Natasha and Tony bought a large property in the Dordogne in 2024, the majority of which was just a shell. They opened 2 small gîtes whist renovating the rest, which they hope to open in 2026.
We talk about doing the renovations yourselves, getting discounts on building materials, their social life, who their guests are, and what they think of their new life in France – which you will be able to watch on TV next year!
I loved the fact that they were also so honest about the challenge living and working together in a new country, and what that has meant for their relationship.
Hello fellow gîters and welcome to this episode of the Gîte Podcast when I talk to
Natasha and Tony who are about 45 minutes away from us in the door doing at La Trilogie d’Or. They currently have two gîtes, but they’re expanding and they’re renovating. And we had a really interesting discussion about whether or not you should renovate when
guests are staying or just get the whole lot done and then open for business. It has thrown up its own challenges for them, but as Tony explains, it also has some
advantages too. They are very honest about the challenge of, well, for the first time ever, living and
working together, which I enjoyed talking about. And we talked about cyclists and e-bikes, who their guests are, interior design, how to
use a chainsaw to vent your frustration out, their dreams and not forgetting Dasha the dachshund. So I hope you enjoy it! Natasha and Tony thank you very much for having us for this episode of the Gîte Podcast. Now you contacted us about two years ago saying your dream was to move to France and then
you bought this place 21 months ago. What’s it been like in those 21 months? Has your dream become reality or is it a bit of a nightmare? For me it’s the best thing we ever did. I’ve never been more happy in where we live and what we’re doing. We’ve had now two seasons as well, the best thing I ever did. Do you agree? It’s both really. I don’t think I’ve ever been so busy in my life! It’s good. It keeps me fit and I hope young, but it has been very busy and a little bit challenging, I
would say, maybe because I’m dealing with all the administration, Tony is just enjoying building his dream. So we have different responsibilities, different tasks. Probably Tony can switch off a little bit at night and I’m still having millions of
thoughts running through my head. So you have Rupert to blame for that. I remember him saying you must set each other tasks and run a business as a couple, have your responsibilities and you said, I’ll do the admin. But I think you had to split the tasks like that because of the property that you bought. Tell us a bit about your background, because your backgrounds will explain a little about
why you bought the property you have. What were you doing in the UK? Originally I was an electrician. I had an electrical company, but more construction as well as electrical. So for many years I was involved in construction industry, then got out of that, then got
into innovation. But when we did come, first of all, when we werere looking at properties, we both said, you know, we’re not getting any younger. I’ve done quite a few house refurbishments back in the UK. So we said to the agent, we don’t want a little bit of work, but nothing too big. And obviously, when we pulled up here, I was about to get hold of the agent and say, where have you brought me? But she said, no, no, just have a look around and then come back. I think within 20 minutes,
You were sold. It wasn’t just a little project though, was it? So Natasha, what were you doing in the UK? I was working in high-end luxury property sales in London it was over 15 years. And I used to see, live, breathe all these beautiful things around me, beautiful
properties. But I also worked for a developer, which meant I was seeing the project from the beginning and seeing them all the way through until they get the keys and move in. I knew what construction was. But also the finished product and dealing with the clients. Actually the two of you have got a lot of those skills already in your rucksack that you
could use for running a gîte here. Absolutely. Yeah, we’ve both been, with our businesses, we were involved in our careers was very much customer
facing. Very much. it is a different dynamic with obviously people actually staying and their needs, which I
