Dolphin Gites in Vendée - Owners - Howard & Catherine Parkinson

Howard and Cathy Parkinson

'Our Story'

Up until 2004, Cathy and I were both teaching full-time in the UK. Cathy working as a French teacher at Birkdale High in Southport, and I was Head of Psychology at Winstanley College in Wigan. We lived in the village of Ince Blundell near Formby, with our 3 children, Elodie, Luc and Tristan. I am originally from Formby, and Cathy is French, originally from Vaires-sur-Marne, near Paris.

We purchased our French property in 2002.

The original farmhouse, situated next to the beautiful 12th century church in La Chaize Giraud, dates back to the 19th century. The long-house (longère), named Le Logis, is adjacent to the church.

Originally built and owned by the Amelineau family, the property worked as a small holding for almost half a century. It comprised of the impressive farmhouse with extensive gardens on 3 levels sub-divided by ancient stone walls, with hectares of farmland, a large barn, and animals. From the rear of the property there are open views across the Jaunay valley.

The original owners were well respected in the village, the husband being a decorated veteran of ww1, and was also the village Mayor throughout the 1940s. Half the house, the part on the church side, was occupied by German officers throughout the war.

In the 1940s the owners donated a pathway at the front of the house, to the village, which became the 'rue du Logis.

In the 1960s, the barn was converted into 3 gîtes.

In 2004, we decided to embark upon our a new life in France. We resigned from our teaching posts, and moved to our new 'old' property in France, with our 3 children aged 7, 7 and 12.

Our plan was to make a new life for our family in France, to restore the gîtes, to upgrade, and make it work as a family-run holiday-letting business in the Vendée.

After two years, by 2006, we had upgraded the 3 original gîtes, had a beautiful in-ground swimming pool built central to all the facilities, renovated & converted an old stone out-building into a quality character gîte (Stone Cottage) and started a further conversion of out-buildings into another gîte (The Old Logis).

At this time, we also ran weekend residential language courses whereby Cathy taught French to English students who attended from the UK. I also taught part-time short courses at Nantes University, Psychology and Hospitality to 3rd Year Law undergraduates.

In 2015 we had a new independent gîte built from scratch on-site (New Cottage).

By 2012, all renovation work is completed and Dolphin Gîtes was a well established, family run, family friendly gîte complex, in an idyllic coastal location.

howard_parkinson_france_vendee_gites