Here is an update of what we have been up to since the last note which took us to July 2006. Carey did come over and as well as a little relaxing, she spent time helping cleaning and changing beds. It was a great help and we did get a few days of quality time with her.

August 2006 proved to be extremely busy. The gite was fully booked mostly with 1-week bookings which meant a busy Saturday every week. We were also booked in the B&B every weekend and several days midweek, so there was much cleaning and bed changing to do. September saw a gradual slow down in business. August and September were spoilt by the departure of 4 good friends from our lunch club. Graham and Brenda moved to Gosport and Bill and Annette moved to North London.

Over the summer we put some major effort into the patio. We cleared all the old gravel, then covered it with sand then put down plastic before applying a new load of gravel. Jane cleared the wet area we had at the back which we then filled with rubble, put in a layer of sand then a layer of plastic and more gravel. We also had the remaining door and downstairs windows replaced.

In October we headed off to the UK for our annual trip and holiday. We had a week at Wychnor Park, near Lichfield, and a week in Sheffield with the girls and family. While in Sheffield we heard that Jane’s mum had been taken into hospital after developing fluid round the heart so we headed down to London and visited her before setting off back home. After a few days at home we heard that mum was not really improving so Jane set off back to London to help attending to her. I stayed at home; we had clients in the gite.

Unfortunately mum never recovered and passed away while Jane was there. Jane came back for a few days then we set off for the funeral. Afterwards, we went to Bournemouth for a few days. Although we like Bournemouth and had some pleasant walks, it was extremely windy so Jane became wound up about the potentially bad crossing. Typically, on the day we left the wind dropped and the crossing was fine.

 We had started to update and decorate the lounge so we continued and completed most of it by Christmas. Christmas was a major treat as the family came to stay with us. Grace’s second she was much more aware of what was going on and we had a great time opening presents. It was, of course far too short a time but extremely enjoyable.

New year was seen in with the members of the Sunday lunch club apart from Gil who was poorly. Each couple provided a dish and the meal lasted for several hours in true French style. Between courses the guests were challenged by one of Sid’s now legendary quizzes. We also had the benefit of enjoying the New Year twice in that when the French midnight arrived, we were still eating so we saw the year in properly with Jules Holland. A good time was had by all.

During January we visited the family in the UK and spread the cheer of Christmas and new year. Then back home to finish the lounge.

Passing the time with some smaller projects and, of course Sunday lunches we got through February and March, with just a couple of nights out to celebrate our 37^th Anniversary and Sid’s xxth birthday.

April started with a leaving do for Rita and Jeff who were moving to Canterbury. It was very sad that they were going and we missed the actual leaving event. We moved off to stay at Thurnham Hall near Lancaster. We had a week of relaxation to recharge the batteries for the season. After that we moved on to Sheffield. Wednesday was Grace’s birthday and the first of her parties. On Friday was Jane’s big birthday. We went off to a hotel restaurant for a slap-up meal and to stay over. As well as the girls with Paul and James, we were joined by Graham and Jane and Catherine and William. So we had a really enjoyable evening with close family.

We tried going via the tunnel instead of the ferry. It wasn’t too bad except that it was really necessary to have an overnight near Folkestone to prepare for the next stage. The best part was that Jane was relaxed about the journey and not getting wound up about the crossing.

Since we got back it has been moving along with smaller projects and getting ready for the season.

We are very pleased that our level of bookings has kept up with last year. Breaking away from Brittany Ferries and doing our own booking was a worry. However, having become members of several web sites we have covered the main season and a few outside season. Taking out the cost of advertising, as we take all the income, we are now up slightly on last year’s income. So we look forward to a busy summer. We have also taken the decision to stop doing a family room. It is now a large double so if families want to bring children, they must have the twin next to the double. We shall see what difference it makes to us. We will probably lose some family bookings but it didn’t net very much for much harder work.

So as our fifth year approaches in a couple of months, we look forward to a long, hot and busy summer.