think by the reviews that we’ve had up to now, touch wood, we seem to be doing a reasonable job. I mean, we’ve got all five star reviews. We’ve got people revisiting, even for a third time in two years, it’s not bad going I don’t think. That’s really good. But Natasha, I can’t quite get this picture of you in a hard hat and boots, in my mind. You are, I think, probably the most glamorous lady in the whole of the Dordogne. Franck is obsessed with seeing what you’re going to wear whenever I see you. He talks about it for hours before we actually meet up. What’s she going to wear this time? And we assume you must have the largest walk-in closet of anyone. Right now I do actually, as it’s the whole top floor of this building. But yes, even in a hard hart and boots I would have red lipstick on, maybe pearls on, so
it worked well. Good! And you are originally from the Ukraine but lived in England for a very, very long time. And you’ve been married for how many years? We were married in 2017. Eight years. And why then the dream of moving to France? What was so wrong with your lives in the UK or your work? A lot of people had the similar thing with COVID. I think it was a bit of a reality check. You had time on your hands. I actually enjoyed the lockdown in COVID, believe it or not. I know that sounds bizarre, but it was quality time together as well, wasn’t it? Because Natasha was working some weekends, I was working late evenings, know, were just
like ships in the night. I think we both agreed that we needed to do something else with our lives. We’re not getting any younger. And we started watching the programmes as you do, know, moving, A Place in the Sun and… all the other ones. We had a holiday year to France, to Sarlat. We fell in love with Sarlat and the surrounding
area. And then we… one day I just said, well while we’re here, should we just see what we could afford? So we went into an estate agent and they took us round and then I said, I think I could live
here and Natasha was in shock. She never thought I could leave Essex, where I’ve lived all my life. We’re going for it. We’ve crunched some numbers back in the UK. Both pretty much fed up with our careers, I think, with where we were at. You know, we wasn’t really enjoying it anymore. Ready for a new challenge?
You know, life’s so short. So we’ve invested wisely, I think. And when you decided to start seriously looking for properties here, what were your
criteria? You didn’t mind a little bit of a project, but you wanted a gîte from the beginning or you
were just looking for a home? No, we were looking for a gîte, basically to supplement our our pension. But you’re not that old now so can’t have a pension! No I had a private pension which I could call upon, but we wanted to sort of not retire
fully but we still wanted to keep active. But we wanted something that would top up and give us some sort of structure I guess, I think just wanting to sort of sit around and do nothing. And I think it gives us… both what we enjoy, which is meeting people, which is the key, I think, with a gîte. We’ve met some really lovely, interesting people, whether we’ve been extremely lucky or
what, I don’t know. And was that a concern when you moved here? Because it’s very rural. You’re not that far from Sarlat, which is one of the biggest, nicest towns in the Dordogne. But you are kind of on top of a hill in a very small hamlet. Were you concerned about your social life? We had done some research previous to buying, through other people that moved here. So we had spoken to them and how they integrated with the community, I don’t think we had
any reservations. I think we went into it maybe a little bit blind, but I can’t state enough how well we’ve been accepted in the hamlet and in Castelnaud. Our social life, if I’m completely honest, way more than it was in the UK. We’ve got friends now across the Dordogne, every nationality from Americans, Australians, Dutch, French, English and because we’ve got a target we want to complete our
renovation, we have to say to people we can’t come tonight sorry, we can’t be out every night and we would be out every night I think if we did! It’s lovely and I mean the people,
I don’t know whether it’s because they’re more relaxed here, but it seems everyone is so chilled and happy. Very rarely get anyone turn up and have a moan, you know. Whereas in England friends would come around and go, oh I was stuck on the M25 yesterday! And what about in the hamlet then, how many houses are there?
