Per week
from 495.00 to 495.00 GBP
For an authentic slice of French country life, The Farmhouse is a traditional Charantais farmhouse that has been lovingly renovated into a spacious family gite, in the Cognac countryside of South West France, just 30 minutes from the coast. Whilst putting the finishing touches to The Farmhouse, the owners also converted a stable and a stone barn into two smaller gites, Cowshed and Stable, and added a games barn to make this farmhouse cluster a relaxing retreat for extended families and friends.
Children have plenty of space to play outdoors in the orchard field, with boules, bats and balls, hula hoops along with table tennis, table football, a pool table and various sizes of bikes. What could be better for a picnic than peaches, cherries, figs and walnuts plucked straight from the trees in season and parents can chill out on sun loungers and gaze on the sunsets while sampling the local ‘Pineau’, wines and Cognac. Besides the orchard, each of the gites has its own garden area with an outdoor dining table and barbecue for sizzling up suppers.
The owners have renovated the gites in keeping with their traditional, rustic charm and making a feature of the pale stone walls, oak beams, wood floors, Charentais stone fireplaces and shuttered windows. There’ve also made sure the gites are comfy, cosy and well equipped for families, from children’s games and DVD’s, English TV channels and Wi Fi to practical kitchen essentials, spacious bedrooms and helpful baby gear. They’ve even thought to provide 4-socket UK plug boards to keep all those godsend family gadgets all charged up!
Accommodation overview
Cowshed, as the name suggests, was originally a stone cowshed which the owners have beautifully converted into a 2-bedroom gite with loads of character that’s especially well equipped for a family of 4 with a baby or toddlers. The ground floor has an open plan layout so parents can always keep an eye on little ones and this is dominated by an impressive Charentais fireplace, although this isn’t used for a real fire nowadays. The living area has a leather settee and pouffe, a wooden armchair and toddler sized seats to watch the TV with English channels, or DVD’s, and there is plenty of space to spread out the board games or books and pull out toys from the box, including a baby ride-on and toddler bike. The dining area has a table that seats 8, (plus a high chair and booster seat are available), which is handy if the gite is booked with the adjoining studio, L’Ecurie. The kitchen is well equipped for family self -catering, including a gas hob, electric oven, microwave, kettle, toaster, fridge-freezer, washing machine, plastic crockery, cutlery and a bottle steriliser. The master bedroom, with a large double bed, overlooks the garden and the second bedroom has twin beds with bed guards if required. Both have space for a travel cot, which is available. The bathroom has a walk-in shower, washbasin and WC, plus a baby bath, toddler seat and toilet step can be provided. Cowshed has a gravelled garden area with a table and chairs, sun loungers and a charcoal barbecue.
The Farmhouse and gites are set in a quiet farming hamlet, surrounded by fields of wheat, maize, sunflowers and vines in the Charente Maritime region of South West France. A fabulous choice of dune backed beaches, vast sandy bays and seaside towns are also as little as 30 minutes drive, including Meshers sur Gironde which has kids club activities throughout the summer.
The village of St Genis de Saintonge is just 2 minutes drive or a pleasant bike ride (2.5kms), which has the all-important boulangerie for daily baguettes and pastries, as well as a butchers, mini-market, bank and restaurants.
The medieval town of Pons is only 8kms away, with pavement cafes around a pretty square and a magnificent ‘Chateau des Enigmes’ – a castle of riddles - where families can have heaps of fun following a treasure hunt trail of adventure games and puzzles. For another great day out, the historic spa town of Jonzac (20 mins) boasts one of the largest indoor aquatic centres in Europe, Les Antilles de Jonzac, with tropical lagoon pools and a sandy beach, wave pools, waterfalls, and waterslides, plus Turkish baths, saunas, steam rooms and a spa beauty salon for grown-ups. For outdoor fun, a purpose built recreation park is also close to Les Antilles, featuring a swimming lake with a sandy beach, playgrounds and all kinds of activities throughout the summer.
