End of an era

We have stopped preparing meals for our gîte guests.   From now on, they will have to cater for themselves, or use a traiteur.   It was fun while it lasted, but we're getting on a bit, and are finding the hassle to be too tiring to be worthwhile.   The arrival (finally!) of our UK pensions had a part to play in this decision too.

The gîte sleeps 30 people and we rent the whole thing out to one group at a time; we don't do B&B, nor B&B with evening meals.   So it tends to get used by groups at weekends, for family reunions, birthday and wedding anniversaries, and the occasional small marriage.  These are fun events (at least if the families get on; not always the case), and catering for them means that we are part of the celebrations.  We have often been invited to join in with a glass of champagne or wine, and cake.

We learned early on that the price of food ingredients is a tiny part of the costs involved in running the gîte so we were able to provide meals with classy ingredients at a reasonable price.   Most guests who went for the "special" menu chose, from the options available, a starter course of scallops wrapped in bacon, and a main course of fillet beef, perhaps because these are generally considered the most expensive of the options, but perhaps also because they're tasty.   Anita is a gifted cook.

We did get price objections of course, some clients being suspicious of our (brits) ability to provide decent food and wine.   Some elected to bring their own wine, in exchange for a small discount, but we never found guest-brought wine to be up to the quality of that which we would have provided.   And we always used to choose wine to go with the menu.   But never mind.

On the upside, no late nights in the kitchen followed by early mornings, no menu planning, no food shopping.   On the downside, no sharing in the celebrations, limited interaction with the guests, and only preparing the gîte, cleaning it after and checking for damage.

On the whole, though, it's a relief.