French Interiors - Setting Up A Bed and Breakfast

They say necessity is the mother of invention and it has without a doubt transformed Julie Thirkettle’s life.

Five years ago, she lived in Yorkshire – the wife of a successful university lecturer and stay-at-home mother to their four children. Now she lives in Limousin with her daughter Joanna and three-year-old grandson, Alfie. Together they run a luxury B&B, Le Verger, and have started their own handmade furniture business, of the same name, from their home in Bourganeuf in the department of Creuse.

The course of her life was changed completely by two twists of fate. The first came when Barrington, her husband of 20 years, died of cancer, while the second happened when her daughter and then three-month-old grandson were abandoned by the baby’s father.

‘I found myself not only without my husband, but also without any qualifications and therefore no income,’ she said. ‘My daughter needed to work full-time to support her son but did not want to be apart from him. At crisis point, we realised a huge change was required.’

They hit upon the idea of running a B&B, but, with house prices so high in the UK, they could not afford a property big enough or suitable for a large guesthouse, so they decided to look further a field.

As Joanna speaks fluent French and Julie can understand the language and speak it a little, they settled on Limousin in central France.

‘Limousin was an ideal area,’ says Julie, ‘because it is rural, which was very important to us as we have lived in Yorkshire for more than 15 years, houses were good value for money and it is easily accessible from England.’

Their original plans to renovate a gîte complex were scuppered when their purchase fell through at the last minute after they were unable to get planning permission for a barn conversion.

‘We were house hunting once more, property prices had risen, and as we had been living on the proceeds from my house sale for more than seven months, my capital had shrunk,’ says Julie. ‘We had to change our criteria and look at any property that we could start a business from without major renovation works. At that point, if I could have gone home I would have done, but it’s been really worth sticking it out.’

Finally, they found Le Verger – an eight-bedroom house set in two-and-a-half acres of garden with a swimming pool and tennis court – in the medieval château town of Bourganeuf.

‘It started off life as a maternity hospital but had been the local notaire’s family home for 25 years. Structurally it was sound but was a bit tired and needed redecorating,’ says Julie. ‘A lot of the original features had been covered over, like the carpet tiles which we found had been stuck down over a parquet floor.’

It also only had one bathroom and no toilet on the upper floors, and there was a nasty surprise so far as the fosse septique was concerned. It proved not to be in as good a condition as they’d initially thought so they decided to grasp the nettle and have Le Verger connected to mains drainage, in line with the latest French legislation, as well as having five bathrooms put in and decorating the house ready for paying guests.

‘It was a huge job,’ says Julie. ‘We realised that the first plumber we employed wasn’t up to the job when the first thing he plumbed in started leaking. We really needed to get someone in quickly but nobody will commute here. Unless they can get home for lunch, they won’t come and all the local plumbers were busy. In the end we found an English chap who did an amazing job.

‘We did a lot of the work ourselves. We now know how to build stud walls, put up tiles and we did all the decorating. All the rooms have three-metre ceilings so we used gallons of paint. We have learned a lot of new skills and it’s nice to look around and think, 'I built that wall'. It means we know the house really well too.’

Once the house was decorated and having decided to aim for the luxury end of the B&B market, they needed good quality furniture. They wanted to furnish the house in a classic style but their budget wouldn’t stretch to antiques. They started their search in brocantes but were disappointed with the quality.

‘Although the style was right, the furniture was often scratched or damaged. Chairs needed reupholstering and every piece had one thing in common – woodworm,’ says Julie. ‘Another problem was that we needed a large amount of furniture and did not have the time to trail around the shops each week in the hope that they might have had some new deliveries.’

The solution lay in an auctioneer friend in England who put them in touch with an Indonesian company which exports handmade furniture in classic designs. They were really impressed and so were friends and acquaintances. Everybody’s enthusiasm for the furniture gave them an idea for a spin-off business.

‘We realised that there was a hole in the market and we had no idea how the B&B would do so we thought it would be good to have another string to our bow. We decided to set up Le Verger Handmade Furniture, offering high-quality furniture in traditional designs.’

Up to now, most of their customers have been English people setting up home in France but Julie and Joanna hope to expand their business into the French market while still using the internet as their market place.

‘The French love this kind of furniture,’ says Julie. ‘We are going to do a lot more advertising aimed at the French, but keep with internet sales because Creuse is very rural.’

And it is just this escape-from-it-all character of her corner of Creuse that Julie loves and is keen to tell everyone about.

‘The countryside is amazing. It has rolling hills, it's very green, there are lots of lakes, miles of walks and all sorts of bike trails for families,’ she says. ‘A small golf course has just opened in Bourganeuf, there’s the Lac de Vassivière, just half an hour away where you can do water sports and go fishing. There’s the tapestry in Aubusson and the new wolf park in Guèret, the capital of Creuse.’

The B&B opened for business in June 2006 and they were full for most of the summer. 70 per cent of guests were French and Belgian, 25 per cent British and 5 per cent from the rest of the world.

The first few months were a steep learning curve but Julie has enjoyed every minute and is delighted with the way things are panning out.

‘It’s been a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I’m quite a reserved person and I was concerned about how it was going to be having so many people in the house – but it’s been very good,’ she says. ‘We do breakfasts and evening meals and 68 per cent of our visitors have stayed in for dinner. I was very nervous about cooking for the French because I don’t have any catering experience, only cooking for the family. One couple we had staying had their own vineyard and Champagne label. They ate with us for all four nights of their stay and I felt a lot more confident after that.

‘We started off eating with the guests but we couldn’t cope with four courses every night and it was better if we were in the kitchen and could serve them properly. Now it’s just if we have a couple on their own that we tend to eat with them.’

The past few years have been something of a roller coaster for all the family, but they have no regrets. They have had tremendous help and support from both Gîtes de France and the Creuse tourist office and have been made very welcome by their new French neighbours.

‘Everyone has been so supportive,’ she says. ‘Having Alfie has helped because little ones are welcomed with open arms. He goes to nursery three mornings a week now and the school says he joins in with all the songs and can understand everything.’

The only thing she misses apart from the rest of her family and her new baby grandson, is Wensleydale cheese – so if you find yourself on a plane to Limoges next to someone with strong-smelling hand luggage, you’ll know they may well be headed for Le Verger with a little present for la patronne.

SARL Le Verger

4, allée du Verger

23400 Bourganeuf

France

Tel: 00 33 (0)5 55 54 99 08

Email: info@leverger-france.com

www.leverger-france.com

Julie’s tips on moving to France

1. Learn the language

2. Rent first before you decide to buy so you can get a feel for the culture – living in France is very different from coming for a holiday

3. Make sure you get your inheritance sorted out. Julie has set up a SARL so that if anything happens to her Joanna will be protected.

4. Do lots of research before you do anything – from buying bathroom suites to shipping furniture, the internet has been an invaluable research tool