GÎTE ETIQUETTE

On our recent trip to Normandy we stayed in a gîte that was probably as good if not better than any we had rented before.  It was very well appointed with excellent wifi, comfortable beds, plenty of nice towels, endless hot water and a delightful enclosed back garden perfect for Hugo.  

The outside seating areas were great with comfy chairs and huge table under a canopy housing a bbq or outdoor dining that was in shade all day long and protected from the rain.

However, like most of the gîtes we have rented over the years there were shortfalls in the kitchen equipment!  Over the years we have had to go shopping for random items to enable us to cook and eat during our stay so we have evolved a kit that we take with us each time.  Otherwise we end up buying stuff we already have at home.  It sounds like a lot but in fact it all fits into one bag and saves a lot of running around trying to get essentials.

There is rarely a decent sharp kitchen knife and the chopping board is often rather past its best.  We usually manage with whatever crockery is provided - typically a mismatched selection of old cast-offs - but take our own mugs for a proper mug of tea.  Even though our kit is fairly comprehensive there is occasionally something unexpected that we have to go out and buy.  One gîte we rented had only very delicate crystal wine glasses which we were afraid to use because they were so fragile so we bought some cheap ones.  Another had a fancy espresso machine but nothing other than huge cups to drink it from so we got some cheap espresso cups.  These are all now at home and ready to be included in our "kit".

 In this gîte the tea/coffee mugs were stylish but very impractical.  With the handle at the top of the mug they were unbalanced and prone to tipping over in your hand when full.  Not ideal.

So, we purchased yet another pair of mugs in the supermarket.  They were not expensive and much safer to drink from - no risk of tipping scalding hot liquid over our laps.

We also take a couple of tea towels, a kitchen towel, soap and soap dishes and a couple of cleaning cloths for wiping up.  The ones provided can often be not up to much.

Even now, many gîte owners will charge extra for cleaning and providing bed linen and towels rather than include it in the price.  We always pay the price asked as we're there on holiday and don't want to be lugging bedlinen around and especially not stripping beds and cleaning the house before checking out, which is often by 10.00am.  

It's clear that some people do opt to save money by doing their own cleaning and consequently sometimes the gîte is not found as clean as you would like it to be as a result!  From the owner's point of view, I doubt they want to clean it again if the previous occupants have not paid for the service!  Most gîtes nowadays have a dishwasher so you can be confident about using the crockery etc but we have had a few problems with this in the past.  In one gîte we rented the crockery had been put away unwashed, even though there was a dishwasher!  I could be generous and assume they ran out of time to load the dishwasher but how someone could leave a place like that for the next occupants is baffling.

This gîte was spotlessly clean and the check out time was very civilised at 11.00 am.   Linen and cleaning were included in the price.  With no housework to do I loaded the dishwasher and left it running after we had breakfast and packed up in a very leisurely fashion.

Most gîte owners require a breakage deposit of anything up to 200€ in the form of a cheque.  This is then returned to you on departure and we have yet to have an owner actually go around the house and check for thefts or breakages.  On one occasion the friends staying with us in the gîte managed to break two plastic garden chairs which we confessed about.  The owner deducted an amount way over the odds from the deposit to pay for new ones so we decided that if ever we broke anything again we would go out and buy replacements and get our whole deposit back.  This time we had forgotten to take our French cheque book so had to go running around for cash early on our first day but then the owner didn't ask us for it - we must have looked like honest and responsible people!

OUR GÎTE KIT

chopping board, sharp knife, colander, tea mugs, oven gloves, 

a spatula and slotted spoon

a small bottle of cooking oil, salt and pepper, jar of mixed herbs

soap and soap dishes, one for the bathroom, one for the kitchen

two tea towels, two multipurpose (microfibre) cleaning cloths, kitchen hand towel

a few bin bags, enough dishwasher tablets for each day, small bottle of washing up liquid, rubber gloves, part used bottle of all purpose cleaning spray

coffee filter papers and coffee, or pods, depending on what machine is provided, tea bags

a plug in night light (many rural gîtes are in places where the darkness is total at night and getting to the bathroom can be a challenge)

corkscrew and bottle stoppers, part used rolls of cling film and kitchen paper, a few plastic bags

occasionally the two spare wine glasses and espresso cups, usually if the gîte is a low priced rural one

cloth/towelling doormat (this may surprise you but when you have a dog you need to be able to minimise the effect of muddy paws and there is rarely anything suitable provided)

All of the above fits into one shopping bag and we rarely need all of it - but saves a lot of time in hunting for sensibly priced stuff in local supermarkets if it is.  We always need some of it!  It is all obviously on top of all your personal items, clothes, toiletries and electrics.  

To those who think we take everything but the kitchen sink, I would have to say that we sometimes take that as well.........or at least a small washing up bowl, usually packed with groceries!

HONFLEUR, DAY THREE.

 

On day three, the last day of our little holiday, we went on a road trip and took Hugo with us.  After a slow morning start and Hugo’s usual walk we headed south to Pont-L’Évêque, the home of the famous cheese.

We remembered, many, many years ago, going on a day trip to London and having a guided tour by our friend Gerry, who knew London like the back of his hand.  A Derbyshire lad born and bred, he had been a student in London in the 1970’s and earned a bit of pocket money by leading tourists around the principal landmarks.  Later in life he gave up his teaching career to make his passion for tour guiding his main source of income and a great job he does too.

One of the places he took us to was a cheesemonger in Old Bond Street.  The shop was supplier of cheese, hams and wines to Buckingham Palace and we learned that the late Queen Elizabeth’s favourite cheeses were Livarot and Pont-L’Évêque, both fairly pungent cheeses from Normandy.

