Meet the owners: The Old Presbytery
Oh this place… The Old Presbytery, a gay friendly guest house in The Dordogne, is simply beautiful. Simple in its quiet elegance, in its straight forward approach to superb hospitality and the way it offers the chance to relax and restore. This time we meet David and Wayne your wonderful hosts at The Old Presbytery.
Have you always lived and worked where you are based now
We moved to France from Hammersmith in London where we’d lived for 20+ years. Wayne is originally from New Zealand and David is British and we were both in corporate jobs in London and after David sold his business in late 2019 we decided to leave both corporate and city life. We moved to the French countryside in 2020, notably between Covid lockdown 1 and 2 and before the Brexit deadline at the end of that year, so it was a very stressful period juggling covid travel restrictions and Brexit paperwork.
We knew the Bordeaux area as we have a small holiday home on the Atlantic coast but fell in love with the vines and spectacular scenery of our region.
We opened our Guest House to the public in 2022 which we run successfully throughout the summer months. We actually had a soft opening in 2021 for friends and family, and in fact our first reservation was for a friend’s wedding celebration for 18 people (nothing like jumping into the deep end!)
During the winter months while we’re closed, David consults to businesses in the UK and we continue with our French language lessons. We believe it’s important to speak French now that we live here, albeit badly for Wayne. And there’s always lots of odd jobs around the house and garden to keep us busy.
We also take the opportunity to escape the winter and travel to warmer climes and enjoy being a tourist ourselves!
What was your motivation behind starting your business?
We didn’t intend opening a Guest House before moving to France, however once we’d fallen in love with the Old Presbytery, it seemed like the obvious thing to do. We undertook a major renovation project over 3 years to upgrade the house to what it is now.
Neither of us had run a business like this before although Wayne had worked in marketing in the hospitality sector for most of his career, albeit at HQ level and David always enjoyed cooking for our friends at home in London but had never cooked commercially. So opening a Guest House with a small restaurant was a significant change in our lifestyle but one we’re really enjoying!
We wanted to create a business that enabled us to connect with interesting people and share with them our wonderful home and region. We also wanted to create a Guest House where we would feel comfortable staying and of course LGBT+ friendly.
As dog owners we also wanted to create an environment that was dog friendly, plus it’s a great way for our two Airedales, Sherlock & Mrs Hudson, to meet other dogs throughout the summer.
We are both passionate about environmental issues and we really want to help our guests travel sustainably. We undertook a significant solar panel installation so we are now generating our own solar energy throughout summer, we use eco-friendly bathroom products, organic cotton towels, and we give each guest a reusable water bottle which they can use to fill up with filtered water while they’re staying with us.
Tell us a bit about the what’s on offer for guests during a stay
Our area is rich with history, both French and British, as the famous (or infamous) Battle of Castillion happened very nearby, albeit in 1453. Our local bastide towns, and of course Saint-Émilion, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, date back over a millennia and are definitely worth exploring.
We are lucky to have two markets in our local bastide town, Sainte-foy-laGrande. Every Saturday morning, the Sainte-Foy-la-Grande market takes place, voted one of the 100 most beautiful markets in France in 2014, and in 2021 it was voted the most beautiful market in Gironde. And every Thursday evening during the summer starting mid-July, there’s the night market. With food stalls and music, it’s a definite must-do to experience a slice of French country life.
We are also avid yogis and our yoga studio (below – formerly a pigsty) was purpose built to enable us to practice hot yoga, which we can heat to 35 degrees. David loves it so much that he went to India 2 years ago to train as a yoga instructor. A big change from being CEO of his own company a few years ago to yoga instructor in France today. So if our guests want to try something different, they can join us for a hot yoga session.
Do you have a favorite pub / bar or restaurant nearby?
Our favourite restaurant is Mélange in the nearby village of Saussignac. It’s run by a young couple – Mélanie who’s French and Charlie who’s English, so the atmosphere and food is a mélange of the two. Melanie always welcomes us with a warm smile and in the summer you can sit outside on their terrace and enjoy the views of the local chateau and vineyards, with a glass of local wine of course. The food is absolutely delicious and there’s always a good choice of fish and vegetarian dishes (we don’t eat meat, which can sometimes be difficult in French restaurants). This has also become a favourite restaurant for our guests in the summer.
If there was one thing you’d say was unmissable for your guests what would it be?
Visit a small local vineyard, like Chateau de Claribes an organic vineyard we buy our wine from, owned by expats Helen and Nick, and take the time to learn about the grapes, the wine making process and of course the people working the vines. Their passion for what they do is intoxicating and you will definitely go away with a renewed passion about wine.
What’s the best thing about running your business
Creating a new successful business from scratch that reflects our personal values has been very rewarding. Meeting interesting people during the summer season and watching them relax and chill out in our home is very satisfying. As our business is seasonal, we work extremely hard for six months of the year while we’re open, and for the other six months we enjoy our new French life!