Six. People that are living here full time and now we have our English neighbours – after meeting us
they decided to relocate here for five months of the year, now they just received their long-term visas and they’re very happy they’ve just arrived. So we seem to be setting an example! It’s not too bad here in the winter. Yes, you still have fun. You do the truffle festival. So you’ve been welcomed in your hamlet, you’ve been welcomed in the larger community and you’ve had loads of guests. That’s really good to hear. Because I think when we moved, we did kind of think we’re just going to be invisible
on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere and we’ll never be seen again. But it hasn’t been like that at all. Actually you are going to be seen by quite a lot of people because you’re going to be
on television, aren’t you? We are. A bit nerve-racking watching ourselves on TV. Oh, you’ll be all right. When we meet you, we suggest that you… went on and you very gamely said, all right, then we put you in touch with the producers
and and you’re going to be the stars of the show, I’m sure. And how have you found the filming? What have they been, are you allowed to say what they’ve been filming? Yeah, I think so. We filmed friends coming over, we’ve done kayaking with them, did film guests arriving. And the cameras were on almost day one. haven’t they? Right at the beginning. The most interesting thing about your story is that you have bought a property
that, the majority of it was a shell when you bought it. So even though you said to the agent, we don’t mind a little project. I mean, this was a massive project. So just to explain, you’ve got one main house that is almost a C, in the form of a C, and a small part of that behind me was habitable. It had a kitchen and one bedroom. And then next door, there’s a detached two-bedroom cottage with a massive garage
underneath, so kind of three levels. And then the rest of it, which was actually the majority of the property, was literally a
shell, so walls, concrete floors, a roof, but no windows, no door. No doors, no facilities, absolutely nothing. No services either. What was it about this place, the shell when you came round that you thought this is it,
this is the one for us? Location was key. The swimming pool was a big draw. It was all done and finished. I think they possibly did that deliberate to sort of attempt someone to buy it. It’s a really unusual pool, it’s in the shape of a T and it’s massive and got
loads of space for it for sun loungers and that sort of thing. So that was a big draw for you. We looked at a lot of properties that were as they are in the Dordogne, very old. And there’s this unknown, you know, when you unravel and want to refurbish it, you find
things that you hadn’t budgeted for. Whereas here, even though it looks very old With stone walls and… It’s only 14 years old. So i knew it was a blank canvas that we could budget for. I know there’s always going to be the odd thing that pops up, Pretty bare. But that was one of the first things that we discussed with you, wasn’t it, we came around and we looked at all the property and we tried to decide how are you going to split it up because you want to live here and you want gîtes. And so it was quite a conundrum really to think how can you… live in a really nice part of it, but still earn lots of money by renting out all the
really nice parts of it. How long did it take you do you think to get your head around that and to come up with a plan? You helped us! Yeah, you did. I think without you we would have probably taken the wrong route. I think you would give us some really good advice on what to do because it’s not just about having a nice big gîte. But when you live in here, you also want a little bit of, that you’re tucked
away. Privacy.
You’re not in people’s faces. So you have to bear that in mind. There are a couple of tweaks, still discussing on bedroom layout. And you’ve come up with a design that’s quite flexible because as this is one building,
it’s kind of two separate dwellings in it, you’ve also ensured that you can open them up into one. I think it gives us the flexibility should we want to rent this out of season, we’ve got the accommodation to accommodate say some cyclists or some walkers. The bigger property, we see that as more of peak season for bigger families. With school holidays. So I think we’ve got the best of both, we’ve got flexibility to adapt, like you said, as we… grow. You are going to move in and out according to whatever decision you make about what you
want to rent out. Yes, so we’re probably going to try for next season if we’re ready, to do what your other
clients did. I think it was your very first podcast with Montruf. Maison principal for four months and we are in little gîte and see how it works. And probably that would be the best solution for us. But if not, then we still can play with it. Your occupancy has been really impressive. But how do you do the renovations then? I said to Natasha, there’s no way I’m doing any renovations that are going to upset the
client. So I didn’t do any noisy work, it was all quiet, unless they go out and Natasha says,
they’ve gone out! Get your drill out!