We had intended not to fall into the tourist lunch trap this time, being so far over €160 down for very disappointing food.  We thought we’d get a sandwich from the boulangerie then pick up supplies on the way home to cook our own dinner.  That’s when we stumbled across a small bar doing snack lunches and we went inside, with Hugo.  Even large dogs are welcomed in most French restaurants and these days Hugo is incredibly well behaved.  On top of that, standard poodles are not at all common in France, very much a novelty and he attracts much fuss and attention from everyone including restaurant staff.  He politely enjoyed a tickling of his topknot by the waitress while our orders were being taken.

And so, we had one of our favourites, croque monsieur, with a topping of Pont-L’Évêque cheese, excellent chips and salad for lunch.  With a refreshing panaché (shandy) and delicious coffee the total bill was €30.  Our faith in French restaurants was restored.  You just have to know where to go and how to avoid the tourist rip-off traps.

Back at the gîte, Nick cooked us a delicious pork and mushroom dish with fresh vegetables, a decent red wine to go with it, followed by our duo of local cheeses and a small glass of calvados, the other specialty of the region.  That’s how we spent our third and last evening, under the canopy for the bbq, listening to the pitter-patter of very welcome rain.

We played another game of Scrabble and this time Nick won, by a narrow margin.  We have reinstated our “championship du monde” where we have kept the score cards of all the games played all over Europe on our numerous holidays over decades.  It makes a good reminiscing read…."do you remember that time when you beat me at Scrabble on the campsite near San Gimignano?"  We now use French rules, where French and English words can be played.

The next day we had a good run back home and arrived soon enough to collect Yvonne from the cattery a day early.  She settled back in straight away.

The house was very warm inside.  We opened all the doors and windows to let in some air and watched as the sky grew greyer and rain began to fall.  The temperature dropped by about fifteen degrees and we stood in the doorway to feel the cool air and listen to the rain.  What a joy that was after weeks and weeks of endless hot weather.

HONFLEUR, DAYS ONE AND TWO.

Honfleur is a beautiful town with its art galleries, delicatessen shops and harbour full of boats.

It’s not so great on a roasting hot day when it’s rammed with visitors.

On day one of our three day holiday (four nights in a gîte) we headed into town completely forgetting that it was a French bank holiday (14th July).  We queued briefly for a non existent parking spot, thought better of it and turned around.   The whole of Paris and Rouen had clearly gone to the coast for the day.  The French do love a day by the seaside.

On the way back to the gîte we stopped at an American burger joint style of restaurant for lunch instead.  The starter was good (onion tart) but the main course (chicken caesar salad) not so good due to the tough and chewy bits of chicken.  The pichet of rosé was rather sour and the ice cream liegeois desserts (café for him, chocolate for me) didn’t tickle our tastebuds the way we had hoped.  The bill was over €80.  Oh well, you expect to pay a bit extra when you’re on holiday, we thought.

On day two of our three-daybreak we went back to Honfleur for a second attempt and were pleased to find a parking space straight away.  Knowing it would be hot and busy we left Hugo in the gîte with the back door to the enclosed garden open, thinking that having had a good walk early morning he could settle down with the ability to go outside if he needed to.

First impressions were good,  a delicious coffee in a café near the harbour was sensibly priced.  After that we had a wander around the delightful streets then explored the harbour for a restaurant for lunch.  We settled on one where we could enjoy the view of the boats under a shady canopy and placed our order.  

A pichet of ordinary (but at least drinkable) rosé was outrageously priced but we thought “what the heck, we’re on holiday”.  The starter we both ordered, oeufs en cocotte with Pont Leveque cheese could have been great if it hadn’t been overcooked.  It was impossible to dip the toast into the eggs because they were rock solid but still, it was tasty.

That’s the point at which things went seriously downhill.

I checked my phone and spotted a message from the gîte owner to say that Hugo had been “crying” since we left that morning.  That meant he was howling.  She was around every morning doing the cleaning and changeovers for the three separate gîtes on the plot.

It was too late to cancel our main course so we wolfed it down as fast as possible.  I had ordered fish and chips, Nick moules à la crème.  My fish turned out to be a dry, tasteless portion of supermarket battered fish with a pile of greasy, limp chips and a small spoonful of tartare sauce that looked like it came from a jar. So much for the restaurant’s claim that everything was “fait maison”.  Nick’s moules were lacking in herbs and garlic, slathered in cream that was grey.  Total bill €85.  It was probably, all in all, the worst meal for that amount of money we have ever had in France.  Plus €12 car parking.

We rushed back to the gîte, which was less than a ten minute drive away and parked at the bottom of the drive.  We thought that as soon as he heard the car, Hugo would stop howling so I crept towards the door to have a listen.  The poor dog was howling at the top of his lungs, that penetrating, wolf like piercing howl that a dogs do so well.  We were mortified.

We went on a drive around the area, taking him with us.  We explored the lovely little towns and villages, with their timber framed, thatch roofed cottages and the very grand big houses presumably the homes of the more well heeled.  It definitely is a lovely part of France.

We have not fallen out with Honfleur and will be back!

Later in the evening, back at the gîte, Nick cooked us a delicious meal of bolognaise style beef with vegetables, total cost probably about €15 maximum including a nice bottle of Montagne St Emilion.  We played Scrabble (I won) and decided we would definitely come back to Honfleur but more out of season next time.  That way we could explore the streets more comfortably, we could bring Hugo with us, and we would not be seduced by the promise of a lunch overlooking the harbour into paying tourist prices for a pretty grim meal.