The brandy capital of Cognac is just over half an hour’s drive, with a pretty riverside, pedestrianised old town and, of course tours and tastings at all the most famous distilleries. The region is also renowned for its Pineau fortified wine and there are numerous vineyards to stock up on the local ‘Blaye’ wines and finest Bordeaux. The historic port of La Rochelle is an hour’s drive, with bustling cobbled streets, pavement cafes and interesting shops within the ancient city walls as well as the top family attraction of an eye-popping, state of the art aquarium.
Nearest medical services: is in St Genis (2.5km) plus doctors, dentist and pharmacy. Out of hours medical care is in Jonzac Hospital.
Getting here: Bordeaux and La Rochelle airports are both approximately 1 hours drive, with flights from airports across the UK. The nearest cross channel ferry ports are Le Havre, Caen and Roscoff, approximately 6 hrs drive.
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Check-in time: 16:00
Check-out time: 10:00
Reservation Deposit: 20%
Balance: 56 days prior to arrival
Check-in time: 16:00
Check-out time: 10:00
Reservation Deposit: 20%
Balance: 56 days prior to arrival
Check-in time: 16:00
Check-out time: 10:00
Reservation Deposit: 20%
Balance: 56 days prior to arrival
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We are Lesley & Felix Houareau. We have always worked in customer facing roles and enjoy hosting guests in our French gites. We live in a village just outside Bath and feel very lucky that not only do we live in a beautiful part of the UK but can also spend time in the Charente Maritime area of France with it's historic towns, great beaches and also have access to some great local wines We looked for a region with good weather but easier to travel to than the South of France. The Charente Maritime is the 2nd sunniest region of France and a hidden gem known about by the French. Lots of great beaches to choose from and great local (small) markets and rolling countryside with towns and villages with lots of character.
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Sleeps 4 + 1 infant in 1 x double bedroom and 1 x twin room. |
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 | Bordeaux and La Rochelle are both 1 hour drive way. |
 | Sandy beach 30 minutes drive away at Mescher sur Gironde. Child friendly with kids club in high season. |
 | The gites at La Farmette share a lovely 10m x 5m heated pool. The pool is open annually between 1 May - Sept 30 (weather dependant) and has an electric cover. It is enclosed with a mix of stone walls and fencing to help ensure unsupervised mini guests stay pool safe. |
 | This baby friendly gite has on request, 2 x travel cots and one full size cot with linen, high chair, baby bath, baby monitor, steriliser, potty, toilet seat, toilet step, stairgates (x2), 2 x bedguards, socket covers, kitchen cupboard locks, plastic cutlery, plastic crockery and sippy cup. |
 | Baby friendly toys, book, DVDs, games, jigsaw puzzles, crayons, and washable soft toys. |
 | Table tennis table, pool table, table football, selection of childrens and adults bikes, and body boards. |
 | Shopping service can be arranged for 10 euros plus the cost of the shopping. |
 | Bats & balls, hoola hoops, garden quoits, badminton rackets, boules, buckets and spades, Tarmpoline (in summer), ride on toy, toddler bike, selection of childrens bikes, and baby beach tent cover. |
 | Stairgates can be provided. |
 | Partially enclosed garden bordered by a shrub hedge. Garden has a charcoal BBQ. |
 | Wi-Fi is provided. |
 | Royan and Cognac are 35 40 mins drive away. |
 | Multiple travel cots can be requested. |
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Great pool, comfortable accommodation, nice games barn, friendly owners who made helpful suggestions for days out.Review dated 31/07/2019
The gite was lovely and it had everything we could want. We were there with pre-school children. There were lots of toys, books, games and teddies for them and a nice outdoor area with BBQ and dining set. The pool is shared with the other gites but we went before the school holidays so pretty much had it to ourselves. There are also a lot of bikes to borrow. The gite was clean and well maintained. There are some good things to do in the area, we did the velorail one day. There is a supermarket nearby, and boulangeries and a mini market even closer. We were going to try the crepe restaurant one night but when we went it was closed. We didn't go to any other eateries so I don't know what they are like. You need a car to get to the gite but once there you could use a bike to go to the nearest village. The owners were really friendly and helpful. We had a great week and I wish it had been for longer.Review dated 05/07/2019
Overall ExperienceChild-Friendliness
LocationHospitality / WelcomeInteriors*Ratings by verified BFB guests who stayed here with young children.
Rated by 3 guests.