Hi Hans
 
Thank you very much for your kind proposal of the 21st of September re our "gîte". Sorry for not responding earlier, but we have been extremely busy these days to get it ready for our Irish winter guests who are due to arrive next Wednesday and to stay for up to 6 months. (They wanted a.o. a separate telephone line, rapid internet connection, you would say: ADSL, and a satellite dish capable of capturing their favourite Irish football games ...).
 
When it comes to computers and internet, I am a bloody novice who just muddles to get by, whereas you seem to be a real expert. Therefore, please forgive me the following questions:
I have openend your attachment which is the exact ad as we have put  it on the FrenchConnections webside. For our own purposes I have already produced exactly the same ad - with the same pictures and eveything - in French and German (the only other languages I am comfortable with), as a MS-Word document which I could send you right away as attachments. This would spare me having to re-type the whole thing in the two languages (and thus avoid the danger of printing mistakes and so on). Would that be good enough for your purpose?
Secondly, how would a potentially interested person find these ads? Via a search machine?
And finally, what could we do for you in exchange for your kind service?
 
The word "gîte" originally was used in the context "gîte rural" to describe any kind of unused space in a farmhouse fit to receive holiday guests to complement the (modest) revenues of the farming population. Today, the term is used for any holiday location, cottage, former barn, and even apartment, which is self-catering, as opposed to other formulas which provide breakfast or meals in general and/or other services like room cleaning. The direct opposite, or typical alternative,  usually is referred to as "bed-and-breakfast". In German, "gîte" is usually translated as "Ferienhaus" or "Ferienwohnung", as the case may be, which conveys the idea thet the occupants have to care for themselves, whereas the British public is familiar with the French term or uses the term "holiday cottage". I hope this gives you the answer.
 
Finally, I was pleased to read that you like "Bis zum Hals in Rosen".  Some of the poems are intended to push the linguistic possibilities to an extreme and therefore may not be easy for you to understand, but the few short stories hopefully did compensate you for your pain.
 
And ultimately: I have never aknowledged receipt of your trip report to our Southern German "cousins" and feel a bit ashamed. It was a highly interesting piece, and ony my struggle for time can excuse my silence.
 
So much for today.
 
With kindest regards,
 
Hermann