Commana Horse Fair in Brittany

Last Saturday ( 21st Sept ) we went to the annual Commana horse fair, the whole of the centre of the village is closed off for this annual event which has been held here since 1798.
The fair has developed during the last 20 years to encompass not only trading and showing of horses but the selling of small animals, a large amount of retail trade stands plus a Vide Grenier ( equivalent to the UKs car boot sale.)
It is very well supported with a large attendance and a good place to catch up and chat with friends.

Here is an old photo from the Commana web site   showing the horses:

For anyone visiting or living near here i can thoroughly recommend  this as a good day out.

Property taxes

It's that time of year again when the property tax bills start dropping through the post, the first of them the "Tax Fonciere"  which is a property ownership tax and is imposed on the owner of the property whether it is used by them or rented out, this is due now or within a few days and is payable in October. 

The second bill the "Tax D'habitation" which is payable by the occupier of the property which they were resident in on the 1st of January and should arrive in October and is payable in November.

However for anyone over the age of 60 and on a lower income which for a couple in 2013 is €15684 or €10224 for a single person, both are net amounts after allowances, the Tax D'habitation is free. Please note the only for of proof accepted is for you to have submitted a French tax return
I have put some help files up on my web site, www.living-in-brittany.co.uk which should help anyone submitting these for the first time.

For anyone over 65 and meeting the financial allowances as above there is a minimum €100 reduction from the Tax Foncieres and for anyone over 75 this is free.

Please note it only needs one person in the house to meet the age requirements

It is quite important to check the bills though as although these deductions should be automatically applied they are sometimes missed off ( Ours was last year ) and you will need to go to the tax office to sort it out

Autumn

We have had some lovely weather here over the last few Summer Months but bang on time Autumn has arrived. Mornings and Evenings are definitely cooler and it won't be long before the wood burner is put on again.

The biggest indication for me is the leaves starting to fall. We have a couple of huge Acer trees in our front garden and a lovely line of Lime trees down the side of the drive, however the downside is the amount of leaves that come off of them all of which I shall need to rake and clear over the next couple of Months.

As you can see from the photo above they have only just started falling but even the few seen here on the driveway and under the Lime trees resulted in two full barrow loads of leaves, I estimate by the time they are all down I will have collected between 100-200 barrow loads.

At least it will all help for compost for the ground which we need!