suesalter1 Posted 27 August , 2020 Share Posted 27 August , 2020 My friend and I are hoping to visit the Somme area next May and seeking recommendations for nice Gites so we can visit battlefields, cemeteries etc. Ideally with 2 bedrooms (we are not a couple!) with parking, near Albert or nearby. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks, Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harley1962 Posted 28 August , 2020 Share Posted 28 August , 2020 On 27/08/2020 at 16:29, suesalter1 said: My friend and I are hoping to visit the Somme area next May and seeking recommendations for nice Gites so we can visit battlefields, cemeteries etc. Ideally with 2 bedrooms (we are not a couple!) with parking, near Albert or nearby. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks, Sue Hi Sue I've just returned from the Somme, we stayed this time at a gite in Aveluy "The Poppy's" close to all sites and close to Albert. The owners Lysianne & Dominique were really welcoming and we were even invited to view Dominique's personal collection (museum) of artifacts he's collected over many years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesalter1 Posted 29 August , 2020 Author Share Posted 29 August , 2020 Looks quite good. Does it have any parking? Sue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 29 August , 2020 Admin Share Posted 29 August , 2020 https://www.gites-de-france.com/fr/search?destination=Albert&towns=66746&travelers=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harley1962 Posted 29 August , 2020 Share Posted 29 August , 2020 There is a garage you can use but we just parked on road outside the gate with no issues as a quite road. The bathroom only has a shower but lovely hot water. The property is not modern hotel very french but clean and has all needed for a stay, even a washing machine, iron, ironing board etc. The good thing also is it is all on ground floor level so no climbing very steep wooden steps as usual with the previous gites we have stayed in. This was my 6th visit and i personally found this to be the best gite so far very comfortable. Another nice one is one of the gites at Chavasse Farm again very quite but further out at Hardecourt Aux Bois bad point being the stairs are in between the 2 bedrooms with one bedroom at the top of the stairs so not as much privacy as the bathroom is downstairs ( again steep stairs) and if you are up in the night you are waking the person in that room. Regards Carole Just seen Michelle has posted a link to Gites-de-France this is where i found The Poppy's a good site and cheaper than booking.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick63 Posted 29 August , 2020 Share Posted 29 August , 2020 We used L'amartinierre at Courcelles au Bois, self contained rooms with a shared kitchen, parking is within the garden.... Linky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesalter1 Posted 29 August , 2020 Author Share Posted 29 August , 2020 4 hours ago, harley1962 said: Just seen Michelle has posted a link to Gites-de-France this is where i found The Poppy's a good site and cheaper than booking.com. Booking.com says there's no availability in September next year (that's when we're now thinking of going now instead of May) Can't quite believe they're booked up already. I might check direct with the owners. Sue, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harley1962 Posted 29 August , 2020 Share Posted 29 August , 2020 4 hours ago, suesalter1 said: Booking.com says there's no availability in September next year (that's when we're now thinking of going now instead of May) Can't quite believe they're booked up already. I might check direct with the owners. Sue, Yes contact them direct, that's what I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 29 August , 2020 Admin Share Posted 29 August , 2020 I never use booking.com, I always book via the Gites de France website. Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithmroberts Posted 30 August , 2020 Share Posted 30 August , 2020 I have found that some businesses only open up their availability closer to the dates concerned. One greek hotel that I have used in connection with the Salonika campaign only open up to booking services about 3 months in advance, but happily respond to direct email enquiries. Next September rather than fully booked, has probably not been opened up yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 30 August , 2020 Share Posted 30 August , 2020 As an aside, does anyone else regret that Gites seem very often to be owned by expat British people, rather than by locals? We find that pretty well ever place we've used for the past ten years have been expat-owned. It seems to lose some of its fun: for example, we find the TV is always tuned to British stations and French programmes are impossible to get, which is a real loss, and the kitchen equipment seems far more geared to British tastes. Shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harley1962 Posted 30 August , 2020 Share Posted 30 August , 2020 4 hours ago, Steven Broomfield said: As an aside, does anyone else regret that Gites seem very often to be owned by expat British people, rather than by locals? We find that pretty well ever place we've used for the past ten years have been expat-owned. It seems to lose some of its fun: for example, we find the TV is always tuned to British stations and French programmes are impossible to get, which is a real loss, and the kitchen equipment seems far more geared to British tastes. Shame. The last 3 gites we have stayed in have all been French owned and usually take some dvds with us as the tv stations are French as for the kitchen equipment i think French and English are the same usual standard Kettle, toaster, coffee machine. I guess it's all down to where you pick to stay and personal choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 30 August , 2020 Admin Share Posted 30 August , 2020 I go out of my way to avoid places that are owned or run by expats. You can see who the proprietor is when you book with Gites de France; if I want to stay in an English owned establishment, I will stay in England. I don't want tea and full English for breakfast in France or English TV channels. Half the fun is listening and trying to translate what's being said, speaking French with the proprietors , and a certain TV soap, Plus Belle La Vie, is compellingly awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandy hall Posted 30 August , 2020 Share Posted 30 August , 2020 I have used Gites de France a lot, in many different areas of France, can’t think of any I have stayed in with British owners. Makes for great fun, when the owner speaks no English and we speak little French. Sometimes you never actually meet the owners, key is in the door when you arrive and you leave the key as found when you leave. I usually look for gites that are not attached to the owners house. Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John(txic) Posted 1 September , 2020 Share Posted 1 September , 2020 That always amuses me, Mandy - when you visit France or Germany almost NONE of the locals speak English. Yet we are always beating ourselves up for not speaking foreign languages... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIRKY Posted 1 September , 2020 Share Posted 1 September , 2020 Glad we stayed with an expat in Guillemont Halt as he warned us about random breathalyser tests on the Somme in March, we were stopped the next day and after his advice did not drink! Saved us a very hefty fine, if he would have been French then we would not have understood a word! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldstreamer Posted 1 September , 2020 Share Posted 1 September , 2020 1 hour ago, KIRKY said: Glad we stayed with an expat in Guillemont Halt as he warned us about random breathalyser tests on the Somme in March, we were stopped the next day and after his advice did not drink! Saved us a very hefty fine, if he would have been French then we would not have understood a word! Tony Potentially saved an accident which is more to the point than avoiding a fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healdav Posted 2 September , 2020 Share Posted 2 September , 2020 (edited) On 01/09/2020 at 09:35, John(txic) said: That always amuses me, Mandy - when you visit France or Germany almost NONE of the locals speak English. Yet we are always beating ourselves up for not speaking foreign languages... But they are at home and you aren't. Also, it makes a mockery of the great British excuse, "Everyone speaks English". No they don't. Edited 2 September , 2020 by healdav Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John(txic) Posted 2 September , 2020 Share Posted 2 September , 2020 That's the very point, Healdav: why feel guilty about not speaking foreign languages? The French and Germans are happy to be monoglot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandy hall Posted 2 September , 2020 Share Posted 2 September , 2020 Google translate on a phone comes in handy. Mandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 2 September , 2020 Share Posted 2 September , 2020 1 hour ago, John(txic) said: The French and Germans are happy to be monoglot. I haven't found that they are, though I wouldn't generalise about an entire nation. We have found that people want to practise their English on us and we have to say (nicely) that we need to practise our French or German. Usually they switch back into French. We enjoy using our languages, reading the newspapers and magazines in French is mentally stimulating and we want to do it as a courtesy, too. It opens people up: at a local history display n Alsace we had some very interesting conversations with elderly French woman who talked to us about their memories of life during and after WW2. And I remember staying at a chambres d'hôtes in Champagne where everyone had dinner together. One of the other guests, Jean-Pierre from Lille, reacted to the mignons in honey, declared he adored bees and said he wanted to be a beekeeper. We keep bees. Half the evening was spent discussing la reine, les abeilles and how bees make babies. Jean-Pierre's wild enthusiasm was contagious, and Pascale's home-made eau de vie was poured, and Jean-Pierre proclaimed himself ready to get a beehive, and how much would bees cost?, and the next morning they parted from us with exhortations that if we were ever in Lille, etc, etc. A lovely memory. I don't regard languages with guilt, I regard them as empowering. I am not fluent: I do have the Larousse dictionary app on my phone. I read French far better than I speak it unless I'm in practice. By the way, French people in Alsace are not monoglot. Most of them speak both French and German fluently and many (often older people) speak Alsacien. Some Brits aren't monoglot either: my family speaks English and Welsh as mother tongues. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healdav Posted 3 September , 2020 Share Posted 3 September , 2020 18 hours ago, John(txic) said: That's the very point, Healdav: why feel guilty about not speaking foreign languages? The French and Germans are happy to be monoglot. That can be a bit difficult when you want to ask someone something. Interpreters are rather expensive - as in around 1000 euros per day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesalter1 Posted 3 September , 2020 Author Share Posted 3 September , 2020 Well, my original post has gone a bit off tangent with the language barrier some people face. Personally, I've never encountered much problems with communicating with the French (Never a problem in Belgium). I speak a little French, but not much. When we stayed in a lovely Gites in the Loire Valley, the owner spoke no English at all, but we got by with the help of a French/English dictionary! Anyhow, thanks for the suggestions of where to stay. We have actually now booked a place in Albert next September. So ideas of where to visit/do around that region would be good. Thanks, Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 3 September , 2020 Share Posted 3 September , 2020 6 hours ago, healdav said: That can be a bit difficult when you want to ask someone something. Interpreters are rather expensive - as in around 1000 euros per day. It's also potentially problematic if you need health care. It's not reasonable to assume that there'll be an English speaking doctor, dentist or pharmacist in every community. When I was blue-lighted into Hôpital Pasteur in Colmar, they were visibly relieved that they didn't have to hunt down someone to interpret in the middle of a Sunday evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug504 Posted 3 September , 2020 Share Posted 3 September , 2020 Have stayed here in past, 10 minutes walk from Lochnagar crater. https://www.gites-de-france.com/en/hauts-de-france/somme/old-rifle-bustier-farm-80g201803 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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