The house in question was a beautiful farmhouse set in a few hectares and off the beaten track a couple of kilometres from the nearest village.

"We needed to carry out a fair amount of work", says Fiona, Richard’s wife, "but we couldn’t spend enough time project managing the works ourselves, so we appointed someone who looked after second homes in the area to help. I won’t go into too much detail, but it was a bit of a disaster."

Trust is obviously a key issue for second home owners, and the project Richard and Fiona had started to open the door to some key questions. "We found out that the reports coming back to us weren’t entirely accurate. Information was being made up, and so we started to question the other work – cleaning the house, preparing it for arrival and departure, and looking after the whole place whilst we were in England – and found out that the person concerned simply wasn’t doing what we had been led to believe. In short, we felt we were unable to trust her. So we started to look for someone else."

"We love coming here", continues Richard, "but we didn’t want to find all our holiday time was spent looking after the house, putting the pool right when we arrived and then spending countless hours in the garden getting it back in shape. We wanted to be able to pick and choose what we did in the knowledge that there would be someone who we could trust implicitly to handle everything else. And that’s what Niall and Karri do for us."

Fiona picks up the baton, and enthuses: "Niall and Karri have looked after our home now for over two years. Their work is immaculate. It’s such a change from anyone else we’ve ever used. There’s nothing Niall doesn’t know about pools, and ours is always crystal clear and spotless. And Karri’s management of the house itself and the garden is more than we could ever have wished for… when we arrive, the house is welcoming, the beds made with crisp, beautifully laundered sheets, there’s food in the fridge and the whole place looks - and smells – spotlessly clean. There are even flowers in the vases!"

"And they go the extra mile", states Richard, leading the way to the local technique under the pool. "This summer, we had guests arriving on a Sunday morning. On Saturday lunchtime, our pump gave up, blowing the electricity supply in the process. As you know, in August French businesses are pretty much all on holiday, and getting hold of new items which you’d normally have to order is particularly difficult. Niall and Karri changed their arrangements for the day, and set off on a tour of suppliers they knew in order to find a new pump which matched exactly the specifications and dimensions needed. At 9-o-clock that evening, Niall was back and fitted a new pump to the pool having called in a favour from a supplier he knew. When our guests arrived, the pool was back to its polished best!"

Richard and Fiona are clearly content with their choice. As they take us back to the house, Richard sums it up. "I run a fairly large business in the U.K.", he says. "I have dealt with literally hundreds of suppliers over the years, from major blue chip companies to small vendors of specialist services. And I can tell you, it’s very rare indeed to find people who are honest, decent, trustworthy and supremely professional in what they do. Niall and Karri are all these things, and we’d be lost without them now.

"Carroll Property Services are a Godsend. We can rely on them 100%, from maintaining the pool and garden in the Summer and cleaning the house for our arrival, to general Winter maintenance and keeping an eye on things for us, we wouldn't be without them."

"We employ the services of Carroll Property Services at our home in France them having first been recommended to us by friends. The range of tasks that they now undertake for us throughout the year are extensive and include garden and pool maintenance, painting and decorating, cleaning, minor building works and repairs.

In the time that they have worked for us they have proved completely reliable and their work has been faultless. No task is too much trouble, they react quickly to our needs and have completed all works on time, on budget and to the very highest of standards. They always have our best interests at heart and work tirelessly to achieve our expectations.

Anyone looking for a team that cares deeply about reliability and quality should look no further"

"Initially carrying out pool maintenance and linen cleaning Carroll Property Services have been fantastic. Nothing has ever been a problem or too much trouble. My wife and I both trust them implicitly and they have done so many things to help us. We recently had a hole in our pool liner and Niall was in water no more than 5 degree mending it. Niall is fluent in French and Karri catching up which is a god send as our vocabulary is not fantastic. Numerous times they have contacted people and businesses on our behalf, arranged appointments and met the people involved. They now look after our property totally and it is such a relief to have someone you can rely on. We can totally recommend their services to anyone and now count them as some of our closest friends."

"Our story started when we acquired our dream house in the Lot in 2004. As is often the case in rural France it came with a significant amount of land as well as a mature and well laid out garden. Our dream quickly turned into a nightmare when, I suspect in common with many naive buyers before us, we were faced with the task of keeping nature under control. Our infrequent visits generally involved heavy manual labour which was never part of the plan. We initially tried local people to assist in the periodic maintenance of our grounds but were constantly let down. We were actually contemplating selling the house when we happened on Niall and Karrie's web site.

All's well that ends well and these days our visits to our French property are one of life's truly relaxing experiences. We arrive in the knowledge that we will find the place in good order and looking as perfect as it possibly can. We also spend our time away in peace of mind knowing that the house is taken care of. An example of the Carroll's exemplary service was when our pool pump packed up in the middle of summer. The failure was identified, reported and resolved by Niall within days. As well as maintaining our house, garden and pool, we also had our garden redesigned and replanted by Karrie and they are now in the middle of painting our shutters which are looking great. In summary we don't know what we would do without them but it's unlikely we would be doing it in France.

We cannot recommend them highly enough. Brilliant!"