We left the busy little village of Le Vigan, just 6 kms to the east of Gourdon, following the signs for Les Vignes Vieilles and started our drive up into the verdant hills in the rain and mist. We drove along narrow roads, past the occasional building and fields of cows, but we thought we’d taken a wrong turn somewhere; surely we must have, as there is no way caravan holiday-homes can be transported up here and why would anybody want to have a caravan holiday-home up here anyway, seemingly miles from anywhere? I’d have turned the car around if I could, but there was nowhere to turn.

And then we found Les Vieilles Vignes, a parc owned by Barry and Christine Jones who emigrated to France with four young children more than 20 years ago. They had deliberated for over a year in England about buying the fields on a hillside to build a parc for caravan holiday-homes.

They lived in a touring caravan for two years while renovating a barn in one of the fields to live in. At that time, none of the family was fluent in French and there were very few English people in the area.

As we sat in the bar and drank ‘proper‘ tea, made by son number 3, Lewis, and poured from a teapot, Christine told us of the long saga with the administrative offices in Cahors, the local mayor and the local inhabitants over planning permission for the first section of the parc. The authorities wanted them to build a site for motorhomes and touring caravans not caravan holiday-homes. It was a battle the French eventually lost.

Wilderness

“We bought a wilderness, but we cut through it and found the levels and started the plots. We wanted to create a parc that was different to anybody else’s. We did all the work ourselves, Barry is good at DIY and he’d renovated two houses in England,” said Christine.

Les Vieilles Vignes is now 33 hectares of pitches, woods and fields in a fabulous position, high in the hills with views to the other side of the valley. It’s off the beaten track, quiet and peaceful.

The parc now has planning permission for 66 pitches; getting permission for 41 extra pitches was as tortuous as the original application. The first section of the parc has 28 units sited on huge pitches; the average pitch size is 260 square metres but only single units can be accommodated with a maximum size of 38ft x 12ft. This does give owners plenty of room to park a car, have a garden and a very decent sized terrace.

There is an incredible feeling of spaciousness – you’d need a megaphone to talk to your neighbour! – but that spaciousness is what the owners like and all of them, Christine told us, think they have the best pitch!

Ten amps electricity is available to all the pitches. None of the caravan holiday homes have washing machines, but there is a laundry room with machines; a wash load costs €5. Given the climate, and with a thought for ecology, there aren’t any tumble dryers but owners are allowed a rotary clothes line on their pitches which must be closed when not in use.

“People used to drape their washing over their balconies, or put up clothes lines between trees. I walked around one day and saw a line of assorted undergarments flapping in the breeze and decided that washing lines were not what I wanted on the parc,” said Christine. Owners are not allowed sheds but are allowed two large, lidded storage boxes to store things like cushions and gardening equipment. No charcoal BBQs are allowed.

Honest approach

Christine is the sole sale agent for the parc and prices start from €23,000, including transport, taxes and installation for a basic, new caravan holiday-home. A top of the range model, for example a Pemberton St Moritz, would be in the region of €44,500. An 8m x 3m wooden terrace would cost an extra €4,000, made by Barry and Lewis.

After talking with people for a while, Christine reckons she knows if the parc is suitable for them and will refuse to sell a home to anybody she doesn’t think the parc will suit. We thought that was a refreshingly honest approach, not commercially driven.

There are occasionally pre-owned units for sale from €16,000 with no rent payable for the first year. The parc attracts retired and semi-retired people; it’s not a family-centred environment, though grandchildren are welcome. All the owners are English and most stay on the parc for a number of weeks and often friends and family arrive. Christine is adamant that no units are let on a commercial basis.

Pre-owned units are not normally allowed to come on to the parc; Christine would consider the matter but she has stringent criteria; she’d want to see photographs and the unit must be less than two years old. The entrance fee under these circumstances is €2,000.

Lodge development

There are now plots available on a newer area of the parc, the Parc Résidentiel de Loisirs (PRL) section, where owners have access for twelve months of the year, but only as a second home. Parc Résidentiel de Loisirs is translated literally as ‘Residential Leisure Park’. The emphasis is on the word leisure, rather than residential, as ‘park home living’ on residential parks as known in UK doesn’t exist in France and owners are required to have a primary address elsewhere.

Plots are one third of an acre in size and are ideal for twin units. There is an Omar Heron 36ft x 20ft built to BS3632 residential standard already sited and the next plot is being prepared. Plots in this sector have 30amps electricity. It is worth bearing in mind that temperatures in winter can reach minus 14°C, so a lodge built to residential standard is advisable.

