Here you find answer to the questions which are asked us regularly, and also some recommendations or information in the form of questionsand answers.
The photos on the Internet site of "Les Hirondelles" are very beautiful. Are those real or retouched? The photos are entirely "true" and never and in no manner retouched. Our guests frequently find house and garden in reality even more beautiful than the photos.
YOU say: arrival not before 16 hours. We are with the children and have a long journey behind us. Can't we arrive a little earlier? If you want to find the house as if it was never let before, this means with perfectly clean bathrooms, toilets and mirrors, the beds dressed, the floors washed and vacuum cleaned, the windows clear, the gas cooker and furnace spick and span, the barbecue and pizza furnace stripped of ash, the refrigerators defrosted and the ice cubes ready, your welcome drinks, beer, water or fruit juice fresh on temperature, the terraces swept, the grass mowed, flowers pruned and watered, the swimming pool crystal-clear… and still more… No please, arrive only after 16 hours. We have tried it before, but guests with children, luggage and store in the middle of the house became a fiasco. Since then we want nobody in the house before the cleaning ladies have entirely finished. YOU will understand that certainly.
YOU say that the swimming pool is heated with solar panels. Is that really efficient? Yes and no. Yes, if is there sun, then the temperature increases rapidly and in spite of that we have the thermostat turned off on maximum 28°, the water reaches sometimes 30°, or still more. No, if there is no sun. Then it is recommended to cover the bath at night (and even in the day when nobody swims) so that the warmth will be preserved to a large extent. But if you read some more concerning the pleasure of the swimming pool in the guest book, except one or two valuations in the early or late season, that will certainly reassure you.
Is the swimming pool open the whole year? No, it can freeze hard here in winter, for this reason the swimming pool is only in function from mid- April up to mid- October.
What is the climate of the Bourgogne like? Half continental, with cold but frequently sunny winters. Gentle springs. A warm summer and an autumn in which one sees appearing the colours in the vineyards which gave the name to the Côte d'Or (the golden coast).
We do not know that region. Is the house easy to find? Yes, if you follow our route description well, and that is not difficult. Many of our guests almost make a mistake at arrival on a kilometre’s distance of the house. Then they see the (large) church in the village beside our: "Labergement lès Seurre" and think "there we are" but take the wrong way. But if you simply follow the way to "Chivres" there is absolutely no problem. The house lies a bit off the road, between the town hall and the (small) church and is indicated in the street. Note: Route description will be sent to you automatically with the lease, but you can find it immediately with a click on this link:
Are there many cycle and walking paths in the neighbourhood? Unfortunately not for the bicycles. If the Netherlands for example, and probably England, count for every square km almost a km bicycle path, the Bourgogne comes to hardly 100 meters. With the walking paths that is a lot better. One can walk well on all the paths between the fields where you will encounter a very rare car, bicycle or motor tractor. On 2 km distance of Chivres there is also a nice forest with indicated foot paths. Something further, at "Verdun sur le Doubs" there is an nice island with forests, ideal for a walk and a picnic on the side of the river. This small island used to be accessible only by boat, but recently a little bridge has been built there for pedestrians.
How do we come on the Internet? Is that a fast connection? YOU have a Hertzian connection Wi-Fi with the highest speed which we can reach on countryside by satellite, this means: 2048 Kb/s. That is not bad at all but not enormous either. The connection is limited in speed and volume after reception of more than 2240 Mo/month (afterwards decreasingly up to 8000 Mo with a lowest speed of 64 Kb/s in the extreme case) with maximum in volume of 3Go/month. To avoid that (as a guest before you should have used the total volume in a week or fortnight) the connection would be stopped, we have preserved the possibility of buying one Go (which we will of course do immediately because under no circumstances you should be the victim). In other words, even with only one Go (that is quit a lot) you can use Internet for about all your usual needs: E-mail, bank relations, tourist information, etc.… that will give absolutely no problem. But you should avoid to download all heavy documents like photograph's or videos, and avoid that your children get on the Internet because in our experience the allowed volume would rapidly been exceeded then. Note: After 23 o'clock you can use the Internet unlimited (up to 7 o'clock) without consequences for the restrictions mentioned above.
What can we do and what can't we do? From the moment you have rented the house you can practically do everything you like to do. You are "at home". But to avoid problems we have made a document called "Conditions" which we ask to be read by all our guests (so also your guests). The document is at the same time your acquittance for deposit. The document can seem a bit strange to you, but serves specially to avoid little problems with sometimes greater consequence, like: - Place a plastic children's pool on the grass. When you leave after a fortnight the place where you put that pool will be a sticky, gluey, and viscous patch and the grass will need two months to recover. Not nice for the people after you. - Stick an umbrella in the grass. The conduits for the automatic irrigation are at only 20 cm deep. Once we had a fountain in the middle of the grass and had to dig at least a square meter to be able to repair. There too that place remained very ugly and sticky for two months. - Leave the roof windows open (especially at the entrance side) when you leave the house. Local thunderstorms are not exceptional and can cause great damage. Once we had the beds on the first floor soaking wet, let alone the carpet which we had to change. If you want to have a look at this document, click on: Conditions and acquittance for deposit.
Who does the cleaning after our departure? Up to you. Read the document above on the second page "Day of departure". (It is very rare that we invoice the cleaning work).
Can we bring our dog? Yes certainly we accept your dog. On the other hand we request you, however, to take up their excrements and throw them in the dustbin, as well as we ask you to brush firmly his favourite carpet where he lay most of the time. It is, as it happens possible that a guest after you is allergic for hairs of the animal, and the suction cleaner which is used after your departure would not remove them all without brushing before. We calculate no allowance for animals. (Plastic throw away gloves for taking up are at your disposal).
Why there is no German comment in the guest book? Simply because we have not yet translated our Internet site into German. Here follow a couple of short quotations of what the German guests wrote in the book.
Wir haben eine sehr schone Familien Woche in « Les Hirondelles » gehabt. Das Haus ist nicht nur wunderschön, sondern auch bevorratend ausgestaltet. Besonderen Dank an unseren charmanten Gradgeber der immer für uns da war. Tatjana & Hermann 04-06 / 11-06-2011
Nun ist eine wundervolle Woche zu Ende gegangen und wir müssen wieder ins kalte Deutschland. Schönes Burgund und schönes Frankreich, wir werden euch vermissen. Eine Woche Hirondelles, das ging einfach viel zu schnell! Merci pour votre accueil chaleureux et cette semaine magnifique entre amis dans cette maison plein de charme.
Diana, Mylene, Jennifer, Alexander, Monique, Martina, Stephan. 23.09.2006
Hinter uns liegt eine anstrengende aber bereichernde Trainingswoche, nicht zuletzt wegen des schönen Ambientes. Vielen herzlichen Dank! Asien-Sport-Center Freiburg IMAF-Kokusai Budo-In Koksai Budo Ren. Mei. 4.06.05
Eine wunderschöne Woche mit Eltern, allen Söhne und den Enkeln geht zu Ende. Wir haben das Haus, den Garten und die schöne Gegend sehr genossen. Im Namen der gesamten Familie. Stefan B. 18 September 2004
