01 October 2020

A gîte in Vouvray — interiors

We liked this gîte so much that we rented it twice. We stayed just a week in October 2000, partly because we had specific plans for the other two weeks of our trip — Champagne, Normandy, and Paris for me and Walt; the Pyrenees mountains, Basque country, and Paris for our friend Sue. In June of 2001, we came back and spent two weeks in the same gîte (a gîte [zheet] or gîîe rural is a furnished short-term vacation rental, usually a house, in the French countryside).

Gîtes come in all sizes and levels of confort, from the spartan to the luxurious. This one was a mid-range rental, and not expensive. I wish I could remember how much we paid for it. It might have been about $400.00 U.S. for seven nights... for three people. The house had two bedrooms, one with two single beds for me and Walt, and one with a double bed for Sue. It also had a nice bathroom (more photos to come). The French Wikipédia article says that nowadays there are as many as 43,000 gîtes available to be rented in France.



Here's an anecdote demonstrating the affordability of such rentals in France. When we signed the contract, it specified that we would have to pay extra for any electricity we used over a specified daily quota. The meter would be read by the owner at the end of our stay and we'd pay her a surcharge on the spot. In 2000, we were there in October, and while afternoons were warm, nights and mornings were chilly. We used the heat (electric radiators) as needed and we did quite a bit of cooking.

On the morning of our departure, the owner came over — she lived across the road (photos to come) — and I told her we were ready to pay the final bill. We used as much electricity as we needed or wanted, I told her, so I'm sure we've gone over the quota. Then she read the meter and said, yes, you did use quite a bit of electricity over the amount that was included in your rent. I braced for bad news. The surcharge comes to 90 francs, she said, apologetically. That was about $12.00 U.S. at the time. It was a struggle not to laugh.

11 comments:

  1. Glad to know that you had a great experience :)

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  2. That's funny about the electric. We just moved to the USA after a year long stay in northern Germany. Our final electric bill for the entire year was about half of what we pay here in the U.S. The Germans were surprised at how much electricity we used and thought the charges were rather high. And now a compliment, your blog was a source of comfort over the last year, especially during the lockdown. Also it was a great help in buying groceries and cooking while in Germany. Thanks Ken, I hope I get to read your blog for another ten years!

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    1. Thanks for your nice comment. Enjoy life back in the USA.

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  3. Thank you for sharing these charming memories...

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  4. Nice gite, cute inside and such a reasonable rate, especially when divided by 3!

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  5. I love the key display!
    Was that ceiling skylight in a bedroom? Was it a problem for sleeping past dawn? We're considering putting one in a cave-like bedroom, and are wondering it would make it hard to sleep.

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    1. I thought I left a comment for you about our Velux skylight windows but now I don't see it. Our windows have blackout shades on them that we pull at night to keep out bright moonlight, and sometimes in daytime when the sun is too hot or too bright.

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  6. That looks like a very nice gite. I love the old hardware on the door, and wallpaper on the ceiling always makes me laugh. Why do they do that?
    for chrissoup -- a friend years ago had a skylight window in an otherwise unlighted guest room, and staying there was wonderful. You could lie in bed and look at the stars. No problem at all sleeping.

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