There were instances when I had to tie him down to a chair, because he still wanted to renovate, and I said, no, you cannot start! What we have done, Rupert, which has been really successful I think, the guests say, “what are doing here?” and we give them a tour, at the end of their holiday, we give them a tour, show around what we’re doing, what we’re
planning for and I think 90% of them said we can’t wait and we’d love to come back with a bigger family. And I think they appreciate, we’re not doing any work while they’re here. Last year was your first season that you opened. How long were you open for then? What kind of months? How much occupancy did you have? We started in July, 1st July, and our current guest was our very first guest. Oh, brilliant. Then he came back in September and he came back this year! So you got the keys in February, and then you hit the ground running with getting to grips with the
whole place, setting up the business, and you opened in July And then you almost had to put tools down until… the guests left again in… I don’t think we really did any work until September really, did we? That’s when we really started. The windows arrived after September, so that’s when we could really start doing internal works on the main house and we did add
two bedrooms in our three bedrooms current gîte, so the staircase had to go in. The ceiling had to be broken, things like that. Have you had much help doing done most of it myself. I’ve had one one guy come. He’s been really good, he does all the taping and joining and he’s helped me a little bit,
but majority of it I’ve been doing myself and my assistant. Is this is something you enjoy Nathasha? I did have to see an osteopath recently, which I’m not very pleased about. So I will be using my back more wise from now on. But you found it quite rewarding, haven’t you? Yes, the finish of the two bedrooms you’ve done upstairs is just incredible. You left the beams in view. It’s all just absolutely gorgeous. But you have this natural talent to look at a shell with no windows and anything and understand what has to go where and in
what order; you’ve got that ability to really visualise and plan the whole renovation. And a big saving, I must say that I’m doing a lot of it myself, we call upon people when we need them. Out of interest, did you get quotes from builders for any of the work that you have
then done? Yeah. Were you surprised by the quotes? If we bought the windows in France, they were three times what we purchased them for in
Poland. No. For exactly the same product. Yeah, the raw materials that we get now, we’ve got actually an account open. We don’t pay for the materials for two months, which is bizarre. We’ve got a real good relationship and I think they could see, well, if they keep buying
from us, there’s going to be a lot of so… we got really good rates and some of the builders here are actually saying… I can’t believe how cheap you’re getting the materials We did a lot of work on that aspect,
before we rushed into buying stuff, we did shop around and you have to, it could save you thousands. Yeah You have got the skills not only to do the work yourself but to keep the costs down. and those two things are really going to help you, you’re going to have a property you
understand and can maintain perfectly rather than – lit probably took us five or six years to get to know our property, understand where the pipes were, which sewage pipes weren’t capped off when they should have been and things like that. So when you saw this place, the unique selling points that really got you, that you thought
these are going to be brilliant for our gîte guests are the pool, the location, because you’re just how far are you from the the main chateaux around the
Dordogne River? One here we can walk to, the other one, Yes, Castelnaud and the Chateau Lacoste where there are weddings, that’s beautiful. So we’re in between two chateaux. Chateau Milandes is 5kms away. Yeah that’s the Josephine Baker one. That’s absolutely brilliant. Location wise is really good and you’re not far from Bergerac Airport. And Brives Airport. We’re sort of smack bang in the middle. How long to each?
About an hour. So from a travel point of view, really easy to get to. You’re on top of the hill, so you’ve got incredible views. And what else was said about the property that you thought this is going to work for gîte guests? I think our vision, because we’re doing every bedroom, quite spacious bedrooms, they’re not
tiny, and ensuite and big beds and luxury feeling. Also, the living room is going to be amazing, huge with a fireplace. it’s all going to be very, very, I would say, high-end and luxurious. Two of the things we loved about the bedrooms that you’ve completed are the lighting you’ve done. You’ve installed very cleverly lighting, kind of mood lighting, using the features of the room to really
enhance somebody’s enjoyment of it. And totally typical to you, Natasha, you have decided to frame some Hermès scarves. Yourself! You’ve done it, I don’t know how you’ve done it without crinkling and wrinkling them, but
