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§ Arrival times
The official arrival time is after 4pm on your first day. This is to allow sufficient time for our cleaner to access the property between lets. If there is no booking immediately prior to your letting, then this is not relevant and you can arrive at any time on your first day. You can check the status of bookings at our on-line calendar at: ownersdirect. If you arrive early, please don't think you have to kill time some where before you arrive - we know how frustrating that can be. Please feel free to come to the cottage and if our cleaner is still working, you are welcome to relax in the garden while you wait, or you can drop off some bags and go shopping or explore the area.

§ Supermarkets
You could stop en route to stock up with some groceries at either of the two large supermarkets on the outskirts of Josselin – SuperU and Champion. We prefer the SuperU, which is slightly larger and we think it has a better range. The position of both is marked on our Google route map with the yellow shopping basket symbol – they are just off the dual carriageway exit for central Josselin, and you can get straight back onto the dual carriageway to continue your route to the cottage. This is also the best place to buy petrol/diesel as they have the cheapest fuel in the area. A smaller Proxi general store is open in Guegon.

Tourist Information

§ Recommended maps & guidebooks
There are many good guidebooks for the region. You will find most of these at the cottage, but for those wishing to buy a guidebook to bring with them, or for pre-travel research, we can recommend: Vacances Brittany: The French on France.
The best local maps are from the IGN series. Again, you will find these at the cottage but if you wish to buy your own they are:
Carte De Promenade Lorient Vannes No. 15 at 1:100 000 in their Top 100 series for cycling, or Serie Bleue 0919E Josselin in the 1:25 000 for walking.

§ Josselin Tourist Information.
The local toursit information office is open all year and provides an excellent range of information, with helpful staff who can usually speak some English. There is also the Josselin web site, in French.

You will find a comprehensive selection of guides, books, maps and tourist information leaflets at the cottage.

We hope you have a safe journey, a lovely holiday, and the weather is kind to you!

A full information file will be found in the longère. These notes are intended to answer some of the questions that will assist inthe advance planning for your visit. If there is anything you would like clarifying, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Beds
1 x double bed in Master Bedroom (140x190)
2 x single beds in Goose Bedroom (80x190)
2 x single beds Guest Bedroom (90x190)
1 x double sofa bed in TV Lounge (max size 4’6” x 4’6” so will only suit small children).
1 x folding single bed – this is provided to allow additional flexibility and can be placed in any of the bedrooms, or the gite lounge, but is not to be used to increase the overall occupancy of the cottage (max. occupancy 7 persons).
Duvets and pillows are provided, along with extra blankets. Please bring base bed sheets, duvet covers, pillow cases, towels and tea-towels. A spare double duvet for the sofa bed/folding bed is kept in the bed box in the master bedroom.

§ Trail-a-bike (4-9 yrs, attaches to one of the adult bikes and has one wheel and pedals).

These are our own bikes, which we make available for you to use free of charge, but as we are not on site we can not guarantee what condition you will find them in, and if cycling is an important aspect of your holiday you might consider bringing your own bikes or else hiring them. The code for the combination cycle lock is 02005.

Books/Guides
There is a small library of paperbacks, novels, and local interest books available for you to read in the TV Lounge. You will also find a good selection of Brittany Guides e.g. Michelin, Rough Guide, AA, Lonely Planet, Eyewitness, Hachette, Cadogan.

We have the local maps from IGN, which is the French equivalent of the Ordnance Survey:

§ 1:60:000 Tourist maps for exploring the area by car (Gulfe du Morbihan & Belle-Ile).

We have a well stocked tourist information file containing leaflets on local attractions.

We also provide dictionaries in French/English and Breton/English - French & Breton are very different! Further guidance can be sought at Josselin's excellent Tourist Information Office, which is open all year.

Children/babies
Plastic tableware is provided (plates, cups, and cutlery). High-chair & cot with mattress are available, but please bring your own bedding. Baby bath and child’s toilet step provided.
We provide a travel stair gate which can be used overnight at the top of the landing in the main cottage if required.
As the dormer windows are low level we have fitted window locks, and provide a key to remove the restriction if required. A fire guard is provided.
A number of board games, cards, chess, etc are available in the indoor games chest located in the Gite lounge. Outdoor balls and garden games are available for your use in an outdoor games chest located in the stone outbuilding. A selection of DVDs for children & adults are available in the TV Lounge, but you may wish to bring some favourites.
Two child’s swings, chair hammock & full hammock are provided in the garden.

Electricity
The standard voltage in

France

is 220 Volts AC, 50Hz. Any electrical appliance normally used for a different voltage must have dual voltage compatibility (most modern electric appliances do). The standard plug is the two round prongs type. Adapters to convert English plugs to fit French electrical sockets are available in the cottage, together with an English 4-way adapter.

