Our house isn't dirty but we seem to be inundated with house flies. I went mad tonight with a fly swat and a hoover trying to get rid of them, but everyday they seem to come back. We live near farmland which is regularly covered in manure so i suppose that could be the cause. Also we have some old wooden beams in the top room which is where they seem to congregate in particular.
Does anyone have any top tips?

If this is what it is like in February, i can't imagine what the summer will be like!!

Er, close the windows?

I noticed some bug zappers on sale at MediaMarkt the last time I was there. If nothing else, they're great entertainment.

they are closed...it's February!

Are there a lot of newspapers piling up in front of the adjoining flats?

Ah hah ha ha ha ha! That's delightfully morbid!

-E.

I was told by another chemist that the only thing that can remove the smell of a 'leaker', as the police like to call them, is artificial cinnamon flavouring sprayed through the place.
So if you're looking for a new flat and all you can smell is Big Red chewing gum, you might need to call these guys in:

Pick one of those door and window net things from coop DIY store.

I live directly across the street from a farm so I can understand your annoyance. Flies are bad but mosquitos are the worse..!!! I have a mosquito net over my bed about 9 months out of the year. Nothing worse than those *%&ç" things buzzing around your head just as you're starting to doze off. What ever you do never use a fly swatter on a mosquito that's on your wall, you'll have a blood stain the size of a 1chf coin on those walls afterwards! I know this will sound funny but the best way to get those things without leaving the blood spot on the wall is to suck them up with the vacuum cleaner (I've spent many an evening running around my place with the vacuum in hand).

Here are a couple of tips that might help. Perhaps hang these in the windows:

Hanging Herbal Repellents
Hang a pine bough in the kitchen: flies dislike pine oil.
Whole or ground cloves in a small muslin teabag make a good fly-repelling hanging sachet.

My uncle Bertrand used to leave the decomposing body of a sheep at the end of his lawn.

The flies, given the choice between a meagre meal at my uncle's table, or a juicy feast at the end of his lawn, invariably plumped for the latter.

My uncle's ingenious practice continued until the neighbours contacted the public health department which, during their investigations, discovered the bodies under the breakfast terrace which had been attracting the flies in the first place.

Alas, the guards in his next home were unwilling to allow him to continue with this method of fly distraction, and he was plagued by the little buggers for the rest of his life.

Perhaps a pine bough would be more acceptable?

What you want is a 'Fliegenfaenger' AKA: Fly strip, Fly paper, Fly sticker. Hang it up. Lo and behold, flies begone.



Cheers
Maria

ps: does this become a sticky post now ;-)

Yes, with you here. It brings out the hunter instinct and the buzz you get from sucking up the little feckers is worth getting up at 3 am.

One question, do you turn off the vacuum cleaner (so the mossie/fly won't here you coming ) , stalk the bugger, then switch it on at the last moment and catch it by surprise? Or is that just me?

My guess is you also do while stripped to the waist with a red bandana tied around your head, possibly while mumbling about 'Charlie' and 'not leaving anyone behind'.

Of course the vacuum cleaner would have screw-on tips.

And it would have been airlifted in by a Huey...

How many Vietnam War Veterans does it take to change a lightbulb?

You don't know? OF COURSE YOU DON'T KNOW - YOU WEREN'T THERE, MAN!!!!

I have read that you can place cotton wool balls sprinkled with a few drops of lavender oil on saucers around the room to discourage flies. Basil or mint grown in pots on the windowsill or in a window box can also help .

Leave some glasses of beer or wine around the flies are attracted to the smell go in the glass and drown (dont forget do not drink the contents afterwards lol)

Well, with the cost of meat here, you have to find you protein somewhere...

I would pay to see you drink the contents afterwards