Jan & Marie(62)

The plan for a chambre d'hôtes started on our silver wedding anniversary. We stayed at a beautiful B&B near Bergerac, run by a Dutch-French couple, and Marie said: "We can do this too." Eight years later, with early retirement in sight and the Groningen housing market finally picking up, we went for it. We sold our house and bought a maison de maître with five bedrooms in a village near Sarlat for €280,000.

Running a chambre d'hôtes in France requires registration at the mairie and enrollment with URSSAF. You get a SIRET number as a loueur de chambres d'hôtes. Up to five rooms and €188,700 annual revenue falls under the micro-BIC regime, which is fiscally attractive: you pay tax on only 29% of your revenue thanks to the abattement forfaitaire. You also need to register with the RCS if you serve breakfast.

The renovation was the hardest part. Our house had beautiful bones — stone walls, oak beams, a large fireplace — but the bathrooms and kitchen were from the seventies. We hired a maître d'œuvre, a kind of project manager who coordinates the contractors. Total renovation costs: €95,000 for five en-suite bathrooms, a professional kitchen and central heating. Crédit Agricole gave us a prêt immobilier at 2.1% interest.

Our guests come from all over Europe, but most are Dutch or British. We offer a table d'hôtes — a communal dinner with local products: magret de canard, pommes sarladaises, tarte aux noix. Marie cooks, I pour wine from Saint-Émilion. Guests pay €35 per person including wine. It's not a restaurant, it's an experience. Many guests return every year.

The taxe foncière (property tax) was a surprise: €1,800 per year for our property. The taxe d'habitation has been abolished for primary residences, but as a chambre d'hôtes you do pay the cotisation foncière des entreprises (CFE). Our expert-comptable handles the annual déclaration de revenus and we optimize via the micro-BIC regime. In season (April-October) we generate €4,500 per month in revenue.

Life as B&B owners in the Dordogne is harder than a holiday, but also richer. We know every winemaker in the area, we're part of the local association des gîtes de France and Marie now gives cooking lessons to guests. Winters are quiet — we renovate, visit the marchés de Noël and enjoy our house without guests. Our state pension plus B&B income gives us a comfortable existence. We should have done it ten years earlier.