you have. There was quite a bit of swearing involved. A perfect thing to have in a bedroom. It’s a really clever way of bringing your style into the house. How long is it then going to take you to finish the whole property? Can we have a date, please? I’m really pleased this has been recorded. I would like to think by April, May next year. That means a lot of work this winter. So you’ve got four bedrooms, four bathrooms, an enormous kitchen, a utility room, kitchen we’ve only got now for the units really. And the floors down and the painting. Easy then! And then the living room. Yeah the living room is again, just about to make a start on that. Yeah and a hallway and downstairs loo. The downstairs loo’s all plumbed in. So we just got to… build a little wall. Just build a little wall. I once built a little wall and it fell down three years later! And I had to rebuild it. To the naked eye it looks quite a lot of work but it’s surprising how quick plasterboard
goes up and my painter here, give her a roller, especially in the winter months to keep warm, she gets up quite early. When I turn the heating down. That’s clever. I must try that with Franck! So you’re hoping to be ready in April or May, open it then next year? For the summer? So we’re still going to decide this in a few months. At the moment we’re marketing as we did this summer, same setup, so we will see how we’re
progressing. We say one thing, but surprisingly how much longer things do take to get finished. So you’re going to have a decision deadline. My fear is that the bigger the property, I think people will tend to look maybe a year in advance. It’s not a last minute booking. I agree, but you’re always going to get bookings for July and August. The other months are much more tricky if you leave it last minute, but you will always get
some bookings. You might not be full. And what about registering the actual business? Was that quite easy? We did that before we moved here. So it wasn’t too difficult? No. Brilliant. And as part of setting up your business, we decided it was really important to get classified, to get a star rating so that you could benefit from some tax advantages. How was that? So you’ve got the classification for the two-bed that was existing. And how did it go then? How was the inspection? It was fun actually. It was much better, it was nerve wracking, but it went really well. Yes, we got four stars and they’re coming back to do the three bed. We will be filming that as well for Channel 4. What happens if you only get one star? On film, of course you won’t! Cut! Do you know what I liked about the classification people, again, whether we were really lucky with the people that we had, they come in and they actually give you some recommendations and help. Even though you’ve achieved your 4 stars. He was saying that, you know, have you thought about this? Have you thought about an air fryer, know, to save on your energy? To cook quickly. There was loads of little tidbits. But he must have seen hundreds of gîtes and he’s got all the answers that we’re all
desperate for. Congratulations on four stars. You’re in the top 10 % the gîtes in the Dordogne, which is really impressive. And then we’ll aim for five stars in the main house. You are in charge of the renovations, you are in charge of the marketing. Marketing, administration, procurement, you name it. Changeovers. Hermès scarfs! Changeovers, so you’re doing all that yourselves? This season, because we kept it flexible. We don’t do Saturday to Saturday. And this is why it’s impossible to employ someone on such flexibility at the last minute. So we will probably change it for next season. It worked for you this way. And did you ever have a changeover of both properties on the same time? And did you still manage it? Did you rope your mother in to help? She wasn’t here, it was just the two of us, but yes we planned it as a military operation. You have to! And I was always remembering you, “I just managed to have a shower and then greet guests!” I’m very relaxed. Still bright red, but looking clean! So that was us. I think the benefit of us doing it, Rupert, was number one was we wanted to be, spick and span to get the best reviews. No stone unturned. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t happen if you bring somebody in, you’d still oversee it. But I think it’s always good to know that God forbid, if you had someone that was helping you that didn’t turn up, you
can still achieve it. And I think it was stressful, but we know we can do it and I think that gives you the positivity and confidence going forward as well. So that that was key. You’re obviously a really good team, though. You’ve got the same, well, you share the same vision for this place. You want it to be wonderful for guests and you’re willing to put in the hard work. We’ve only just started speaking again since last week, haven’t we?
