Many thanks to Mary and Debbie for writing an article about their stay for their women's network newsletter :

"We recently enjoyed a wonderful holiday in the south west of France in a region called Charente Maritime. For those Francophiles amongst you or even for a first visitor to France this is a wonderful area to visit. The fields and fields of Sunflowers and grapevines in this area are spectacular and the close proximity of the estuary of the Gironde river make for a spectacular and peaceful landscape.

We stayed in a fantastic gite, which we hired from two great gay chaps … The gite surpassed anything we were expecting. It nestled in a lovely valley about 45 minutes from Bordeaux airport. It was surrounded by sunflower fields and was very peaceful. Although it was part of a small village the gite and its extensive gardens and swimming pool was not overlooked at all. Across the valley you could see the neighbouring village, which was approx a mile away.

Our English hosts Chris and Martin pandered to our every comfort. (They actually live in the cottage next door and although they were ‘around’ they were not intrusive at all.). A welcome pack was provided which boasted wonderful pasta and a pesto sauce for our first evening (which was very welcome after our flight) along with all the usual basics that would keep you going until you could venture into the local shops, which were about ten minutes away. They provided us with a great bottle of wine, which we enjoyed on the first evening sitting on the patio in front of the huge swimming pool marvelling at the fantastic view. The stresses of our life back in England soon melted away.    

  The gite was comfortably and tastefully equipped with every thing you could need including dishwasher, washing machine etc they also provided extensive guides and information which helped us to fully enjoy the local area.   At the moment the gite is all on one floor and sleeps two people, they are plans to open up the loft area during November this year [now done !] and install another bedroom upstairs so enabling them to comfortably sleep four people. This arrangement will be available from December 2002 onwards. The gite is available year round and during the winter it is heated and there is a log burner. Although the area is quieter during the winter months we are told it is much milder than England and the winter is much shorter. I’m sure it would have its own charms during the off-season.

The gite only opened at the beginning of this season but we are told they are already booked throughout the main summer weeks and even have bookings for next year by disappointed people hoping to get in during July and August this year. We would thoroughly recommend this place to anyone and hope to return in the not too distant future. We rather fancy the sound of September, October when it is still very warm and of course it’s the grape harvesting time. We are told the smell in the air is fantastic!

There is a very informative and entertaining web site for the gite, which can be found at www.martinetchris.net"

Mary and Debbie