自我介绍

In 2011 my wife, Vanessa, and I decided it was time for a change of life style. Time for a bit of "me / us" time since our two daughters had finished university and left home to build their own lives. Our plan was to create a language school (Papillon Ecole de langue), gîte complex and chambre d'hôte which we could run and manage at our own pace longer into our dotage! In 2013 we bought our beautiful home in France. We took early retirement, me from my work as a Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Loss Adjuster, and Vanessa, as a teacher of French at a prestigious girls school, to pursue our dream. The renovation of the gîtes and school took two years to complete but we are hugely pleased with the outcome. My hobbies are Scuba diving and (Field) hockey. Unfortunately hockey sur gazon has not reached the Charente Maritime so, after 50 seasons, I hung up my sticks! Vanessa loves playing social tennis, when her body permits, dancing and enthusing over the French language. Over the years we have travelled fairly widely on holidays and for diving (!) and we look forward to travelling again once our businesses are established. We truly believe that we have created a fantastic holiday destination. We look forward to welcoming you to share and investigate our beautiful area of France. We are 20 - 25 minutes from Cognac, the Roman town of Saintes, the renown Thermes (health cure and spa) in Jonzac, 40 minutes from the coast and about an hour from Bordeaux and La Rochelle.