Yeah, yeah Tony! We do get our moments, of course, of course, we are humans, in general we work well. You’d never worked… together before, so this is the first time so you’re living together 24/7 living and working 24/7 That was our biggest fear – for coming here, we got on really well, so it was a completely new dynamic. Living on top of each other 24/7 But, I think that was our biggest, not fear, and it is a challenge when you’re living
together that close. I don’t care what anyone says, how close you are. It is challenging and you do have your moments. There was one year, some new chemical had been put into sun creams. and every single sheet, bed sheet we had that came back from the laundry, had enormous yellow stains on them. And it was when you put the sheets in hot water, the chemicals from the sun cream would then go
yellow. So we hadn’t seen them before we got into the laundry. And every week, we’d look at a duvet all nicely wrapped up and think it’s
fine, it’s fine. We’d put it on the bed and there would be an enormous stain there. And we’d think, God, the guests are coming in an hour. Anyway, Franck and I, we nearly got divorced that year. In the end we had to… fill our bath with diluted bleach, the whole summer, and put all of the sheets into it overnight
which then ruined the cotton, so they started ripping. And that was the only way we could do it until we found a new laundry. They are able to get the sun cream out. So that was one moment we just… had to explode on each other, it was it was so stressful is a real obstacle to us providing that finished product that we want. We’re fortunate that we’ve got a construction site that I can go and just wander and start
drilling. Or my favourite one is to chainsaw and I go down into the forest. We have a lot of wood for the winter! And my neighbour says Tony and Natasha must have had a row, the chainsaw is on! You pretend you’re not desperately in love with Natasha! But I know you are! You have the dog on site Dasha the dachshund. Yes. How’s that been with guests? Well she’s the star of the show. Really? She’s a little bit nervous about small children and they always want to cuddle her. So we have to manage that, but with all the children absolutely fine and she loves them Yes, but she’s very cute and she gets on. But we tend to keep her out of the way when the guests are here. We would wish we had to see if people like dogs or not. Oh she’s much calmer, much more social dog here now than she was in the UK. So yes, it changed Dasha’s life dramatically. It sounds like you’ve really found your way, the kind of flow of being here with
guests because all the properties are quite close to each other. They have shared facilities. You’ve got a dog. You’ve got the mother staying here now and then, but you’ve really found that way of making it work for
everyone. You’ve obviously had very good guests up until now. And I think we always say that the guest is the priority, comes number one. If we’ve got to compromise on something, we will. And we do. But what was interesting actually when we had to move out because the property was rented
and our one wasn’t even nowhere near ready, we were offered a little cottage by our neighbours in the woods. Free of charge. We stayed for two weeks in the neighbouring property, just listening to the guests
enjoying here our property and us staying in another property, just behind your fence. And that’s again, the relationship we’ve got with the local French community here. It’s second to none. Who are your guests? You’ve talked about them quite a lot. Are they couples, families, cyclists, Americans? A variety of them. We’ve had from Canada, British, German, French, Belgian, Dutch. And the majority British or a complete mixture? During this season we had French but last five bookings Americans and British. it looks like it changes within the season. I think there’s an opportunity, We had a friend turn up out, he phoned from Bergerac, a keen cyclist from Yorkshire. And he said, I’m in your area. And he just said to me, this is a cyclist’s paradise. And he said, you need to market it. So we’re converting part of the pool house to a cycle shed, indoor, where we can lock it, it’s got bike racks, somewhere they can hang this helmets, equipment. And we think that might be an opportunity out of season. We want to start contacting cycling clubs So I think you’re right. We had some Canadians stay this year who were keen cyclists. And they said that every year they go on a cycling holiday to Italy or France. And they said that this was the best area they’d ever cycled in. So we said well why is it?
