sign in sign up
<<
Home , Gascony

\

+

'" x +

WEEK 1: FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

In the first of our two-part special, Sean Newsom finds this summer's most sensational holiday rentals

restored, with a lovely kitchen and a brand·new plunge pool, it's at the end of a SOOyd track near Campagne, an hour's drive from Bergerac airport. La Ton:IIe, £1,178/£778; 00 33 5 53 54 5431, simply-perigord. com; 1Sleeps 4 refCAM269 Neat, airy and refreshingly underpriced, this is the home of one of Brittany Travel's property managers, A Mundda, who lets it out in summer. Outside, there's a big, 6Sleeps 4 well-tended garden, and a five-minute drive will get Rustic chic doesn't come more rustic than this: an you to the vast expanse of La Torche beach, a magnet extraordinary little bergerie (shepherd's cottage) made for surfers. Brest airport is 90 minutes away by car. out of great lumps of rock, set in the S,OOO-acre A week in high season costs £577, low season £339; Murtoli estate. The plunge pool is cut from the rocks, 03452301380, brittany.co.uk; refBIG-1017 and the view from its edge is out towards the sea. A concierge is on hand and the domaine has its own _n_, Brittany restaurant if cooking for yourself seems a bit much. 2Sleeps 4 Figari airport is a 3Q·minute drive. Jardin Botanica is a newish house, made special £5,913/£1,865; 00 334 95 716924, www.murtoli.com by the upstairs kitchen with a sun deck - which looks out over the nearby beach and the EckmUhl I Flore di V8Zze, CorsIca lighthouse. The subtropical garden from which it 7Sleep. 4 takes its name is lovely. too. Brest airport is 90 If you like the sound of number 6 (above), but not the minutes away by car. price, consider this shepherd's cottage near Olmeto. £811/£510; 0345 230 1380, brittany.co.uk; ref BIG-I023 It may not be so ingeniously lruilt, nor have the same view, but it has rough·hewn chann aplenty, as well as L' A1glon de M«zIne, Alps a spring-fed plunge pool and an unfussywhitewashed 3Sleeps 4 interior. Figari airport is an hour's drive. Morzine is the mountain-biking capital of France, £1,638/£717; 08453302059, corsica.co.uk with 236 miles of waymarked trails - so all you really want if you're staying here is a well-maintained and La ChallJlllere St SImeon,-....ndy convenient launch pad. L' Aiglon will do the job 8Sleep.S nicely: it's an upmarket residence of 12 flats, with Tempted by this years ground-breaking Impressionist richly textured wood panelling and a state-of-the-art Nonnandy event (www.nonnandieimpressionniste. 1V system. Geneva airport is an hour's drive. fr)?Then make this absurdly pretty cottage your base. £976/£640; 08458630525, www.erna1ow.co.uk set in the owner's enonnous garden, west of Rauen, it wears its thatched roof almost down to its ankles, La Petite Malson, Gascony and may actually be made of gingerbread. Inside, 4Sleeps 4 however, it's refreshingly untwee. All mod cons and a heap of history on your doorstep: £780/£570, indJJdill!]jmycrossill!]S; 0871244 0744, this is a s~nsitive restoration of an old village house, 1>rittanyjerries.co.uk; refNE6031 with an oversized fireplace, heavy beams and a pool. Nearby lies the beautifully preserved abbey at La ouienaud5, Charente Romieu, with hilltop Lectoure not far beyond. It's 9SleepsS pretty much the ideal French town, so be careful if This one is for lovers of la France projonde. Built in blond you visit - you might never want to leave. stone. it's on the outskirts of St Genis·de·, airport is a 9O·minute drive. a village far from the tourist hordes. Maize and £990/£610; 0844 800 1637, gascony-secret.com; sunflowers surround the house and its pool, and ref 057SI'AN there's a sandy beach on the banks of the at Meschers, 40 minutes away. airport is an Les Bernards, -.!ogne hour away by car. 5Sieeps4 ' £1,054/£427; 020 73818519,jrenchaffair.com Higgledy-piggledy outside, clean and simple within, This is your dream Perigordin cottage. Recently Continued on page 6 ~. 50= miles

