Welcome to Le Rhun
We hope that you enjoy sharing this magical place with us and we will do our best to make sure that you have a safe and pleasant stay.
These guidelines are designed to help ensure that your stay at Le Rhun is as trouble free and enjoyable as possible. Please read them carefully and make sure that all the members of your party are aware of all the essential information.
We endeavour to maintain our gîtes to the highest possible standards. If you discover any maintenance issues with Hibou during your stay, please let us know as soon as they arise so we can do our best to resolve them.
Please call on us at any time if you need help or assistance. If we are not out and about gardening or cleaning around Le Rhun, you will either find us in the Bureau, or the adjoining house behind the Bureau (just through our garden gate).
Thank you
Le Rhun (Becs & Nick, Lesley, Josh, Jamie, Oakley and Ernie!)
On arrival
Hibou will be available for you from 4pm on your day of arrival.
We will accompany you to Hibou to show you where everything is and answer any questions you may have. The electricity, water heater and fridge will all be turned on before your arrival. In the winter, a fire will be lit too.
Cars and Parking
On arrival and before your departure you are welcome to drive close to Hibou to unload and load up. Septic tank covers and surrounding areas are marked by white stones and must not be driven over. During your stay please use the parking area just after the farm gates on the drive. Please drive slowly along the drive as children playing on the games field are likely to dash out in pursuit of a ball!
WiFi
WiFi is available in the seating area under the barn. The access code is LeRhunWPA
Farm Safety
Le Rhun has many areas you are free to explore and we want you to have an enjoyable and safe holiday. Please make sure that children are supervised appropriately as Le Rhun is a working farm. There are no man made boundaries between the gîte gardens, and the shared spaces so feel free to spread out and enjoy, but behind the gates are the areas where we work and keep our dogs. Please don’t wander through any of the gates.
Please be aware that there is a stream alongside the walk down to the woodland which can run high after heavy rain, that there is dangerous machinery in the workshop, which is kept locked and the gates shut, and that agricultural vehicles are sometimes on site.
Finally, watch out for falling pine cones in the woods!
Inside Hibou
Electricity
Each gîte has its own consumer unit for electricity. Each ring main is protected by a trip. Should electricity fail generally or in a particular room, this is probably due to the trip switch clicking off. Locate the consumer unit and reset the trip by clicking the main or individual switch down.
The consumer unit in Hibou is behind the door leading to the shower.
You will find a torch on each floor of Hibou.
Fosse Septic
Le Rhun is not on a mains sewage system, and is serviced by septic tanks (fosses septiques) for drainage.
To keep these running efficiently we respectfully ask guests to follow a few simple rules.
Please use only fosse friendly toilet paper -it will say “convient pour fosses septiques“ on the packaging.
Please do not put anything other than toilet paper down the toilet as this will cause problems with the drainage system.
Nappies and sanitary products must be disposed of in the rubbish bin (at the end of Etable).
Next to each toilet you will find disposal bags and bins to be used for sanitary products and nappies.
Please do not use any cleaning products containing bleach (javel). If you do you will very soon be rewarded with a very unpleasant smell that can take days or even weeks to subside!
To dispose of cooking oil or grease please allow it to cool and dispose of this in the general rubbish in an empty plastic bottle or using paper towels, do not pour it down the sink or toilet as this causes serious problems with the septic tanks.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Stoves & Wood
Hibou has a woodburning stove. On arrival you will find a supply of logs, firelighters and matches. Please help yourself to further wood from the wood store in the courtyard.
The stove lights best if you start with crumpled newspaper and twigs or small kindling sticks. When these are alight close the doors with the bottom air vents open and after 5 minutes place some larger pieces of wood on the fire. Close the doors again and partially close the vents under the fire is established. You can then add logs and close the vents fully.
When you go out or to bed please make sure that the doors and vents are all fully closed and that all combustible materials are moved away from the stove. It is really important to start the fire gently and then build them up as too much heat too quickly may cause the metal casing and the door glass to crack. Also, please make sure that the wood does not make contact with the glass in the door as this will cause the glass to break.
When the stove is in full use you will find that ash may need clearing during your stay. An ash bucket is available for your use in the wood store in the courtyard.
Doors & windows
The weather in Brittany can be very changeable with sudden unexpected downpours. If you are going out it is advisable to shut your doors and windows to avoid returning to a soggy bed under a velux window and a bill for a new mattress!
Fire Safety
We politely request that you refrain from smoking indoors, or close to open doors and windows. Please dispose of cigarette ends respectfully by emptying your ashtray into a general rubbish bag when you are emptying the bin. Please do not put cigarette ends in the bin in Hibou.
Each gîte is equipped with a smoke detector, a fire extinguisher, a fire blanket, and a carbon monoxide detector. When the batteries need replacing in the smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector they will beep intermittently. Please let us know and we will change the batteries.
Two hosepipes are available in the courtyard, one between the Bureau and VM and one next to Ecurie in the event of an emergency. Please do not use them for washing your car-we are on a metered supply! The nearest car wash facilities are at Leclerc in Crozon.