and they said the roads are quite good, very few cars on the road. So for us, it’s just fantastic. Every time you go up a hill or down a hill, there’s a chateau to look at. And the nature and the countryside is just stunning. And there so many amazing cafes and… bistros and restaurants on all these tours that you can do. I think you’re right to think about what facilities can you offer cyclists – and have you had
e-bike cyclists? No, we’ve actually trialed the e-bikes ourselves. And it was remarkable, especially at my age, up hills in Castelnaud. It was a dream and I really enjoyed it. There must be a local e-bike rental company. We’ve got two just at the bottom of hill. Oh, well there you go. And they deliver them up as well. That’s the beauty of having moved here. There’s so much on offer for our guests. We don’t really have to explain why people should be coming to the Dordogne. It’s mostly families who come here, or also couples? So obviously families July and August,
it’s 100 % families. The rest of the season it is mixed, the moment it’s a couple. We have one strange request from a couple who were celebrating their anniversary and
wanted rose petals spread up the stairs and on the bed and wanted some chocolates and flowers. They were willing to pay for it. So, Natasha did everything and said, what year are you celebrating? Maybe we can get a card or a cake. It was one month. I need to talk to Franck! Franck hasn’t remembered a year, let alone a decade, let alone a month. They were hand-picked rose petals from our own roses. So you really do get the extra mile for your guests. We did chuckle about that one. We’ve had lovely guests. What are your top tips for people, who are in the same position as you were two years ago, with this dream of moving out here
and doing it? I would just pass on a tip my last boss told me, he said, what’s your budget? Have you worked it out? Said yes, my husband is in the construction industry, it’s all on the spreadsheet, we have
it all worked out and he said double it. And you would agree? Maybe not double it, but yes, you have to have good contingency. Well, yeah, there’s always things that are going to go wrong or things that you’ve not
planned, like even the swimming pool, even though we acquired it, it was all fairly new. Something went wrong in there that cost us £1,500. Lead flashing around the windows in England, know, you probably paid £3,000 for someone to
come in and do. Here it was nearly £12,000. £12,000, yes. We didn’t budget for that. We got it down slightly, but the good thing here, a good roofer,
they’re hard to come by. They’re all busy. Without that being done I couldn’t continue inside.
And if you’re not from a construction background, take some advice on what’s involved. Out of interest why did you decide to start renting out immediately, why didn’t you
just renovate from start to finish? And once you finished the renovations, open to the public? I think we wanted to put the marker down, get some reviews in. And secondly, we wanted feedback on how could we improve it and then reflect that in the renovation if
that makes sense? So if someone said oh it would been handy if you had a light switch by the bed that we could turn the lights on i’ll use that as an example
but little things like that that we could then build in the budget or use it in the renovation. And I think it also gives us… something else to think about and do in that first year. It breaks the monotony of the renovation a bit. It allows you to have a much better learning curve, because you have guests here. And it’s helped you with your brand and the marketing. I think the other bonus is if you only renovate and you’re going to start accepting guests at the end of the renovation, that could go on and on. It’s very difficult to say, we are now ready. because there’s always projects you need to do. So I think actually you were quite clever in choosing to do it this way. It gives you the opportunity to like we said show people what’s coming. So we opened the door, as it were, to those customers to say, look, this is what’s coming. And we’ve already had some feedback from those original customers. I’m not surprised. What other top tips? If you talk to yourselves, two years ago, sitting in the UK, what would you have said? Learn French before you come out. Yeah, learn some French. I would say you don’t have to be fluent, but what we’ve discovered here is , it’s
only right, the locals do like you to… try at least. We’re very fortunate we’ve French English teacher next door, so we lessons. I think only she would tolerate putting up with me! What’s your French like? I’m understanding quite a lot, but saying it back, I still have this nervousness about all
these… How many languages do you speak then? Ukrainian, English, Russian, Polish, bit of Italian, French is the most difficult language. It doesn’t come naturally as all the others for some reason, so yes, it is challenge. She’s doing well, Rupert, but she underestimates how well she’s doing. We’ve managed! Contingency/budget, learn a bit of French and your last top tip? Be in love with, or at least have a very good relationship. Make sure you’re on a good, good… If you have doubts about your partner, don’t do it! Don’t do it! You will find that it’s a completely laid back, slower lifestyle. That takes some time to adapt if you’re coming from a big city, in the UK. But also, think, be patient, because I was… we’re both guilty of this. We wanted everything. Now, as you do in England, let’s get this done. Take your time, do it properly and just be a little bit patient. Enjoy it while you’re doing it. Have you enjoyed the whole process? Yes, it is enjoyable. Ask us maybe April time. What are you going do when the renovations are finished? We want to do some more exploring, just in France. France we haven’t really managed to discover France. Even the Dordogne, I mean we found a little place called the Red Village just last week. It’s in the Lot, it was our first visit there and it’s lovely. There are so many things to discover and enjoy. I went there when I was 21. On a holiday, in the Dordogne. That was the first time I came here. So what does the future look like, do you think, for you and the Dordogne with your gîtes? Do you want a really long season with hundreds of guests or? I think ideally, because we’re living so close, we’d like a shorter season. Four months, that’s our idea of a good balance in life and then we back enjoying the big beautiful house. So you’ll move into the house when you’re not renting it out and then move out for the