Garden
We have to keep the garden fairly low maintenance as we are not there ourselves to maintain it. Our caretaker will call to cut the grass. We have a pair of secateurs and gloves in the pine chest in the lounge, so if you feel so inclined please feel free to dead-head the roses. During very dry spells, if the plants start to wilt they would appreciate a drink of water.

Household Essentials
We aim to provide all the basic essentials that you would wish to find, and don't want to have to bring along on a holiday, e.g. hand wash, toilet paper, washing-up liquid, dishwasher tablets, washing powder, matches, firelighters, dish clothes, cleaning materials, bin bags. We also try to provide some extras - e.g. tea-light candles, serviettes, children's straws, kitchen foil, cling film, plastic food bags, salt & pepper mills, herbs, coffee filter papers, kitchen towel, olive oil, wine vinegar etc. (These are all subject to restocking). Spares are kept either in the kitchen or bathroom cupboards.

Internet Access/email
We have installed a wireless broadband connection for the cottage. You are welcome to use this either by bringing your own laptop and connect via WiFi, or use ours which we leave at the cottage in the desk draw. Our own laptop is provided for connecting to the internet only, including email. We offer this additional facility free of charge, but it is subject to connection and IT gremlins, so we can not guarantee availability. The WiFi network is called LAVILLEAUTADY and your laptop should be able to find it and connect without any difficulty. We don't use any connection passwords. In the event of any problems, you can get free internet access of up to 15 mins. at Josselin’s Tourist Info Office or, for a small fee, by the hour at the au P’tit Bar Bar, Josselin.

Kitchen & Utility area
Gas hob powered by bottled gas (spare bottle kept in the stone shed outside) and electric oven. Fridge, freezer, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, iron & ironing board, electric kettle, coffee maker, toaster, cafetiere, electric whisk, electric blender, electric weighing scales. All pots, pans, cooking utensils, crockery, glassware & cutlery provided for up to 7 persons. There is a large outside clothes drying line in the rear garden and a portable indoor clothes drying rack. A tumble-dryer is available at the Laundromat in the Champion Supermarket car park should you need it.

Parking
The country lane outside the property serves just three properties, so is very quiet, but it is used by the local Farmer to access his fields, so caution with children is still required. There is off-road parking for two cars on the front drive. Further off road parking on a grassed area off the front garden is available (watch for ground clearance) and it is also possible to park larger vehicles such as motor caravans off the road on our verge to the front of the cottage. Please exercise care when reversing into our drive as the low wall can catch you out – it has us! It’s best to have someone watch your off-side while you reverse in until you get used to it.

Rubbish
The rubbish is not collected from the front door in rural areas of

France

, as it would be far too time consuming to serve the hundreds of rural hamlets that exist. Instead, the Commune provides large roadside waste containers and each householder takes their own bags to that point. Ours is situated a short walk from the cottage, by the La Ville au Tady signpost. We ask guests to cooperate with this system, and do things 'the French way'! The Commune operate a two bin system – grey for general waste, and yellow for recyclables (but not including glass which you are expected to take to the bottle banks - nearest at Coet Bugat or Guegon). A card on the notice board in the kitchen provides full details of what can and can't be put in the recycle bins. Please try to ensure that all the cottage bins are emptied into the municipal bins on your last day - this helps keep cleaning times to a minimum, and therefore keeps rental prices down.

Safety
We have taken reasonable precautions to make the cottage and garden as safe as possible. We have installed 4 smoke alarms throughout the cottage and a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. A first-aid kit is available in the bathroom cupboard (no medicines).
One thing to exercise particular caution over are the chopping and splitting axes provided in the wood store. Please leave the axes out of reach of children. Chopping wood can be great fun and good exercise, but don’t get carried away! If you choose to use them and are unfamiliar with using axes, please take extra care. Leather gloves will be found in the pine chest in the cottage. All garden chemicals and machinery are kept locked away in our own store in the garden, to which you do not have access for safety reasons.
If you use the Stovax gel to clean the stove glass doors, you must not let it come into direct contact with skin and are advised to use the rubber gloves provided (full safety information is provided on the container).

Telephone
We have a phone line connected with France Telecom, the number is 02 97 73 05 66.

Dialling from the

add 33 at the beginning and drop the first zero i.e. +33 297 73 05 66. You are welcome to use the telephone to make or receive calls. Please feel free to give the number to family/friends who may need to ring you while you are in France – it’s much cheaper than ringing a mobile and reception in the hamlet can be patchy. Any call costs will be identified by us using France Telecom's web site, and recharged to you at cost, usually being deducted from your deposit cheque.

Television
The main TV in the second lounge is connected to SKY Freesat, and will receive Free To View channels (similar to Freeview in the UK, but more channels including many

radio stations). I understand that if you are a Sky subscriber you can bring your own card and receive your usual channels, but have not tried this as we don’t have Sky at home. It does not receive French terrestrial TV.
The portable LCD TV/DVD in the main lounge can be used for watching DVDs or connected to the TV aerial for French TV.

