Teachers resources » Newsletter - January 2009 » Newsletter 2007
We hope you have all had a wonderful and well deserved half term break and are re-invigorated for the push through to Christmas! Here is a short newsletter regarding changes at the Chateau de la Baudonniere and in the offices of Castaway Travel here in Brighton
We are delighted to announce the arrival of Carole Green as a member of the team here in Brighton – Carole started working for us at the start of this academic year and brings a wealth of experience gained in other areas of schools and student travel and is a very approachable member of staff!
Carole will be working 5 days a week (her family having all grown up!) and therefore you may wish to add her email address to your lists; carole@the-chateau.com
The office is therefore now staffed over 5 days and we hope that you will find this useful in getting hold of a UK team member whenever you need someone.
As some of you may know, Steve Goodwin has embarked upon a trip around the world, and whilst we are sorry to see him go, we are also delighted to welcome back Darren Benson as his replacement! Darren will be re-joining the Chateau team as Joint Centre Manager from January 2007, and will be working closely with Bene and all of the other familiar faces out in France. As some of you are aware, Darren was a key member of the Chateau management team from 1998 to 2003 before he moved to Sweden with Lotta. They are now back, with their young baby, and have resettled in France. It will be great to have him work with us again.
Some schools may be aware that we have recently launched a new product called Normandy Experience. This new type of tour will be similar to what is offered at the Chateau, but groups will stay at other accommodation, and there will be an emphasis on excursions with some day time activities delivered at the Chateau. We hope that you will welcome this new direction – please feel free to ask us any questions you may have and we will be delighted to answer them.
As you are probably aware, Brittany Ferries have a monopoly on the Western Channel ‘long sea’ routes. The escalating costs of transportation to France are making a big impact on the pricing structure for the Chateau trips – we are currently booking all ferries for 2007 and want to make you aware at this earliest stage that we have taken the following steps to ensure costs are kept to a minimum
However, at certain times of year, it may not be possible to make changes to ferry times based on a preference without levying a surcharge on the individual school to absorb increased costs where these arise.
If, when you receive your ferry times, you would like us to explore other options, please contact us and we will review every case and avoid passing extra costs on to you whenever it is possible. However, please be aware that alternative sailing times can increase prices by over £830 PER SCHOOL travelling by coach in some cases, and we are not in a position to absorb these extra fees in 2007.
We continually update our website and are committed to doing so on a regular basis – perhaps, if you have a chance, take a look and see if there is anything useful that we have added, and of course, to make suggestions about things we may include in the future.
Our farm now includes 2 new puppies who will no doubt become a very popular feature of the chateau – we have a competition on-line to name them – it would be lovely if your students (or yourselves!) would like to help us !! Additionally, our new baby Llama is still nameless having been born back in the early autumn – suggestions greatly appreciated !
Over the course of the winter we will be working on a range of projects at the Chateau, as well as continuing our annual round of maintenance and repairs
If you have any other suggestions for our Winter 2006 programme of works and redevelopemtn, please email nick@the-chateau.com
If you have any feedback for us about this newsletter, or anything else for that matter, please do let us know! Please can you split the emails in to the following types because, as you know, Vicki and Carole deal with the transport and pre-trip payments, and the Chateau Team deal with all aspects of the trip once you arrive…
Yours, with very best wishes for a lovely autumn and we look forward to welcoming you back at the chateau soon.
Château de la Baudonniere and Castaway Travel