Cooking
Hibou is equipped with a gas cooker that runs on bottled gas which is located close to the cooker. The oven and his can be lit using a match or the long handled lighter you will find in your kitchen drawers. If you need any help please don’t hesitate to ask. Replacement gas bottles are always available when required. The flame on your cooker will burn very low when the gas is nearly empty. Please come and find us and we will come and change it for you. Please ensure that you turn off the gas on the cooker when you have finished cooking.
Dishwasher
Please clean the filters after each use. We check and refill the rinse aid each week. Our technician advised us against the use of dishwasher salt so please ignore the warning light. Please do not put wooden utensils, wooden chopping boards or knives with wooden handles in the dishwasher.
Crockery
If you find any faults with your crockery, eg chips, scratches, please let us know as soon as you find them. If you have any breakages we ask that you make a contribution to cover the cost of the replacement; please let us know as soon as you can if you experience any breakages so that we can repair them, or if necessary, replace the item.
Shower Filters
If water begins to drain out of the shower very slowly you will probably find that the waste trap is blocked with hair. To clear this, carefully lever up the stainless steel waste cover and lift out the attached plastic bowl filter. Clean out the blockage and replace by gently refitting in the waste hole. Finger pressure is sufficient. Please contact us if you have any difficulty with this.
Towel Radiators
Hibou has an electric towel radiator in the shower room. Please do not hang wet washing over it to dry as coloured garments stain the radiator.
Laundry
Hibou has a combination washer/dryer.
Please use non-biological washing powder in the washing machines as the fosses do not cope well with a large quantity of biological washing powder.
You will find an iron, an ironing board, bag of pegs, washing basket and folding clothes airer in your laundry kit. There are two rotary clothes lines at the end of VM. One is for Hibou and the other is for Ecurie.
Hair dryer
You will find a hairdryer in the top drawer in each bedroom.
Linen
If you are staying for more than a week and would like a fresh set of linen please let us know by Thursday of the first week of your stay. Please don’t wash bedlinen, but if you should need a replacement for any reason, please ask. We have plenty of spare linen.
The white towels are exclusively for use in the gites. If you would like to borrow swimming pool towels please ask.
Entertainment
There is a selection of toys and games in each gîte for you and your children to enjoy. Please let us know if you find any with missing or broken parts. UK TV stations are available in Ecurie. There is also a DVD player and we have a vast range of DVDs that you are welcome to borrow. You will find them in the big blue cupboard under the barn. Please help yourself, and be sure to return them (in their case) to the cupboard before your departure. You will find a bluetooth speaker next to the TV so you can play your very own French playlists…!
Outside Hibou
Patio Furniture
Ecurie has outside dining furniture and two lounger chairs. . Please fold the parasols at night or in windy weather.
BBQ
Hibou has a stone bbq. You will find bbq utensils under the stairs. You will find a cleaning brush in the woodstore. Please make sure that the grill and utensils are left clean when you have finished with them. Please do not use wood on the bbqs.
Recycling & Rubbish Disposal
Local regulations require us to recycle as much as we can and we would appreciate your help in sorting your waste. We are fined for any non-recyclable material in yellow bags and the local commune operates a ‘pay as you throw’ collection system – we are billed for each emptying of the non-recyclable waste bin. You will find the bins in the courtyard next to the end wall of Etable and a compost bin next to the gate at the end of the garden.
Rubbish should be sorted as follows:
- Recycling – plastics, paper, cardboard and metal should be rinsed out and placed in the recycling bin. You will find a recycling carrier bag in your kitchen to help you collect up your folded cartons and and squashed bottles and cans.
- Glass – please place glass bottles in the glass recycling bin.
- Compost – each gite has a small bin for collecting compost which should then be emptied into the compost bin by the gate at the end of the garden.
- General non-recyclable rubbish. Please put this in black or blue sacks
- Nappies
Please make sure that Hibou is left free of any rubbish and that the compost bin is rinsed out before your departure.
Dogs
Please do not feed Oakley and Ernie (our two little dogs). They are often in our field behind the barn. Please do not open the gate to this field at any time as Ernie is prone to escaping!
Your departure
Departure time for guests in Hibou is 10am on Saturday. Changeover days are very busy for us to make sure we can prepare gîtes for incoming guests at 4pm so we appreciate your understanding that punctual departure is important. In the event of a late departure we reserve the right to charge a cleaning fee as we have cleaners waiting to begin at 10am.
We strive to maintain high standards of comfort and cleanliness for all our guests and respectfully request that Hibou is left as you found it ie wash up and put away all crockery, cutlery, cooking utensils etc; clean the BBQ grill and utensils, return any DVDs, put toys and games away tidily.
If you have been visiting other gites or have rented two gites please make sure that you have returned all items to the correct gite.
Please leave the the fridge turned on and return the keys to us before you depart.
Cleaning Service
If you have an early departure and want to leave the cleaning of your gîte and breakfast dishes to us, we can offer a cleaning service. Please let us know by Thursday if you would like to book this service. The charge for our cleaning service for Hibou is €40 Euros and is payable before departure.
Have a safe journey home!