Saturday, February 27, 2010

La Forge Brittany holiday cottage with private swimming pool

The final instalment on how I keep the pool at the Brittany holiday cottage nice and clean is relatively short just to finish on every thing that I do.

Some times normally about twice per year no matter what I do the water goes alittle cloudy, it could be something that is blown into the water, I really dont know what, but as soon as I see the problem its sorted out in just a matter of a few hours.

I have a final trick up my sleeve known as Flock cartridges and if ever the water turns alittle cloudy I place one of these in the skimmer nets. Basically the flock magnetises the tiny particles in the water and makes them bind together, before the particles are so small that they just circulate through the sand filter but after inserting the flock cartridge they become big enough to be trapped within the sand and just like magic within a matter of hours the pool is back to being crystal clear again.

The only thing I then do is back wash the sand filter to clean the sand of the debris.

Its as simple as that to keep the pool at the Brittany holiday cottage crystal clear throughout the holiday season.

La Forge Brittany holiday cottage offers a Private swimming pool for your enjoyment and a gym for those wishing to keep trim while enjoying the delights of the French cusine.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Brittany holiday cottage with private swimming pool

La Forge Brittany holiday cottage with private swimming pool is situated just 3 miles from the market town of Baud.

In today's instalment of pool care I will discuss the final elements of keeping the pool crystal clear.

Depending on the weather and pool use material can be blown in or taken into the water, this material is large enough to be seen and each morning and afternoon I spend 5 min just using the net to scoop out the leaves and seeds that are blown in. If on the bottom material is seen then I will use the pool vacuum to suck up the material which is then deposited into the net of the surface skimmer, after which the net is replaced.

The cleaner you keep the pool, the less problems arise, in the same way if I ever see algae starting to grow on the walls I'm straight in with a brush scrubbing it off.

It may sound alot of work but in reality I guess I spend about 2 hours per week while the pool is open in general cleaning duties and checking the water. Its the thanks I get from the guest on how well maintained and inviting the pool looks that makes it worthwhile at the Brittany holiday cottage with private swimming pool.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Brittany holiday cottage with private swimming pool

The Brittany holiday cottage with private swimming pool always looks clean and inviting to swim, in this instalment of pool care I will mention testing the PH of the water.

Testing the water of the swimming pool is carried out on a regular basis normally every 5 days, one of the test is making sure the PH of the water is at the correct level. The PH is the water hardness or softness depending on which way you look at it, the reason this is important to get right is because all the other water treatments rely on a certain water quality to function correctly.

Its the PH of the water that I have found to change depending on the weather. Now if I get an off reading rather than instantly add PH minus too bring the reading down or PH plus to raise it, I wait and test the water each day over the week to just make sure its not the weather that's changed the reading. If after a week the readings are still out I don't add the full dose of chemicals to make the desired adjustment but to break it down into smaller amounts and wait to see what difference it makes. The mistake I made in the first season was to put the calculated amount in one go only to find the water quality swinging all the way over and out of the required margins, hence its better to check the water quality in gradual amounts and over days.

In this way you reduce the amount of chemicals that are being used in the pool which not only saves money but makes the whole job a lot simpler.

I hope you enjoy the private swimming pool at La Forge Brittany holiday cottage

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Brittany holiday cottage with private swimming pool

In this section of how I look after the private swimming pool at the Brittany holiday cottage I will touch on the day to day care.

Each morning the pool cover is removed and any leaves are scooped out from the water with a net and 4 or 5 times per week the bottom of the pool is hoovered to remove any debris that has blown in.

The swimming pool at the holiday cottage has 2 skimmer filters that collect any surface litter in the first stages of filtration, these are checked each morning for any night time visitors that have been trapped such as frogs which are removed with all other blown in material. The nets tend to be replaced once per week.

While we are on the subject of filtration, the surface skimmers and nets are the first stage of pool filtration, once the water passes the fine mesh nets it then moves too the pump which has another mesh filter, once through that is passes through a sand filter to capture the smallest of particles.The sand filter is back washed once per week to eject all the matter that is collected.

I would say that to keep the pool clean, healthy and spotless takes less than 20 min per day.

Ive heard horror stories from guest saying they stayed at cottages in the past who's pools were green with algae, covered in debris and basically unfit to enjoy. It feels so nice to hear from guest staying at la Forge how good the pool looks and makes the time worth while in keeping it pristine.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool

Looking after the private pool at the Brittany holiday cottage has worked out easier than I ever expected.

With the water quality the first element is the Chlorine, the previous owner explained to me that the main purpose of adding this to the pool is to kill all the harmful microorganisms and bacteria that could be harmfull to swimmers. The second element of using the Chlorine is to yo yo the levels in the water to control algae growth, if the levels remain the same algae will get used to the concentration and begin to florish so to keep the water crystal clear the Chlorine is bounced up and down over a 5 -7 day cycle.

In addition too the Chlorine I use another Chemical known as HTH tablets and this is also used to kill any bacteria in the water.

The fact that the pool is only used by guest of La Forge holiday cottage, the levels of Chlorine do not have to reach what you would find in a public pool, therefore its more pleasurable to swim at La Forge without having sore eyes from over Chlorinated water.

Ive now looked after the pool for 4 years and have had no problems, in the next blog I will talk about checking the PH of the water and the general cleaning needed to keep the water crystal clear for the guest enjoyment.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool

Laforge Brittany holiday cottage benefits from having private use of the swimming pool and over the last few seasons many guest staying at the cottage ask how easy is the pool to maintain.

For me it all goes back to keeping Koi Carp, initially you get so wrapped up in checking the water quality that your forever making adjustments with chemicals and end up never get it right.

The previous owner left instructions on how to look after the swimming pool, pumps and filters but remembering my fish keeping days I created my own system sticking to the basic principles that were laid down by him.

The main lesson I learnt from the Koi days is that the weather can change the results of water test on a day to day basis and thinking there was something wrong in the early days I would add more chemicals and have a yo yo effect with the water.

I now test the water around the same time of day once or twice a week which is more than adequate and over time your eye soon picks up any changes in the water quality.

Ill post more information over the next few days on what chemicals I use and how to keep the water of the private pool at the holiday cottage crystal clear and healthy.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Brittany holiday cottage with pool and gym

When I returned too the Brittany holiday cottage with pool and gym after the Christmas holidays the training and diet restarted. After the show in October I gained 10lbs over the 3 months, so now hit the scales at 15st 10lbs, the aim is to get down too 12 st for this October.

One problem I had last year was with the weight loss I found all my joints hurt which effected my training, I tried Cod Liver oil tablets and to be honest did not see a great improvement. While back in the UK at the start of January I went and had a chat with a local doctor, explained the problem with the joints and was told that I was properly lacking in Vitamins because of the diet and recommended a complete vitamin tablet.

Since taking the Vitamins my joints feel so much better and the sessions in the gym at the Brittany holiday cottage are going well. I'm still taking the Cod liver oil tablets, plus Vitamin C.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Brittany holiday cottage with private pool and gym

Last Friday I popped into Baud which is just 5 min away from the Brittany holiday cottage with pool and gym to meet up with some friends in La Citron Vert. We had a great night having a beer and playing pool and enjoyed the company of some French guys as well.

One of the lads who is a competative road racer explained to me what makes Brittany so good for cyclist he said; it offers a varied terraine with the added bonus of extremly light traffic to worry about.

So if you fancy bringing your bikes too La Forge, your find safe storage for them while here, allowing you to take in the French countryside under your own peddle power during your stay at the holiday cottage.