Dave and I are both from Surrey. We met at a dance when I was 16 and Dave was 17.
We have been married for 55 years.
Both of us are from large familes, I am the eldest of 5 and Dave was one of 5 boys. We have one daughter, two sons and 7 grandchildren ages ranging from 10 to 30 and we are all very close. Never a day goes by that I have not spoken to one member of the family.

We lived at Tattenham Corner on Epsom Downs for 33 years until we moved to France. This was a result of Dave suddenly being made redundant aged 56. Our intention was always to move to Cornwall but this was not really feasible financially, so we had to rethink. It was either Spain or France, but as we already had an apartment in Spain we decided on France, mainly because it was so much easier for the family to visit. One car on the ferry with the family and dogs, instead of lots of flights and worrying about getting a dog sitter of paying kennel fees..

We travelled extensively before we moved to France, our favourites places being India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand to name a few. We still enjoy getting out and people say they do not know how we manage being always on the go, but, why not?

We love meeting new people and appreciate we are all different. Some like the peace and quiet of La Cachette and we do not disturb that. We are there if needed.

We have tried hard to make this a home from home, with everything you might need. We do not advertise one price then add on lots of extra costs for linen and electric etc. The price is fully inclusive of gas, electric, Tourist Tax, and all bed linen is provided. We do not add on a cleaning fee, we just ask our guests to leave iy as they find it. Just bring yourself and your bath towels.

I hope this gives you a bit of an insight to both of us and we look forward to welcoming everyone to our little bit of paradise. Hope to see you soon.

We viewed several properties over a week's visit, but on arriving at La Baleine we immediately fell in love with the area. The house and location reminded us very much of Fownhope, a village on the river Wye near Hereford where Dave's grandparents had lived. It was because of this that we named our house 'Fownhope'. On entering, we realised this was our dream home. I still cannot believe we live here. Our 3 bed semi turned into a 7 bedroomed house full of character with a cottage. This was the bonus, we never feel lonely as we meet people from all different countries and different walks of life so there is never a dull moment. The separate gite (La Cachette) was a bonus. It is on the other side of the lane from our main house and about fifty metres towards La Baleine. Apart from running the gite we also do occasional B&B in the main house so if you want to arrive midweek this is an option for accommodation until the gite is available.