House and Garden

Drawingroom through to diningroom

An elegant but friendly house in a hill-top village, sleeping 12/14 in 8 bedrooms, with a secluded garden, pool and view

This elegant but friendly 18th century stone house stands near the church in the peaceful heart of a medieval Gascon hill-top village on the pilgrim route to Compostella.  Opposite the front door is the late medieval Halle (now only used for the occasional village fete), while the principal rooms are at the rear with views south.  The house has been carefully restored (winning French prizes) and retains its original features and charm.

Ground floor: large well-equipped kitchen with utility room off; charming booked-lined drawing-room with open fire for winter months; dining-room with terracotta floor seating 14-plus; small sitting-room with TV, DVD and games; large hall; en suite double bedroom (there are no steps throughout the ground floor, including the bedroom and its bathroom, making this particularly suitable for the elderly, though the terracotta-tiled kitchen floor is uneven); separate ground floor WC.

The kitchen has two ovens, one electric and the other gas; fridge, dishwasher, microwave, toaster; and a good selection of pots, pans, implements and machines for cooking for large groups as well as small; plates, cups, glasses etc are intended to cater for 20 people.  The long table can be used for informal eating or food preparation. In the utility room next door there’s a large fridge/freezer, a washing machine and ironing facilities, and drying area.  The rental price includes, in addition to readying the house before your arrival, a three hour visit by our cleaner during the week.  You can, if you wish, negotiate with her additional time by private arrangement.

First floor: 4 large double bedrooms (2 en suite), 1 single bedroom, another bathroom; and 2 further WCs.  The Master bedroom and its bathroom are particularly large.

Top floor: 2 bedrooms (1 with a double bed, the other 2 singles) and shower room.  We call these the Pilgrims’ Rooms since previous owners of the house did indeed put up the many pilgrims walking to Compostella, but they are comfortable and attractive rooms; just less imposing than the other bedrooms.

The house sleeps 12 comfortably, and depending on whether all double beds have double occupancy can sleep 14 max.  There are also two cots provided.  And (see below) there is also a gite, otherwise unoccupied, which can sleep an additional 4 or 5 people.  We’ve noticed that some houses claim to take quite large numbers of people in relatively few bedrooms.  We have no bedrooms with third and fourth beds or mattresses on the floor.  What we say is what you get.

Bathroom of Master bedroom

Bedroom

The house has plenty of room for reading, playing games (currently cards, darts, boule set, indoor skittles, dominoes, chess) or watching television, and there is wireless broadband for those who need to keep in touch with the outside world. In addition to its obvious attractions for summer holidays, it also has a pleasant atmosphere for families or groups of friends who want to combine walking and cultural visits with a relaxed time in the house over the cooler months. The principal reception rooms and bedroom have views south (the Pyrenees are faintly visible on very clear days), while other bedrooms either look over the Halle or to the church.

View of house from below

Though the house lies in the historic centre of the village beside the church and opposite the old Halle it’s very private, with a high wall round the garden which makes it safe for small children as well as secluded. And because it’s a hill-top village the upper garden has sitting and eating areas with views from the terrace southwards over rolling country. In warm weather the arbour of wisteria gives shade at lunchtime, and it’s also a delightful spot in the evening as the sun sets or for dinner.

Below the upper part of the garden (the house is on the line of the old bastide wall) stone steps in attractive local Lectoure stone lead down to the pool, which is treated with salt and measures 10 metres x 5 metres. The pool area, which is also in Lectoure stone and gets the sun most of the day, can be shut off for safety. There are further seating areas round the pool, beneath olive trees, and under a tiled roof beside the pool which provides protection from the sun in the daytime and a candlelit corner for late night swimmers. In addition to the upper garden and pool area below the house, across a small lane there’s another garden with grass and fruit trees for sitting out, eating, children playing etc.  And according to season it has very good cherries, green and black figs, etc.

We should say a further word about the pool.  French regulations, and we ourselves, take security around the pool very seriously.  By law swimming-pools must be fenced or otherwise secured or, failing that, provided with an alarm.  Fences can look unattractive, but fortunately the position of the pool below the level of the house means it’s shut off by the surrounding stone walls and an iron door at the top of the flight of stairs that leads from the upper garden down to the pool area.  This conforms to French law.  Adults should always keep charge of the key to the iron door.  In this way small children can only swim and play round the pool under adult supervision.

The house has its own garage alongside, and parking is also permitted anywhere in the village.  The garage contains BBQ equipment which can easily be wheeled into the garden, and a supply of wood for the open fires in the house during winter.

For eating you have a choice of dining-room, kitchen, outside terrace, or pool area.

Garden dining al fresco

The reception rooms, kitchen and bedrooms have high ceilings and are airy in summer; and the house is well heated during the cooler months, with effective oil central heating and open fires in the drawing-room and the dining-room.

For larger parties we have a gite alongside the house which can be rented in addition (the gite is otherwise unoccupied).  This provides two further bedrooms (one with double bed, the other with two singles), and a sofa-bed downstairs.  The gite is fully self-contained: fully-equipped kitchen corner, sitting and eating area, bathroom, utility room, and its own small and private garden.  This would allow for 4 more members of the party, and could if desired provide some measure of independance (a separate family group, nanny with the children etc).