We are Mike and Maria Floyd originally from Dorset in the UK, latterly from Brixham in Devon and now refugees from the hustle and bustle of corporate life in beautiful Charente Maritime.

Mike’s background is in publishing and graphic design. He worked on the editorial staff of Yachts and Yachting magazine for many years before editing his own boating magazine; a newspaper; and then the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s magazine for over a decade. In Devon he ran the Graphics Department at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, until redundancy suddenly brought forward a long-planned retirement to France.

Maria worked her way up the corporate tree, spending time with the GPO, as it was then, and eventually ending up as Admin Manager and then Customer Services Manager of a large specialist shopping centre on the harbourside in Weymouth. In Devon she took the accounts section of a successful motor body repair company under her wing, until changes there added to the impetus to sell-up-and-go.

We arrived in France in August 2007, renting a modern property just south of Saintes  while we searched for our perfect home.

In January 2008 we found it here at La Gravelle, and made it our home in April of that year. The main house needed a kitchen… but as soon as that was finished we started the renovation of La Petite Gravelle, adapting the techniques we’d used renovating our Victorian Villa in Devon to the traditional styles of the Charente. Traditional techniques and materials soon came to be old friends as we married them to the conveniences of a modern home.

We’d holidayed in France for many years, and were determined that our Gite would be the one we’d always wanted to find at the end of our journey south - but sadly never had. We hope that when you visit you will find, as all of our guests have done, that La petite Gravelle has that little extra that we have strived to provide.

Our life now is far from the meeting-dominated world we left. Now our deadlines revolve around greeting our latest guests, feeding the chickens and ducks on time, making sure the vegetables are planted up and harvested as needed and being sure to finish our tasks in time for that important ‘sun-downer’ in the potager on balmy summer evenings.

We hope that you will be able to join us.

Mike and Maria