Le Moulin de Palbas

Poor service in a lack lustre region

We rented a Gite from the owners of the Moulin Palbas for 1 week in February. The Moulinis a B+B set up, but they have 2 Gites - Le Petit Berthais (which we rented) and Les Champs du Rai (which we had booked, but the owner double booked and cancelled our booking at the last minute without warning. He then offered the other Gite as an alternative. We had little choice but to accept as we had booked travel already)

We had never stayed in the Loire region before and were after a week long break with seclusion. The Berry region in the Loire is certainly secluded. It is also relatively boring with the countryside being flat and marshy and the towns offering little to make them worth driving out to. There are plenty of Chateaux but not much else.
The owners of the Gite and the bed and breakfast operation (the Moulin) were away when we arrived. They left keys with a neighbour and nothing else. This was quite daunting as it was so secluded and we had a small child. There were no instructions for contacting emergnecy services or living in the Gite. We had no idea what to do with rubbish, how to work the gas cooker or heating.

The owner runs a metered elecricity system and asks you to pay at the end of the rental at a flat rate of 0.12 euros. Beware - this is a flat charge, when in France, there is a staggered charge for Pleine and Creuse consumption and because the heating and hot water system run all night, the charge at the end of 1 week can be considerable. Ours came to over 70 euros!! However, before he went away, the owner didn't make any recording of the meter reading and we had to pay on an estimate because we did not take a reading on our arrival. He claims that it was our responsibility to take a reading and took the money from our deposit without further debate. The gite itself was adequately turned out with a nice open fireplace and modern appliances.
However, I certainly would not rent from these gite owners again, neither would i use their B+B service due to the terrible custom

Unique Quality: Poor service
Overcharge on electricity