Benodet (France)

Not so much Benodet as Brittany....
A couple of years ago we stayed in a mobile home in Brittany and fell in love with an undiscovered paradise of a place. Pretty soon afterwards my wife was eagerly getting the dosh together to buy our own little piece of heaven out there, but she had a bit of a shock when she came to look at the caravans. The dealers will tell you that they're only intended to have a life of approximately 10 years and so ...
...is starting to look less idyllic.

Mrs dave27 soon moved on to the idea of buying a gite (French cottage), however, and despite the fact that most of the really cheap places are pretty much a thing of the past, we were able to secure a place with a whole acre of land for just seven grand - yes, really.

We thought it was all going to fall through, however, as the gite had been left in a will to seven members of a family ... more

Not so much Benodet as Brittany....
A couple of years ago we stayed in a mobile home in Brittany and fell in love with an undiscovered paradise of a place. Pretty soon afterwards my wife was eagerly getting the dosh together to buy our own little piece of heaven out there, but she had a bit of a shock when she came to look at the caravans. The dealers will tell you that they're only intended to have a life of approximately 10 years and so at anything from £10,000 to £20,000 your holiday home paradise is starting to look less idyllic.

Mrs dave27 soon moved on to the idea of buying a gite (French cottage), however, and despite the fact that most of the really cheap places are pretty much a thing of the past, we were able to secure a place with a whole acre of land for just seven grand - yes, really.

We thought it was all going to fall through, however, as the gite had been left in a will to seven members of a family who don't talk to each other any more and they fell out over whether to accept our offer or not, but in the end an extra 500 quid secured the deal and we got the deeds last week. It's going to cost about another £5,000 to get it as we want it inside but it's still a wonderful bargain in our opinion and we hope to get it up and running this year.

Anyway, back to Brittany....

If you like quiet and restful places which remind you of home but are just different enough to be a bit exciting then this is the place for you - we absolutely loved it. The only problem that we've got is the eternal argument about whether ferry or Channel Tunnel is better. The ferry takes a lot longer but puts you down nearer your eventual destination, whereas the Chunnel takes about forty minutes, but leaves you with a four or five hour drive.

Helpful hint - look out for the Fast Hotels - £15 a night, great value!

We're looking forward to getting our little castle fixed up during this summer and hope to be both staying and renting out next year - I can feel a lot of money coming on, all of a sudden... 

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