FRANCE

mD SLeeps ~ . 2-3 4-5 . 6-7 . 8-12

~. Continued from page 4 of Saint-Bonnet -du-Gard, and stuffed to the gunwales with 4 Keroul, Brittany paintings and furniture: There's 10 Sleeps 5 no garden - but, once you've It's a popular house - and no spent an afternoon lazing in the wonder. Stone-built and courtyard pool, that might not carefully renovated, 4 Keroul is seem such a hardship. Marseilles set in the village of Pleudaniel airport is a gO-minute drive. and is a cut above the Breton £2,735/£2,500; 020 74011010, average. It has a stone fireplace, cvtravel.co.uk exposed beams and a modem kitchen, and there's a garden at Villa Casa Azura, the back, with decking and a 15 Corsica children's slide. Sleeps 6 £1,nJ/£780, including ferry Yes, all right, it's expensive. But crossings; 0871244 0744, you might just think it's worth brittany-ferries.co.uk; ref BN6063 it whim you walk out of your bedroom onto the deck each Les Bruyeres, . morning and look out over the 11 Sleeps 6 Gulf of Ajaccio. As befits the Here's a rare and precioQs thing: location, the villa has a slightly a freestanding 18th-century nautical feel - although the Proven~al house with a garden, real pleasure comes not from near . available for the portholes, but from the airy little more than a grand in high open-plan living area, the season. Okay, it's not exactly ' infinity pool and, of course, luxurious, but it has a nice, that view. Figari airport is a bookish feel, and one of the 2%-hour drive. bedrooms has french windows £7,812/£4,590, includingfliyhts straight onto the garden. and car hire; 0844 5571020, Marseilles airport is 75 minutes coastline. co. uk away by car. £1,093/£356; 0845268 0760, 13 Rue Gulchen, BrIttany VIWW.cottageS4you.com; refT84628 16 Sleeps 7 The headland at Carantec is Au Bord de Ia Ri1'iere, fringed on every side with 12 Dordogne beaches, and this suburban Sleeps 6 house is a five-minute walk The garden ends on the banks from the nearest. There's a big of the Dordogne, so families garden at the front, and the with young children should interior is simply done, but probably steer clear. Everyone bright and modern. Check out else'will adore this cool new the price: no wonder the British refurbishment just off the road owners get a lot of repeat into Tremolat. They won't mind business. Brest airport is a the terrace, the vast lawns or 50-minute drive. the pool, either. Bergerac airport £790/£369; 08712441245, is a 50-minute drive. - holidayfrancedirect.co.uh; £1,708/£980; 003355354 54 31, refBFoon58 simply-perigord.com; ref CAL262 Maison Louplac, Ferme du Buou, Alps from poverty, it had a dotted with ponds and streams. Du Chene, Gascony Lou ROUC8S, Provence 17 Lot Valley 18 Provence vibrant economy, thanks to its There's a big pool in the 22 Sleeps 10 13 Sleeps 6 SleepsS Sleeps S stonemasons - and its centre garden and a magnificent And 10 - a simple Gascon Lou Roucas is built into the side Blimey. You can't help Inside, there's a simple, is now protected as a historic double-height sitting room farmhouse became the of a cliff in the beautiful village wondering what the farmer farmhousey feel. Fling open the monument. The scenery is indoors. Bergerac airport is a backdrop for a luxury cookery of Gordes, wartime refuge of the who built this 19th-century shutters of this rough-hewn spectacular, and this chic chalet 9O-minute drive. programme. At least, that's painter Chagall. If that sounds a house in the village of Loupiac 17th-c~ntury house near the is the perfect spot from which £3,860/£1,850; 020 rn88m, how it should be at Du Chene. little, you know, cool- well, it would think if he wandered in village of Puyvert, however, to explore'both village life and Ikminiquesvillas.co.uk; refDL89a They've gutted the place, is. The interiors are a clever mix now. On the outside, it wouldn't and you're in paradise­ mountain paths. Geneva airport turning it into a fashionista's of bright fabrics and pale stone, look much different - down surrounded by vineyards, is a 4s-minute drive. Le Bourg, Gascony fantasy of open-plan living and one of the three terraces to the handsome pigeonnier lavender and pine trees. There's £2,542/£1,551; 0844 576 0170, 21 Sleeps 10 - and the kitchen is a modern shelters a pool. Marseilles where he used to keep his birds. a pool, too. Marseilles airport is ~ahretreats.co.uh I've mentioned the gorgeous marvel. Handy, because the airport is an hour's drive. Step inside, though, and - an hour's drive. hilltop Gascon town of Lectoure vibrant markets at Nogaro and £2,812/£1,765; 08456182205, sacre b1ro! - it's every inch the £2,350/£880; 01452 716840, Moulin de Ia Gendonie, in number 4 (on page 4), and Riscle are nearby. Toulouse ahvillas.com boutique hotel, complete with vfbholidays.co.uk; refVID.84 20 Dordogne yeu can stay right in the heart airport is a two-hour drive. oak and limestone floors and Sleeps 8 of it if you rent this 17th-century £3,860/£1,850; 020 7738 8m, Le Mas de Ia Poustel1e, glass-walled showers. Where La Ferme de Fontenay, Some may find it a little close townhouse, which has its own dominiquesviUas.co.uk; refPY34 14 Provence would he put his muddy boots? 19 Alps to Sarlat's suburbs for comfort, 15ft entrance gate and a pool in Sleeps 6 Bergerac airport is an hour's Sleeps 8 but for most this is pretty much the courtyard. Toulouse airport La Romaine, Provence This one's for the grown-ups: a drive away. Samoens isn't your average the dream Perigord pad - a is an 80-minute drive. 23 Sleeps 10 17th-century stone-built house £2,186/£989; 0844 8471234, mountain village. Long well-restored 18th-century £2,100/£1,050; 0844 800 1637, This supercool modernisation wedged into the ancient streets hoseasons.co.uk; ref FG290 before skiing rescued the mill, set in five acres of land gascony-secret. com; 052LECT looks out across Vineyards to