Water
We have a mains supply of water connected to the cottage. All mains water supplies in France are metered, so please try to ensure that water is not wasted e.g. taps left running. The water is perfectly good to drink, although the French do generally buy bottled water to drink, and this is very cheap in the supermarkets.

Water heating
There are two separate and independent electric water heating systems. One covers the kitchen and Family Bathroom and the other covers the Guest Bathroom. An automatic switch turns the water heating on at 22:30hrs each night to take advantage of the economy rate electricity for the main water heating system. The guest bathroom has an on switch next to the water heater which works at any time (please only turn on the water heater for the second bathroom if it is required, and remember that it will take several hours to heat if the tank has been switched off).

Waste Water
Like most rural French properties, the hamlet does not have mains drainage. This means that all waste water (both kitchen and toilet) is sent to an underground septic tank in the garden where is receives a pre-treatment, and later drains off to a gravel filtration bed at the bottom of the garden. It is essential that only human waste & toilet paper is flushed down the toilets and all other items are disposed of in the bins provided. Reminders are placed next to each toilet. Please ensure that no food waste is put down the kitchen sink.

Wildlife
This is the French countryside, so expect a bit of wildlife! Depending on the season, it is not unusual to see a toad in the garden, or on the doorstep, and many small lizards bask on the south facing wall at the front of the cottage. Red squirrels visit in autumn. The less intensive agricultural system in Brittany means that there is a much better environment for wildlife, with ample hedging, copses and woodlands. We have spotted an Adder at the bottom of the garden in spring but you would have to look carefully to find one - these are non-aggressive shy creatures who will avoid human contact, but if you go into the longer grass at the lower end of the garden wearing stout shoes would be a sensible precaution. The area has many types of birds of prey – an owl used to nest in our attic but has had to find a new home since the stonework was repaired and repointed, but you may see one swoop across the garden at dusk and will probably hear them. You may see an occasional field mouse, especially following the harvesting of wheat and maize - it's best to keep doors shut so they don't come into the house. We have seen bats, owls, buzzards and kestrels from the garden. We think that all the extra wildlife is a delightful feature of a countryside property in France, but may come as a surprise to city dwellers!

Visitors’ Book
We have provided a Visitors’ Book for you to leave your comments and feedback. We have given you plenty of ideas and recommendations in the information file, but please feel free to contribute your own ideas, suggestions and recommendations for the benefit of other guests. If you find a particularly good place to eat, please share it with everyone.

This information is provided for reference and those arriving off-season.
Please refer to your final letter/email to see if any of this applies to your particular stay, and only turn off utilities if specifically requested.

Turn on/off the water at the mains
The mains stop-cock tap is located in a chamber to the right of the front door. Move the large concrete slab covering up the hole and turn the stop-cock either on or off. Please cover up the hole again to prevent anyone/thing falling in!
Open/close the front door shutters. The key provided will fit the front door only.
You will find all other keys either in the back of the door that they lock or in the key cabinet in the kitchen. When you leave please ensure all doors and windows are locked. On departure ensure you return the front door key to the KeySafe on the back wall (Code 2005). When we receive confirmation from the cleaner that the cottage has been left in good order and the key replaced we will return your security deposit.
Turn on electricity
The main electricity meter and switch on/off are located behind the curtain in the rear left corner of the lounge. The black button turns the electricity on, the red button turns the electricity off. If the maximum load of the cottage is exceeded the mains will trip-out with a click. In the unlikely event this happens, switch off one or more appliances. To turn the electricity on again simply press the black button.
Open/Close wooden shutters if off-season
The shutters will usually be left open during the summer. The wooden shutters can only be opened/closed from the inside. On arrival at the cottage open all shutters and secure the wooden shutters behind the locking shutter stays attached to the walls. These can be left open for the duration of your stay. When you leave please leave the shutters as you found them.
Water to second bathroom
In the cupboard at the rear of the toilet off the kitchen, there is a red handle. Turn this on to supply water to the second bathroom. The handle is on when inline with the pipe and off when at 45 degrees (don’t over extend the handle past 45 degrees or the water comes on again). If your party are using the second bathroom you need to switch the boiler on at the wall switch. The boiler to the kitchen/family bathroom will switch on automatically when the economy rate electricity commences at about 10:30pm.
Switch Gas on
If you want to use the gas cooking hob, turn on the supply at the gas cylinder, located in the cupboard under the cooker hob. Switch off again when you leave.
Should the gas bottle run out, you will find a spare gas bottle in the outbuilding in the garden. If you need to use the spare please let us know so that we can arrange for the empty bottle to be exchanged.

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The following reference information is provided for renters who have booked our cottage

What to bring?

On arrival

Tourist Information