Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Our French Château ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and protect any personal information we collect from you, or that you provide to us, when you use our website (ourfrenchchateau.com) or engage with our services.

For the purpose of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, the data controller is Arnaud Viguié, 28 Tamarisk Gardens, SO18 4RA Southampton, Hampshire, UK.

2. Information We Collect

We may collect and process the following data about you:

• Information you give us: This is information about you that you give us by filling in forms on our site (e.g., the contact form) or by corresponding with us by email or otherwise. This may include your name, email address, and the content of your message.
• Information we collect automatically (Server Logs): When you visit our website, our web server automatically logs certain information. This typically includes your IP address, the date and time of your visit, the pages you accessed, the type of browser and operating system you used, and the referring website (if any). We use this information for website security, troubleshooting, and basic, aggregated website traffic analysis. IP addresses are processed in a way that aims to anonymise them promptly where feasible for longer-term analysis.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use information held about you in the following ways:

• To respond to your enquiries submitted via the contact form or other communication methods.
• To provide you with information about the services you request from us.
• To carry out our obligations arising from any agreements entered into between you and us (e.g., providing consultation or services).
• To maintain the security and performance of our website.
• To analyse aggregated website traffic data to understand usage patterns and improve our website and services (this is typically done using anonymised or aggregated data from server logs).

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Our legal basis for collecting and using the personal information described above will depend on the personal information concerned and the specific context in which we collect it.

• When you submit an enquiry via our contact form or contact us directly, we process your data based on your consent (implied by contacting us) or to take steps at your request prior to potentially entering into an agreement.
• When processing is necessary for the performance of an agreement with you (e.g., providing services).
• We process server log data (including initial IP addresses) based on our legitimate interests in ensuring the security and proper functioning of our website, and for basic website analytics to improve our service.
• Where required by law, we may process data based on a legal obligation.

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your information with third parties only in the ways that are described in this privacy policy or if legally required.

• Service Providers: Our website hosting and email services may be provided by third-party companies (e.g., OVH, or other similar providers) who process data on our behalf as necessary to provide these services. We select providers offering adequate data protection safeguards, seeking storage within the UK/EEA where feasible.
• Legal Requirements: We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or a government agency).

6. International Data Transfers

We primarily aim to process and store data within the UK or European Economic Area (EEA). If we use service providers that transfer data outside the UK/EEA, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for such transfers, such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) or adequacy decisions, as required by UK GDPR.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal information we collect from you where we have an ongoing legitimate business need to do so (for example, to provide you with a service you have requested, or to comply with applicable legal, tax, or accounting requirements).

Specifically regarding server logs: Our hosting provider retains server logs according to their standard practices for security and operational purposes. For our own analysis purposes, IP addresses are anonymised or aggregated where feasible for longer-term website traffic analysis.

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymise it or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

8. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect the personal information that we collect and process about you. The measures we use are designed to provide a level of security appropriate to the risk of processing your personal information (e.g., use of HTTPS/SSL for website traffic, secure server configuration where applicable).

9. Your Data Protection Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

• To access, correct, update, or request deletion of your personal information.
• To object to processing of your personal information when it's based on our legitimate interests.
• To ask us to restrict processing of your personal information.
• To request portability of your personal information.
• If we have collected and processed your personal information with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at contact@ourfrenchchateau.com.

You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your personal information. For more information, please contact the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk.

10. Cookies

This website (ourfrenchchateau.com) is designed to be simple and does not intentionally set cookies on your device for tracking or analytics purposes. The underlying web server infrastructure or essential website functionalities (like the PHP contact form session) may set cookies that are strictly necessary for the basic operation and security of the site. These essential cookies do not require your consent under current regulations.

Please be aware that if in the future we embed third-party content (such as YouTube videos or maps), those third parties may set their own cookies according to their respective privacy policies. We would update this policy accordingly if such changes are made.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time in response to changing legal, technical, or business developments. When we update our privacy policy, we will take appropriate measures to inform you, consistent with the significance of the changes we make. We will obtain your consent to any material privacy policy changes if and where this is required by applicable data protection laws.

You can see when this privacy policy was last updated by checking the "last updated" date displayed at the top of this policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about our use of your personal information, please contact us using the following details:

Arnaud Viguié
28 Tamarisk Gardens, SO18 4RA Southampton, Hampshire, UK
Email: contact@ourfrenchchateau.com
Phone: +44 7367 787664