Passion

Facilities at Vignes Vieilles include a bar that also serves snacks, pétanque (boules), badminton, table tennis, an English library and a small children’s play area. Social evenings are held in the bar on Friday night, with a meal for €12 per head, (wine and dessert are extra). Facilities are closed between November and March.

Out and about, there is plenty to see and do; it’s an area now very popular with the British. There are English groups nearby and coffee mornings are held in Souillac, but French lessons are available too.

We saw Les Vignes Vieilles at its worst; in mist, teeming rain and a thunderstorm. Lewis told us it only rains on the second Wednesday in June – strange we were there on that day! Nonetheless, it impressed us and we know of no other parc like it.

Christine has a passion for the place, and strives – successfully, in our opinion – to maintain a high quality parc with a unique ambience. In return, she expects owners to support and respect the standards.

Around and about

Les Vignes Vieilles is in the Lot, a départment in the north of the Midi-Pyrenees region of France. Among the attractions nearby are the majestic River Lot itself, the historic village of Rocamadour and many Bastide (fortified) towns and medieval villages. The area is also celebrated for its gastronomic delights.

A a new airport has opened this year at Brive, but Limoges, Toulouse, Bergerac and Rodez are all also convenient, about 11/2 hours drive. Convenient ferry routes include Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Caen; Dover to Calais (P&O Ferries); or Eurotunnel;

The nearest autoroute is the A20 at Souillac and the nearest main road the D704 at Gourdon. The nearest train station is Gourdon.

The village of Le Vigan has the “best butcher for miles” selling Limousin beef. It also has a post office, hairdresser, bank and other local shops. Gourdon has Intermarché, Casino and Leclerc supermarkets and a Cyber café.

What do you think, Jackie and Phil?

Jackie and Phil bought their pre-owned 2005 Cosalt Riviera Las Palmas on the parc in 2009. They wanted something simple, not too fussy, and there were five pre-owned units for sale when they visited. On a south-facing plot, with the opportunity to extend the terrace, it was just perfect for them and the price was under their budget, too. They made a change to the interior layout by removing the fixed L shaped bench and the table. “That was easy and we went to Ikea in Toulouse and bought a table and chairs.” And jolly nice it looked too, if I may say so. The terrace has been enlarged and they created a little “breakfast corner”
as Jackie calls it.

They live near a large town the north west of England and have spent many happy holidays with their children in France for over 20 years, but always in peak season as Jackie was a teacher.

As retirement loomed for both of them they considered their options and decided to buy a caravan holiday-home in France. I asked then why they chose the Lot and if they’d considered any other region.

“It’s south for the weather, interesting region, lots of places to see,” Phil said.

They had visited parcs in other areas of France, too, some they liked and some they didn’t, so why Les Vignes Vieilles? “It’s the pitch size and it’s so spacious,” said Phil. “The location and ambience,” said Jackie. “You can be in Spain in four hours or Italy in five hours by car from here,” Phil added.

Phil also likes the bar – “I just pop down and have a drink” – while Jackie added, “The boules games, played according to English rules, are good fun.”

They had been at their second home for several weeks and planned to spend three months there, go back to their home, and then return to France later in the year. They travel by ferry from Dover to Calais or Portsmouth to Caen. “Calais is 500 miles from the parc, and it takes us longer to get to Dover from home. Caen is 400 miles and it’s a nicer drive to Portsmouth.”

Phil and Jackie find the cost of living is “about the same as home, no real difference. But fruit and vegetables are much cheaper and fresher,” said Jackie. She added that she paid €22 to have her hair cut, which we both agreed was cheaper than in England.

FOR SALE

At the time of writing, homes for sale included an Atlas Mayfair 2002 model, €18,000, a Cosalt Riviera 360/3 2005 model, €24,000; and a Pemberton St Moritz Vista, price on application.

CONTACT

Les Vignes Vieilles, Revers, Le Vigan, 46300 Gourdon, France. Tel: 00 33 5 65 41 29 40. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.theoldvines.co.uk

• Ground rent from €2,995pa on older section; from €3,095.50pa for new plots; from €3,250 for lodges
• Open March 1 to end of October
• Gas bottles €29.50 for 13kgs
• Wi-Fi €20 per year
• Water and electricity average price for the season (March to October), €150
• Insurance necessary
• Prices from €18,000


This park review was published in the November 2010 issue of Park & Holiday Homes. To order a copy of Park & Holiday Homes please click here