunning views of villageand mountains. South facingwith small garden and parking.

REF: 4363491

€€331,000

ENERGY RATING = Not given

Vienne, CivrayHouse with three en suite bedrooms overlooking theCharente river. There is adetached one bedroom, fitted andequipped guest cottage/gîte, a potting shed and cellar.

REF: 11962 MH

€€243,800

ENERGY RATING = E &B

Manche, Villedieu-les-PoêlesFive bedroom stone house withan attached gîte, numerous out-buildings and set on 5 acres ofland.

REF: 13082DC

€€164,300

ENERGY RATING = G & D

Calvados, Condé-sur-NoireauRestored three bedroom stonecottage comprises fully fittedkitchen, sitting room with wood-burning stove, bathroom, showerroom and 6320m2 of land.

REF: IFPC20400

€€249,000

ENERGY RATING = D & D

CarentanFive bedroom farmhouse com-prises kitchen, 3 spacious recep-tion rooms, 2 bathrooms, out-buildings, courtyard garden, pad-dock, an orchard and a vegetableplot set on half a hectare of land.

New Consumption and Emission Chart- e.g. Energy rating C & F refers to C for Consumption and F for Emissions

Daylilies come in thousands of different varieties

24 News The Advertiser, Normandy March 2011www.normandyadvertiser.com

MORE than 130,000 spectators are expected inGranville for the town’s famous carnival onMarch 4-8, but those who cannot go will beable to watch the whole Sunday procession liveon France 3 in Normandy and Brittany, a firstfor the carnival.

This year, the 137th, will see a record 38motorised floats in the grand processions and1,500 people taking part.

Carnival president Yves Guiton said: “Thenumber of floats grows every year, which sumsup the success of this Granville tradition. Thisyear will have a lot of surprises in store, as wellas events we are all waiting for, such as theconfetti battle or the illuminated firework procession.”

It was started by Granville sailors who used toget ready to sail to fishing grounds offNewfoundland around Shrove Tuesday (mardigras). A carnival spokesman said: “The cross-

ing was long and tough and before leaving theywanted some fun before braving the stormsand hard work. The town carried on the tradi-tion and, even if fishermen no longer leave on‘Terre-Neuvas’ boats, the whole populationmakes the most of four days of jollity.” Later inthe year, the last French Terre-Neuvas, theMarité, is visiting the town.

The event opens with a fancy-dress aperitif onthe Friday evening. Highlights will include achildren’s procession and ball on the Saturday,then music groups in the evening. On theSunday is the Grande Cavalcade, a 3km proces-sion, repeated in the evening with illumina-tions and fireworks.

On Monday is the Bal à Papa ball, mainly forthose taking part in the processions, then onTuesday the floats bring out the model of thecarnival king “le Bonhomme Carnival”, who is

judged and con-demned to be burned.Five tons of confettiare thrown in aConfetti Battle. Thecarnival finishes withthe “Soiréed’Intrigues” (PlotsEvening) in the streets,bars and homes, wherelocals dress in out-landish costumes tovisit each other.

The carnival is freeand there is parking atthe entrances of thetown, with free shuttlebuses on the Sunday.

Rouen carnival willbe held on WednesdayMarch 31.

Granville carnival to be televised live

Left: Last year’s carnivalprocession. Below: thelast French ‘Terre-Nuevas’boat, the Marité

One of the floats at last year’s carnival

Phot

o: s

tudi

o ar

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es

Phot

o: s

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esPhoto: Loïc Evanno

“The whole population makesthe most of fourdays of jollityDavid LetortCarnival spokesman