summer to earn the big bucks. That’s the plan. Well you’ve got a stunning place and you’ve really made it so adaptable that I think it’s going to be a massive success. I can’t see that it’s not going to work with the way you work together and what you’ve
created already. Well, we’re very proud to see how far you’ve come already. And good luck with the rest of the renovations. Well, aren’t they just an amazing couple? And I’d like to thank them actually for being so honest about everything, especially their
trepidation about moving to France in order to live and work together, which they did for the first time. But they have obviously come out of this whole project even stronger and even more in love
than before. I had a great time doing the podcast with them. Lots of laughter. And I really enjoyed the discussion about renovating because it’s a topic that comes up
quite a lot with our clients. Do you hit the ground running, renovate everything and only when you finished open for
business? Or do you try and do it at the same time like Tony and Natasha have done? We did the first way because I think we understood that we could get everything done before the summer season started eight months later. And so it made sense just to get on with it and get everything done before we could open. For Tony and Natasha, though, it’s slightly different because they’re doing the work
themselves and they need a couple of years to really do everything that they’re planning on doing. And they found it a really positive experience because not only have they been able to show
current guests what they’re up to and what the plans are, what the dreams are for the property in the future, but they’ve been able to learn about what their guests need and fine tune their renovation
plans around that. I am so impressed that Tony has been very clever in sourcing materials to keep the cost
down, buying windows, for instance, in Poland. No doubt it helps that Natasha speaks Polish. And building a really strong relationship with builders merchants to get good prices. That is where you can save a lot of money. So well done for doing that. And we’ve talked about this before in other podcasts about the layout. It’s funny that when we first talk to potential clients, we discuss this and say it’s
really important that we come around and have a look and look at the layout and look at how the property is going to be used by guests and how we can make it as comfortable and
in that regard, successful as possible as a gîte. And again, this was one of the main things that we did with Natasha and Tony when we
started, because they really had bought a massive shell of a building that you could split up in so many different ways. And I think they have come to a really good kind of conclusion or decision around how to
use the property and live in it happily whilst earning a really good income and also offering really flexible accommodations so that they can change per season. what they’re offering. In the summer, they offer as much as possible. And in the winter, they can make smaller properties that are probably easier to rent out. I like their top tips as well, that you need a good healthy contingency in your budget. It’s always going to cost more than you think. To learn the language, you need to have a strong relationship. And if you don’t have a strong relationship, maybe you shouldn’t be moving to France. I do remember a Zoom I had with potential clients who were moving to the Lot-en-Garonne and during our Zoom call they had the most enormous blazing row in front of me because one of them thought the other one wasn’t listening and wasn’t paying attention and wasn’t
taking it seriously enough and they didn’t actually sign up to become clients but I wasn’t wholly surprised to then learn that actually the lady had decided to stay in England and the guy had moved
out here on his own, where I believe he’s very happy, so that’s okay. And Tony and Natasha have also created a really healthy social life and have found themselves in this, what they termed as a very relaxed community of people, and they are really enjoying that. And Dasha the Daschund is really enjoying it as well. They’ve said that… she was never as happy as she is now. So thank you, Natasha and Tony, for everything. And we can’t wait to see you on Channel 4 soon. If you haven’t met us before, we’re Gîte Guru. That’s Franck and me, Rupert. We run our own gîtes, Le Mas and Le Mazet. And when we left our careers in Amsterdam back in 2015 to run these gîtes full-time, they
became our livelihood. We had to make the business work. It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but through trial, error, and plenty of learning, we’ve
built a 32-week season, 60 % of which are returning guests. We started Gîte Guru to share what we’ve learned and to help others succeed too. So if you’re looking for free tips, insights and inspiration, head to gîteguru.com and
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