We moved to the gite complex in Brettes in Charente in September 2010. The site had a lot of potential but needed some tlc. So we spent most of the first year painting, gardening and generally improving the property. This year we will continue doing the same.
Winter at the gites is a time for refurbishing, painting and generally doing them up. We have four holiday cottages, two three-bedroom cottages, one two-bedroom cottage and one one-bedroom cottage. The Stables two-bedroomed cottage has only just become vacant after having tenants for a year but now, thanks to those tenants, it has a lovely new bathroom complete with bath and new shower. It also has a wood burner in the living room so it is now suitable for winter lets. This spring we are going to refurbish the garden outside and give it a new terrace and a general tidy up. Lily Cottage sleeps 6/7 in three bedrooms. We spent a lot of last winter giving it a much needed coat of paint both inside and out. This winter we will continue this work by painting the double room and the shower. I am keen that our gites are very family friendly but that they have really nice double rooms for Mum and Dad. So we have new mattresses and bedding and I like to include soaps and body lotions etc for the adult rooms. We also tiled all the floors of the cottages last year which was a huge improvement.
As for the garden, we inherited a very empty garden and field and we have been adding plants that thrive in this region of France with its very hot summers and very cold winters. I am slowly putting lavender hedges around all the lawns of the cottages which, hopefully, once fully grown will look wonderful. We planted roses, vines, honeysuckles, passion flower, jasmines, clematis and virginia creepers to soften the look of the stone walls. I planted lots of hollyhocks and salvias which hopefully will survive this very harsh winter we are suddenly having. The garden already had lots of iris which look wonderful in spring and day lilies which also look good en mass. I have a number of tender Mediterranean plants in pots which I am glad I have brought inside for the winter. Olives, lemons, bougonvillea and agapanthus are all in the house at the moment because its so icy outside.
The pool had the added benefit of a rail for enabling people to get in and out of it more easily and a solar-powered shower last year. This year we will continue the improvements by refurbishing the tiling on the inside of the pool.
