Breathtaking Views - French Farmhouse & Pool - Southwest France

The house is lovely, the views are incredible and the location is perfect if you’re looking for peace and quiet (which we were). The housekeeper Liz was really helpful and attentive. The house is well stocked with utensils and equipment and there are also lots of games and puzzles, magazines and books too. Also there are bikes you can borrow to explore the locality which was a really nice surprise. The saltwater pool was very nice as well and a lovely change from the usual chlorinated pools. The pool furniture was very good quality and comfortable too. The village shop is great for all necessities and the croissants are literally award winning - we saw the article in the newspaper! The local cantaloupe melons are also delicious and grown only a few hundred metres from the house. There were a couple of issues with the property as one would expect from a house of this age but we brought them to the owners attention and understand they have already been addressed.

My husband and I spent a wonderful week at Le Manoir. The house is beautifully decorated with lots of attention to detail. It's even more beautiful than the pictures! It is well maintained and very clean, the kitchen is fully equipped and the internet connection is flawless. We spent our days by the beautiful (and very large) pool and the evenings on the terrace with breathtaking view! The seating areas inside were also very comfortable and spacious. There are many beautiful small towns and villages nearby (Albi, Cordes-sur-ciel, Saint-Antonin-Boble-Val, Gaillac). If you are there on a Sunday visiting the market of Saint-Antonin is a must!! Also, an afternoon at Cordes-sur-ciel will prove to be a magical one! The communication and followup by Michael from the very beginning was great and we had a very warm welcome by Veronique. We highly recommend a stay at Le Manoir to get away from it all and step back in time!

The house at Verlhac-Tescou is absolutely stunning. Lots of space for everyone and in such a beautiful setting. We simply couldn't fault the house and pool and loved eating outside on the covered terrace with such a pretty view across the valley. The house is beautifully looked after by the two caretakers and the gardener. Every bedroom is stunning - spacious and full of character. And the living space was perfect for us with separate "snugs" for teenagers to watch the TV or simply sit and read a book (or, more commonly, spend hours with social media on their mobiles - no change there then!) The surrounding towns are lovely too for days when you want to get out and about. We would definitely recommend a trip to St Antonin if you have time and we also thoroughly enjoyed spending a day visiting the Toulouse Lautrec Museum and the stunning cathedral at Albi. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this property to anyone who loves escaping to rural France. It truly is a gem. Judith

This is a wonderful holiday house: tranquil, spacious, comfortable, well-equipped for indoor and outdoor living, with a magnificent pool, a huge garden and views over acres of rolling farmland. We were a party of seven adults and we all fitted in with ease. We could come together in the kitchen, the living room, the verandah, the sitting room, or round the pool, and that leaves out the dining room (which we never used because we ate all our meals out-of-doors, accompanied by birdsong) and the upstairs library/study where the unlucky one of us who had brought work with her could retire in peace and still feel part of the life of the day. The bedrooms, two of which are en suite, are large and one of them even grand. The fourth bedroom, which would be good for children, is very big, has low ceilings, three beds, and shares a bathroom with bedroom three, though there is also a spare bathroom on the ground floor. The place is so large it takes you a day or two to get used to the geography. The housekeepers, Gilbert and Veronique, who welcomed us on our arrival, came over twice a week to clean the house and look after the pool, but also popped round straight away to answer any queries. They are exceptionally friendly and helpful to guests and the owner keeps a benign eye on things from abroad. We spent a lot of time by the pool, which is very large, very clean and uses salt water, not chlorine, apart from making occasional expeditions to Montauban (lovely square), Albi (huge medieval brick cathedral and wonderful position over the river Tarn), St Antonin Noble Val (tres pittoresque) and the 'most beautiful villages in France' in the locality. There is an excellent baker and patissier in nearby Monclar (closed Monday) and a good Leclerc supermarket in Villemur-sur-Tarn, about 20 minutes' drive away. The local food is very good and the Gaillac wine astonishingly cheap, so we hardly ate out but cooked in the exceptionally well-equipped kitchen. The house is stocked with guide books, maps and advice for tourists. All in all, it is very good value for money. Even more importantly, though, it is magical.