review, the sound of silence

The Netherlands
date of arrival: May 1,2008
"During the first ten days of May 2008 my wife and I stayed in the Pigeonnier of La Metairie de Monlieu (near La Rochelle). The cottagy gite, set in a lovely rural area, has been beautifully done up by Nigel and Suzanne. It provides everything you need for a holiday to explore the lovely surroundings of the Charente - Maritime. Both Suzanne and Nigel are perfect hosts. For an escape to the country, away from all the noise and stress of busy citylife, this is the place to be. Thanks again for a wonderful stay !

NB: All comments left by our guests regarding our gite near La Rochelle will be added with permission here on our blog.

Fouras Grand plage

This is the Grand plage at Fouras (30 min from La Rochelle) You can see one of the old Forts named fort Vauban, also if you look out to the sea from this beach you can see fort Boyard. Fouras is a quaint french sea-side resort, it has three main beaches and some lovely shops and restaurants. You can also buy fresh oysters from la Fumée in Fouras.

Vergeroux near Rochefort

For Pentecôte bank holiday monday here in the Charente Maritime, we went to to one of the biggest vide grenier (car boot)/brocante (antique fair). There was around 500 exposants, we must have walked miles and miles! We bought a lovely shopping basket and he gave us a small one free for a present.
After the brocante we decided to go to Fouras beach (30 mins from La Rochelle) because again the weather was fantastic. The tide was out today, but it was ok because on the Grand Plage (beach) there is a sea water swimming pool, which is great for swimming.

Show jumping competition

Today we spent all afternoon at a local show jumping competition at Toucherit near La Rochelle. Rosie entered the competition and came 6th, and won a brush, a pen and a rosette. The weather was really hot and all the horses were really sweating and tired. It was a great afternoon and I think everyone got sun burnt!

Guests this week

This week we have a lovely couple from Holland, staying in the gite called the Pigeonnier. Last Tuesday night we enjoyed their company and also our friend Valérie and her daughter Alice, instead of bringing a bottle of wine or a dessert Valérie brought an unloved guinea pig! It was a beautiful sunny evening here near La Rochelle so we decided to have a BBQ and several bottles of good local wine and a drop or two of pinot. After watching the sun go down, the sky became full of stars as there is no light pollution here.

Our new lodger, Sushi the guinea pig.

New Website

Today we have launched our new website you can click and visit here. We'll be updating our blog at least twice per week from now and hopefully our guests won't mind us adding their photo's to this blog.

La Rochelle is roasting hot this weekend and the beach is calling. We have still some availability in our gites so feel free to take a look around and ask us any questions.

This week

Last week one of our guests spotted a young deer running across the field at the back of our house. He was really pleased, because it was the first time he had seen one close up.
This week our new guests arrived on Saturday and they were very complimentary, they said that our gites are the best that they have stayed in, in france.
Yesterday it was a lovely day so we spent the afternoon on the beach at a small town near La Rochelle, called Fouras. Although the tide was a long way out there is a large salt water pool on the end of the center beach for swimming.
Today near La Rochelle and the rest of France, it's la rentrée(back to school) lots of happy parents dropping their children off and in some cases crying children including my own son!