LOCAL FACILITIES

HELPFUL INFORMATION

BREAD
The nearest bread shops are at Cernay en Dormois and at Challerange. They are open morning and later in the day but please remember they are closed Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. As I collect our bread in the morning I am more than happy to collect some bread and/or croissantes for you at the same time. Just let me now the evening before.
Cernay opening is 7.30 - 12.30 and 5 - 7.00pm
Closed all day Monday and Sun afternoon

MILK
It has taken us a while to find semi-skimmed fresh milk but it is available at the supermarkets of Le Clerc and Champion (both at Vouziers). Full cream fresh milk has a red top and the semi-skimmed has a blue top. The bottles are plastic and a litre in volume. Milk can be found in most grocery shops but it is usually UHT.

TOILET
The toilets rely on septic tanks to work properly. This means that they do not respond well to luxurious toilet paper (sorry) nor to any other sanitary products. Chemicals down the loo is a definite no-no.

THE WATER
The water is perfectly safe to drink but please remember it is metered and we have to pay for all the water the 3 houses use. If you want water for things like washing the car please take it from the well.

TELEPHONE
Most public telephones require a phone card. The villages of Bouconville and Autry both have public phones. The one in Bouconville is outside the Mairie in the bus shelter and takes a phone card. It is very difficult to make a phone call from a mobile phone at the chalets but there are certain points within a short walk where it is possible although the signal is a bit touch and go. If you need to feel that you can be contacted easily please do not hesitate to give our telephone number to those who might need it.
The code for England is 0044 then knock off the 0 of the area code.

POST OFFICE
Located at Monthois, Challerange, Challerange,Grandpre and Vouziers
Monthois : Mon - Fri 1.30 - 4.00, sat 9.00 - 11.30
Challerange: Mon - Fri, 9.30 - 12.00, Sat 8.30 - 11.30am
Grandpre Mon 2 - 4.30, Tues - Fri 9.30 - 12, 2 - 4.30 pm, Sat 9.30 - 12.00

DOCTOR
If you have a problem Liz will ring for you and make an appointment if you want
Located at Monthois
Dr Remoleur & Dr Jean-Pierre Legros
Mon 8.30 - 12.00
Tues 3 - 7.00pm
Wed & Thurs 10 - 12.00
Fri 3 - 7.00pm
Sat 10 - 12

DENTIST
Located at Monthois
Daniel Leger

SUPERMARKETS IN VOUZIERS
Le Clerc
Turn left at the lights in Vouziers. About half a mile turn left again. Follow that road and you can't miss it.
Open Mon - Thurs, 9 - 12.15 and 2.15 -7.30
Fri, 9 - 8.00pm
Sat, 9 - 7.30

Champion
Follow signs for piscine (swimming pool). Turn right at the lights and go through town centre. Turn left in front of Tourist Information. Follow road and pass gendarmerie on left. Not far after there is a left turn lane in road, take this and then turn left at next little roundabout. The supermarket is on the right.
Open Mon - Thurs 9 - 12.30 and 2.15 - 7.30
Fri 9 - 8.00
Sat 9 -7.30
Sun 9 - 12

Shopi
This little supermarket is in on the square in Vouziers
Closed Monday
Open Tues - Fri 9 - 12.15 and 2.30 - 7.00
Saturday 8.30 - 12.30 and 2.30 - 7.15
Sun 9.00 - 12.00
Aldi
Lies on the little trading estate behind LeClerc.
Mon - Fri 9 - 12.15, 2 - 7pm,
Sat 9 - 7.00pm

SUPERMARKETS IN ST MENEHOULD
SuperU (next to station)
Open Mon to Sat 8 - 8.00pm

Also Lidls, Intermarche, Aldi and Shopi

SUPERMARKET IN GRANDPRE
8 à Huit
Mon 9 - 12.30
Tues - Sat 9.30 - 12.30 and 3 - 7.00pm
Sun 10 - 12.30pm

PETROL AND DIESEL
Can be found at the supermarkets of Le Clerc and Champion. Beware looking for petrol or diesel on Sundays or Bank Holidays. It may be that you will have to use an unmanned petrol station and some only accept selected credit cards.
Also at Grandpré near church but not open Saturday afternoon and Sunday.

TOURIST INFORMATION
At Vouziers. Open Mon to sat, 9 - 12 and 2 - 5.30pm, closed Sunday
All reasonably sized towns in the area have a tourist information office

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have any special requirements and we will do our best to address them.

BANKS
The nearest banks are at Vouziers, Grandpré and St Ménéhould
Credit Agricole in the square at Vouziers is open Mon - Fri 9 - 12.00 and 1.30 - 5.45. Sat 9 - 12.30
There is a cash dispenser outside. It will accept Mastercard (Eurocard), Visa, Cirrus, Maestro Plus and EC

RUBBISH
We try to recycle all the rubbish. Bins are on the drive up to the chalets which indicate how we sort the various waste products. Dustbin lorry day is very early Wednesday mornings, so it's a good idea to put it out Tuesday evening.

