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Owner/Property Manager: Mr Richard Hind
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Following the general theme of other the reviews just to reiterate it is a rural setting and a car is generally needed to get around to the nearest villages/towns. We had a lovely 2 week stay the middle of July. All through the booking process Richard was very helpful and answered any preliminary questions we had in advance of our stay and met us in the nearest village and guided us in to the property. The house had everything we needed for our stay (5 adults and a dog), 4 en-suite bedrooms and a decent sized sitting & dinning room which was well utilised. The kitchen was well stocked with all we needed to be self sufficient during our stay. The welcome basket was lovely and a nice touch, stocked with baguettes, croissants, cheese, wine and there was milk and fruit juice in the fridge and that’s all we could remember as we forgot to take a photo of how pretty it looked! The pool was great (a few of the slabs could probably do with a reset) although the water a little bracing to start with, but that was probably more the mixed weather we had during our stay, which was clearly out of Richards control! The garden and out the front of the house are great and our dog was throughly exhausted every evening! We used the bbq too and the garden got the sun in the afternoon/evening which was nice whilst we are outside, as did the terrace at the front of the house, which was a lovely place to enjoy a pre-dinner drink. We tended to head to Civray for the supermarkets and we had a lovely couple of meals at the Hotel du Commerce and their set menus were €18 during the week & €36 at the weekends. We didn’t unfortunately get to one Richards recommendations which was in Pleuville which had set menus at about €14 as we just ran out of time! Lots to do if you want and there are a few markets through out the week at various other towns/villages etc and worth a pop into the Tourist Information Centre in Civray to pick up some information about the area/things/place of interest to see/go to. The British tv was good enough to pick up most of the main home channels. The only downside is the Wi-Fi which is off a dongle (given its location & we are all very conditioned on direct feeds to premises and generally no issues/data caps etc) and best to check your phone/data allowances and that was more prevalent for us with offspring who are 19 & 22 and phone dependent! All round, a lovely time/property/location and Richard & Elaine were around if needed and always happy to help/answer any questions we had.
What a find! Richard could not have been a better host - great at responding to email, available via text during stay, met us to show the way but in no way intrusive during holiday. We have never had such a fantastic welcome pack - so thoughtful. If you are looking for real relaxation away from it all in an authentic, organic, rural setting - this is the place for you. Also easy drive to access shops, vet etc in Civray and Charroux. Really comfortable and plenty of space (as family of 4 with teenagers plus dog we didn’t need downstairs bedroom). Great to have games room in addition to pool. Well- equipped kitchen etc. Walks around property with our terrier were just beautiful - no way he was going to catch one of the hares! Hosts had even put out a paddling pool for the dog. Although main garden not fully enclosed, pool area obviously is, so easy to contain a pet. Plus there’s a gate on veranda and little space at rear and the lounge nice and cool. As previous guests have said, the west facing terrace is definitely a high point and we enjoyed a bit of boules etc on this front lawn too. Another bonus was bikes- good loop to Genouillé, Charroux and back through Asnois. We were just sorry we didn’t stay for 2 weeks.
We had an amazing stay here. I came with my mum and two dogs for just over a week and it was amazing. The house is down a very long drive, meaning you’re in the middle of nature. Lots of walks to do around the house and there’s a large lake that the dogs loved playing in. Richard and Elaine were lovely. They left an incredible welcome basket of food, drinks, cakes (everything you need for the first day or so) which we really appreciated after a long drive. They were great throughout the whole stay, if we needed anything (like advice on where to take day trips to) they couldn’t be more helpful, but we’re very respectful of our privacy when staying there. The house itself is amazing. Very nicely decorated and has everything you could possibly need. The pool area was the highlight - very spacious and large (even though unfortunately we picked a usual week of bad weather so didn’t use it as much as we hoped)! The area is great, lovely little villages nearby and only 10 mins to a larger town with huge supermarkets and shops. We wouldn’t hesitate to come back here, one of the best places we’ve stayed at in France by a mile. We had a fantastic time.
Lovely spacious clean accommodation with everything you could possibly need provided. Completely private pool area with refreshing pool big enough to swim in. Kept very clean. No passing traffic so safe to let the dog roam. Beautiful array of butterflies fluttering past as you relax in the gardens. Deer ,frogs and owls seen in the evening. Richard always on hand to help if you need him. He leaves a fabulous welcome tray, very much appreciated. Would return in a heartbeat. The Charente is a lovely shady river to canoe in, just 20 mins away in Ruffec.
My wife and I plus our Cocker Spaniel Jessie were made very welcome by Richard and Elaine on our arrival. We had 14 days of wonderful weather , and used the pool everyday , the house has everything you need to enjoy your holiday, and because its a organic region, we were surrounded by some of the beautiful signs of nature, including Deer, Butterflies , Hares as big as Wallabies, making it a very interesting place for Jessie. The Gite is a kilometre down a private road from the lane feeding from Charroux , which was visited every morning for the breakfast Baggett .
Owner response on 04-Jul-2023
Thank you so much for your lovely comments, it was great to see you both again & Jessie too of course !!
We have just enjoyed a two week holiday at Gite des Hirondelles, 14 - 28 August 2022. Richard is the most pleasant, helpful host that we have ever come across after staying in numerous villas over the years. Nothing is too much trouble for him. He met us in Charroux and guided us to the gite to avoid us getting lost after a long drive down from Calais. We arrived to find a huge welcome basket with lots of essentials and items in the fridge including an enormous strawberry tart from the bakery in Charroux. We went back a few days later to sample more of the delicious cakes/desserts that they make and can highly recommend. The gite is exactly as shown on the website and is very nicely decorated. Elaine (Richard's wife) has put a lot of time and effort into dressing the rooms. Nine of us were staying in the house and we found more than enough crockery/cooking utensils in the kitchen and pantry. The beauty of this gite is that all the bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms and there is also a separate toilet on the ground floor so no sharing of bathrooms. The pool area is great for relaxing round (either in the sunshine or under the shaded area) and indeed is large enough for swimming lengths. It was great that the pool is one depth and this meant that my grand-daughter could practice swimming and it was easy for me to be at her side without having to tread water at any point. It is however deep enough to dive into. There is an abundance of wildlife around the gite. As you come up the 1 km long drive to the property there are cows and a pond complete with resident heron and coypu which we were lucky to see swimming one morning. A buzzard would regularly be sitting on the fence until we drove by. We also saw rabbits, butterflies, bright blue dragonflies and even had a visit from Alfie, Richard and Elaine's Yorkshire terrier. Our favourite spot to while away time was on the veranda of the property. It was nice and shady in the morning to sit with a cup of tea and just look out across the fields and in the afternoon/evening we would catch the last of the sunshine and sit with a glass of wine. There are bikes in the garage for holidaymakers to borrow and Richard had even provided a paddling pool for the dogs to use. They had great walks around the property and into the woods. We would definitely consider staying at Richard and Elaine's property again and recommend to anybody who wants to stay in the peace and tranquility of the countryside but not be far from local amenities. There is a Super U, Lidl and Intermarche in Civray and lots of cafe's in the main square. There is a small market in Charroux but for more items we would recommend a trip out to Lezay market. We had trips out to Bordeaux, Cognac, golfing in Poitiers, Confolens, Verteuil-sur-Charente and the Plan d'eau du Bois Meunier at Sauze-Vaussais has an excellent restaurant (Le Cabanon) and children's play area. Richard and Elaine - thank you for making us so welcome at your lovely property.