Sous les Bois

During our recent holiday in France, our first stop was this beautiful gites complex in the Morbihan area of Brittany.  Details below.
It's near to lots of wonderful places including the award-winning village of Rochefort en Terre which i gave you a glimpse of here and here. 



It is owned and run by lovely friends of mine from Guernsey who moved over there last December.

They have quickly made this place their own.

 

Currently they offer 2 cosy gites each sleeping 4.

And this gorgeous former bakery is work in progress but is going to make a superb 2-4 sleeper accommodation some time soon.

Andy is doing a great job inside this beautiful building. He can turn his hand at anything which us a huge asset when running a gites business.

The current gites are fully equipped with everything you could want.  The kitchens are beautifully laid out and are so cosy, with the lounge area in an open plan arrangement.

Nikki has added her touch to these beautiful rooms.

She's paid such a lot of attention to the details in each of the gites.

The bedrooms are all spacious, with good storage.

Gorgeous, innit?!

She is a good photographer and painter and her artwork is dotted around the place making it feel like a home from home.

Large velux windows ensure the upper rooms are cool enough for a good night's sleep, even on the hottest of nights.

There are BBQ facilities and eating areas outside for the guests.

A super swimming pool and lots of lounging chairs around the pool.  

You will see here from his foot shot that The Photographer has availed himself of one such lounge chair and is not bothering to move from his chair to take Pout pictures.  That's how relaxed you feel at Sous les Bois!

Look at that Pout go!  A Limpix contender, for sure!  Veteran category.

The grounds include a super wood, as the gites' name implies.  

A tree house is snuggled in the foliage. 

And there's even a zip wire, which we couldn't quite catch well in the pics.  But trust me, it's there!

So it's a great place for adults and children alike.

Children can enjoy adventures in the woods.

Adults can enjoy the calm.

Enjoy nature.

Stop to listen to a babbling brook.

I have to say that we were so comfortable at Sous les Bois, right from the word "va"!

We felt at home.  We felt relaxed.  We had all we needed in our gite. 

Andy and Nicki are superb hosts and ensure that your stay is pleasant and cosy.

If you're in the area and looking for a home from home, give Andy and Nicky a quick call or email.

Contact details (and some better pics!) here.

Bon sejour!

 A la perchoine.



Jour #4 - Chateau-ed!

Hi peeps, hope you are well.
I'm still on hols, day 4, and still working within the constraints of the limited technology I have to hand.
So I give you.

The head.

The rest.

Blue Magasin stripey top over Next navy camisole and white Peacocks crops.

And wearing this ensemble, I left 



What a wonderful time we had there.  Lots of walking, swimming, touristing and socialising.  Fabulous!

And we hit the French roads for the next leg of our journey.

Now, we have a new car with in-built navigation.  This new lady is very bad.  She takes us along C roads running (slowly) parallel to the A road (speeding) motorways.  She's now done this to us twice, down through Brittany and now down to the Vendee, our second stop.

We now know that we have to totally ignore her for longer journeys and go back to our roots, (or our routes!) using previous centuries' archaic 'technology'.  The Map.

Oh she looks good, plumbed in there neatly on the dashboard. with all her flashy lights and her sweet, calming "everything's just fine" voice as she smooth-talks us down to a cobbled gradient 4 cul de sac cycle path.  But she is so not fit for purpose.  She is the chocolate teapot of the sat nav world.

But with common sense, logical analysis and a huge amount of steering wheel thumping and expletives, we got to the Vendee.

We found out party house for the next few days - a definitely work-in-progress house and outbuildings deep in the French countryside.   

We're here for a 25th wedding anniversary.  The couple left the UK a few years ago to make France their new home.  We met the party guests at a party-eve BBQ.  A few party guests are staying in the bedrooms which are missing bits of ceiling and floor and sharing a half -finished bathroom.  Some are camping in the grounds and are sharing a composting loo.  Several are staying in basic B&B rooms and sharing even more basic bathrooms.  Two are staying in a nearby Chateau in an en-suite antique-furnished bedroom.  No prizes for guessing where I am staying!

Must dash now ... party time!

A la perchoine.

Jour #2

Ahhh, sleeping in the middle of the French countryside.

Waking up sooo refreshed.

Having to split head and body pics because of selfie limitations!

Slipping on a Per Una cotton lawn blouse over Dotty P white knee-shorts and Birkies.

Walking through the woods to the nearby village.

Exploring said village.

So pretty.  So French.

Observing shorted French ladies strutting their stuff in the village.

All shapes.  All sizes.

Eating savoury galettes similar to this, recipes here.

I had the emmenthal, potato and onion filling.

Oh, and did I mention the two scoops of ice cream for pudd?!

Then, after a relaxed lunch and a walk back through the woods, swimming,

wearing this Bravissimo tankini set.  Tres chic, n'est pas?

Feeling pretty relaxed already.

Do you have a favourite holiday destination?

Where you instantly feel relaxed?   

A la perchoine.