I suppose we now have to accept that we have lost our battle against the proposed 'holiday village', which is to be built (or buried) in the midst of our tiny hamlet. We are not happy, but trying to fight against French bureaucracy isn't easy; even if they know that their original decision was illogical and crazy.
The owner of the site already has one 'Gite', which he converted from a disused stone-built barn. His this year's lets began a few weeks ago, and when I passed by yesterday morning, there were FOUR cars parked overlooking the road, opposite a semi derelict house. When his buried metal boxes are all occupied, there could be up to another TEN cars parked there, making a total of FOURTEEN. He also has permission to build a restaurant on the site, so goodness knows how many more cars that will bring in. A veritable giant car park will soon be established, unlike anything our quiet bucolic haven has ever seen.
Lady magnon and I occasionally discuss this disaster over our lunchtime gruel, and we try to envisage alternatives that would have met with little, or no, opposition.
One such idea was for Gypsy Caravans. Had he parked a few holiday wagons amongst an orchard of Apple and Pear trees, I doubt if anyone would have complained. It would have been 'decorative', holiday makers would have loved it, and he probably would have earned the same sort of money.
OK, modern Gypsy caravans are not as decorative as the old one above, and it would take some time for an Apple orchard to become established, but the results would have been so much nicer.
Why he has opted for semi-buried old shipping containers.... I cannot imagine!
Hopefully not Holiday Village Phase I.
ReplyDeleteI read the other day of a village in Ireland with pop. 300 who voted 93% against plans by hotel owner to house more than 100 immigrants in return for €2m pa from govt. Needless to say the villagers lost the battle. The whole character of the Irish village will be changed.
Small is not beautiful anymore.
Our tiny hamlet will go from being a highly sought-after bucolic haven, to no less than Butlins in the country.
DeleteThat's what I fear. And also for the tiny village in Ireland who will see their population rise 25%-30% almost overnight. First comes the thin end of the wedge . . . and when they see it's going well the fat end quickly follows.
DeleteI was just wondering about this the other day. I haven't seen you write about it and I was hoping the project was dropped or redesigned.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to read this. It is so awful that he/they couldn't plan something nicer.
cheers, parsnip
He simply hasn't thought through all the different options; just plumped for the worst!
DeleteMaybe he's marketing it as a "safe place" to holiday were there any sort of war. The world seems to be a very unsafe place at the moment with regard to certain world leaders......
ReplyDeleteI think these might be a bit flimsy (that's the first time I've ever written that word) to withstand a nuclear attack. They might just protect against a hail storm; but I'm not even sure about that!
DeleteI, for one, would love to spend a few days in a gypsy caravan parked in an apple orchard. What a great idea! A shipping container....not so much. It reminds me too much of crazy Doomsday Preppers!
ReplyDeleteOn the romantic count, I'd give the caravans 10/10, and the shipping containers 0/10.
DeleteNot good - I wonder what nationality he is?
ReplyDeleteHis name suggests Spanish or Portuguese.
DeleteA similar situation in my own village, 2 major housing developments, one of 69 houses already under way and another of 105 houses just approved. Both met with fierce opposition from the parish council and almost 100% of the population, but both steam-rollered through the planning stages.
ReplyDeleteTh first one is already causing disruption with roads being dug up to accommodate the improved utilities required, and the larger one looks set to cause even more havoc, especially on the access roads.
We just assume the Local Authority can see no further than a lot of increase in Council Tax revenue.
Just another example of big business and big money over-ruling common sense.
And I imagine that (as with us) property prices will reflect the new lack of calm.
DeleteThe UK is desperate for new housing, but they should position new estates with much more care!
Would we be welcome for high tea at Casa de Magnon if we stayed in a gypsy caravan in the apple orchard? Ok, I thought not. Underground holiday bunkers in a French village? The fat lady has yet to sing.
ReplyDeleteWe've already had visitors who drove all the way down from the UK in a horse drawn wagon, and they were very welcome. They stayed for two months.
DeleteI’m renaming Cro and Lady Magnon... Pop and Ma Larkin... gypsy caravans and apple orchards, are we in deepest Kent or deep in France? An overly romantic idea; it ain’t going to happen anytime soon in your neck of the woods...
ReplyDeleteLX
Sadly not; we are destined to have bloody half-buried shipping containers!!!
DeleteOrange wall and now this! Like, Parsnip, I too thought the building plan was cancelled. I'm sorry it's going through.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Maria x
We shall suffer noisily.
DeleteShipping containers--such a creative use of discarded. Re-purposing, you know. It only gags we oldsters. The next generation down probably would eschew gyspy caravan to shipping container.
ReplyDeleteJoanne, you'd have to see our tiny hamlet to see that this is a bad choice. We are just half a dozen, or so, ancient, stone-built, vernacular, buildings; not really the spot for old containers. I understand your point; but not for here. NIMBY.
DeleteAre they making the shipping containers like hobbit holes? With grass over the top? Shipping containers are very strong and are easily fitted out (kitchen and bathrooms), off site, brought in on a lorry and then craned into place. hook up plumbing and electrics, a working product within one week of arrival. My friends saw this in Spain. The shipping containers get around some of the laws apparently over there as they are easily removed quickly. Maybe that is how they got planning for them as they are quickly removed and when in place would be covered with a green roof?
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a gypsy caravan, but it would be little more than a tent as you would have to go to the loo somewhere else.
Yes, these containers come as a ready-to-install package. They will be covered over, and any bits showing have to be 'boarded' with wood. The main problem really is with the numbers of people, and the facilities. Our tiny hamlet just can't cope with such things.
DeleteLove the gypsy caravan. As to the holiday village = too horrible to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteI recently tried to buy an old wagon to use as a 'spare room', but the owner preferred to leave them to rot. That's life!
DeleteIn Tucson next to a busy road, railroad track and the very small but busy town center, they are stacking containers for housing. It fits the industrial area while giving use to some unused land. It belongs there but not in your very small and beautiful area.
ReplyDeleteI've seen them used for all sorts of different things; sometimes well, at other times not. In our little ancient community they will look like open sores!
DeleteI hope the visitors never come. Staying in a old container, which is buried is not my idea of a holiday. The whole idea sounds dreadful. Hopefully the business fails.
ReplyDelete