RESTAURANTS
Many of the restaurants prefer you to book first, Liz is quite happy to do this for you if you let her know.
St Ménéhould
1) Le Dragon d'Or at St Ménéhould (Chinese & Vietnamese)
Open Tues - Sat 12 - 2.00 and 7 - 10,00. Closed Monday. Open Bank Holidays

2) Le Kapittel restaurant at St Ménéhould
Brasserie and Pisseria
Closed all day Monday and Tues evening
Open 12 - 1.40 and 7 - 10.00
Adult 3 course menu 10.80euros , Child 7 euros

3) Le Cheval Rouge at St Ménéhould
This has a restaurant and a brasserie (ie bar meals)
The menu in the brasserie is in English

Vouziers

1) Kebab Restaurant at Vouziers
Open Mon 6 - 10.00pm
Tues - Sat 11.45 - 2.00 and 6 - 10.00
Sun 6- 10.00

2) La Cignala Italian restaurant just outside Vouziers at Condé les Vouziers. Graeme and I often eat here. You can eat outside. It serves other food not just Italian.

3) Argonne Hotel in Vouziers. This is a real hotel on the road to Reims

4) Pizza Yollo in Vouziers just behind Town Hall.
Mon 6 - 9.30pm, Tues - Thurs 11.30 - 1.30, 6 - 9.30pm, Fri & Sat 11.30 - 1.30, 6 - 10.00pm,
Sun 6 - 9.30

5) Restaurant St Honore in Vouziers, expensive but good, nice ambiance.

Other places

Hotel Saumon at Buzancy (English spoken)

Pont de Marson - lunch time restaurant at Massiges with set menu

Chez Claudie - Senuc café open lunchtimes only with set 10 euros menu
03 24 30 56 04

Aprémont restaurant open lunchtimes and evenings

Le Relais de Bagot on the road into Vouziers
Closed all day Wednesday and sun, mon & tues evenings

St Vincent restaurant at Grandpré

Restaurant/café at St Marie

Givry en Argonne
03 26 60 00 08
Hotel de L'espérance
Open Sunday lunch but not Sunday night
Brasserie and restaurant - cheap set menu and more expensive alternatives

Creperie (pancakes) de le Saloon on the road into Attigny to the north. A fascinating house with lovely savoury and sweet pancakes served. Worth a visit.
41 rue Arthur Rimbauld (06 62 47 49 10).

Neville au Day, restaurant not far from Le Chesne. A favourite of ours. Next to canal. Great for easy walking/cycling before or after meal.

Sedan
Restaurant Taj Mahal. Highly recommended new restaurant

Vacherauville (north of Verdun) in the Meuse valley
A good place to stop if you are exploring the WW1 sites of Douamont

Futeau (just south of Les Islettes)
Expensive and a bit posh but great for a special night or a Sunday lunch. I would say that jeans are out of order, you could wear them but you might feel a bit out of place. Called L'Orée du Bois. It's a hotel too. Lovely views over the forest from the restaurant. It cost Graeme and I over 100 euros for Sunday lunch and that was without wine! We only wanted sausage and chips in a 'basket'.

THE ANIMALS
All our animals are non - aggressive but as with all animals their behaviour can be unpredictable. It is safe to walk through our field of sheep who will probably ignore you unless they think you have some food for them. The ponies are likely to walk towards you but if you push them away they'll soon get the idea. It isn't a good idea to feed them when you are in the field as they can get really silly and excited.

SMOKING & OTHER SAFETY ISSUES
We do have a no smoking policy inside the chalets for the benefit of those who do not smoke and as a safety measure within an all wooden construction. There are also smoke alarms and a fire extinguisher. .
Please make sure all the curtains lie behind the radiators to avoid a fire hazard although they are short enough not to be a problem.

ELECTRICITY
Whilst we will pay for all the water consumed we would appreciate it if you would pay for the electricity you use. A meter reading will be taken when you arrive and just before you leave. The cost of the electricity is .15 euros per KWh.

TOURING INFORMATION
If you plan to go to a particular locality do please ask us for information. It may be that we have already been there and can offer you some advice on where to go and what to see. Also I have a filing cabinet full of bits of info I have collected over the last few months. However, if you want to go and just explore and find things out for yourselves that fine by us!

REQUESTS
If there is anything we can do to make your holiday more pleasant please let us know. I'm sure we have forgotten lots of things and we need your feedback to get it all right.

THINGS THAT BITE
For those of you who are fair skinned like myself you will no doubt have suffered the discomfort of being bitten by almost anything that has wings, in fact almost anything that has legs. I have tried almost everything without success. What did work for me last year was vitamin B1. It didn't stop things biting but it did help reduce the reaction. I started taking it about 3 weeks before we came.

THE WEATHER
Winters are short, a pleasant spring runs into a very warm (around 28 degree centigrade)and dry summer. The summer runs into a glorious autumn. At least that's the plan but we can make no promises. It can rain and sometimes it can forget to stop but this is the exception rather than the rule!
We watch the forecast for the whole of France regularly and we often find that the weather is better here than in the traditional tourist areas.