Hope Cottage changes hands

After more than 10 years in France, Ian and Fran Webster decided to return to the North of England to be nearer to their growing family.

Hilary and David Olley have purchased their home at La Lande de Lerome, together with Hope Cottage. They moved in on 1st March 2008 and, by the end of the month, had most of their possessions unpacked and furniture in place.

They intend to maintain the high standards set by Ian and Fran and fully intend to ensure that visitors to Hope Cottage enjoy the facilities and the surrounding countryside of this wonderful part of Brittany.

Hilary and David would love to hear from past visitors to Hope Cottage, and look forward to greeting those who have already booked for 2008.

Hilary and David have been holidaying in gites in France for several years, so they know what people want from a holiday cottage. Some bad experiences have ensured that their guests will not be made to feel like second class citizens. The accommodation that you have during a holiday should provide you with the comforts that you would expect in your own home - or better, perhaps!

Feedback from guests can only help to ensure that Hope Cottage is providing what visitors want, so it is invited.

Anyone is welcome to telephone us on our UK number. This number, 01962 60 00 02, is a VoIP number which can be answered wherever we happen to be connected to a broadband router. It makes it easier for our guests to call us. If we cannot take the call a Voice Mail facility will allow you to leave a message. We will be happy to call you back if you leave us your number. We will have your number automatically recorded if you do not block it from Caller ID.

Hope Cottage gets Broadband Internet

At last Broadband is connected. David has installed his wireless router, together with a LAN Cat5 connection in Hope Cottage. So if visitors want to bring their laptop (desktop if they really must!) they will be able to keep in touch with whatever they need to. Downloading of very large files will be politely discouraged because, due to the distance from the telephone exchange, the broadband speed is not what we are used to in England. 605 kbps download and 156 kbps upload is the most we can get. This is not as bad as it seems because (sorry to be getting technical) there is very low contention on the line. But emails will pose no problems, and normal internet browsing is very good. Even VoIP works very well, including Skype (though not as good as real VoIP!)