Gorgeous house with pool, beautiful grounds, in a village with bar and baker

Pool was the perfect size, accomodation was spacious and located near to places we wanted to visit. The decor and outside spaces were a little tired in places and ready for a freshen up - however, I would say this was reflected in the hire cost. Overall, we had a great stay :)

The house and location were ideal as we had small children and at times group get togethers with family in the area. On the plus side, both the interior and the outdoor areas are spacious, with lots of different places to be. The house was very clean, the bedding was good, and in addition to a downstairs WC, the two upstairs bathrooms were great, one with a tub and the other had a fantastic shower. Given that we were often 8 or more for meals, we were pleased to have quite a lot of dishware, seating, etc. which is not always the case with rentals. The caretakers were extremely nice and responsive and immediately replaced both a coffee machine and toaster that fizzled out during our stay. On the downside, the bakery and grocer in Migron appear to be permanently closed, so the only open shop is a butcher. Migron is really, really tiny so any shopping or errands requires a car. We did, however, enjoy the pizza van on Wednesdays which comes to the local church. A couple of details about the pool: it's all one depth, probably 4 - 5 ft deep, and surrounded by safety gates. And while the house was definitely clean, I would call it "charming" rather than "gorgeous" compared to other properties I've seen in the area as aspects of it are a bit run down. That worked out for us since we had 2 small kids and so didn't have to worry about them wrecking things! All in all, we had a great stay.

Very restful holiday. Visits to West coast resorts and towns. Very easy to get around as it is close to all major routes. The property manager was excellent and was there for us should we have needed anything.

Une grande maison de bourg confortable dans un environnement calme. Un jardin et une.piscine, un endroit idéal en été !

We were very pleased with the space in the house. The house could have had more equipment such as a salad spinner, flutes, garlic press, items you might expect to be in a French property. We did buy these items and left them at the house for others to use. We did have problems with the swimming pool half way through our second week which could not be solved and the pool was too uninviting for the adults to use. Our dishwasher went wrong very early on which was replaced immediately. Bernal was always very good at trying to solve probelms.

Thouvenin was perfect for us (2 families) staying for 2 weeks. The owner provided an immense amount of helpful and useful information. Very much appreciated. The property is really large with a very big/lovely open dining space that overlooks the pool. The formal dining room is very big but we only used it once when the weather wasn’t warm enough to eat outside. The kitchen is well stocked and the washing machine and dishwasher are a great asset! The lounge is a great place to escape from the heat also. The bedrooms are sizeable with 2 having super king size beds and 2 with bunks (single on top and double on bottom). We took our own pillows as we are never sure if we end up with square pillows on French properties. As it turns out they had regular pillows! The pool was a great size. When we arrived the weather hadn’t been great the week before so the pool was cold. Only the kids braved it. But then over the week it warmed up just right. Make sure the cover goes on overnight and off again in the morning to benefit from the sun warming in the day. We used the bar area frequently and used the fridge/freezer as our drinks fridge as the fridge in the kitchen is a standard fridge freezer which wouldn’t accommodate all our food and drinks. The one thing to be mindful of is that despite it having Wi-fi the internet into the house is pretty bad. We weren’t able to connect most of the time and trying to do something like download emails was nigh on impossible. It’s a function of rural France unfortunately, thankfully we had good data on our euro roaming so make sure you’re well stocked on data allowances. If you want to keep the house cool the trick, as we discovered, is to open the windows first thing then shut the windows and shutters from about 11am then reopen them all again once the sun has set and let the air flow around the house. Migron is a tiny village in the middle of vineyards a plenty. It’s really beautiful. There is a small museum down the road which you can visit and taste their own cognac. Another thing to bear in mind is that in August the Charentes area seems to go on holiday. So the shop in the village never opened, although the butcher and Boulanger did open for limited hours for most of the week, don’t expect to find anything open past 12 on Sundays! Be prepared to drive to cognac or Saintes for supermarkets and not on Sunday afternoon! A great array of markets to choose from in the area. All in all a lovely stay.

We had a lovely stay in Migron. The house is lovely. We found it spacious, clean and comfortable. Downstairs there is a well equipped kitchen with everything you need, a comfortable living room, a rather grand dining room and a small toilet. Downstairs was comfortably cool after coming in from the heat. Upstairs the bedrooms were comfortable and clean. The two bathrooms meant no queues for the shower. Outside, the garden is beautifully kept, with a variety of areas to sit. The canopy at the back gives shelter from the sun for the outside table and chairs and the barbeque and the table tennis table, There is a bistro table and chairs at the back door and also at a terrace at the pool. We loved the pool. It's a good size and well maintained. The mezzanine bar area is a fun addition to the house. It feels like you are in an old French movie! Migron is very quiet. The local boulanger has the freshest bread and pastries, but you need to get there early. There is also a local butcher close to the house with a good selection of meat. The local supermarket didn't open during our stay, but we used the small supermarket in nearby Burie, Between days at the pool we visited the surrounding area including Cognac, Bordeaux, Royan and La Rochelle. The property owner and managers were very helpful and gave us lots of information and recommendations for the local area.

We had a lovely stay in Migron. The house is lovely. We found it spacious, clean and comfortable. Downstairs there is a well equipped kitchen with everything you need, a comfortable living room, a rather grand dining room and a small toilet. Downstairs was comfortably cool after coming in from the heat. Upstairs the bedrooms were comfortable and clean. The two bathrooms meant no queues for the shower. Outside, the garden is beautifully kept, with a variety of areas to sit. The canopy at the back gives shelter from the sun for the outside table and chairs and the barbeque and the table tennis table, There is a bistro table and chairs at the back door and also at a terrace at the pool. We loved the pool. It's a good size and well maintained. The mezzanine bar area is a fun addition to the house. It feels like you are in an old French movie! Migron is very quiet. The local boulanger has the freshest bread and pastries, but you need to get there early. There is also a local butcher close to the house with a good selection of meat. The local supermarket didn't open during our stay, but we used the small supermarket in nearby Burie, Between days at the pool we visited the surrounding area including Cognac, Bordeaux, Royan and La Rochelle. The property owner and managers were very helpful and gave us lots of information and recommendations for the local area.

We originally booked the bigger half of the property (Thouvenin) to allow for a family break for 7 adults. However, it transpired that we ended up with only three. Plenty of room for us! The bedrooms are an excellent size and the 'main' bedrooms have large double beds and plenty of space. These are located at each end of the property. In between these two rooms are two further bedrooms which contain bunk beds- a double below and a single above in each room. Again the room sizes are very good. There is a family bathroom at one end of the house on the upper floor and a new shower room at the other end. All clean and well maintained. Downstairs is incredibly spacious, the kitchen is well equipped, the living room very large with two '3' seat sofas ( brand new) and several chairs plus a small table and a two dining chairs. Across from the living room is a wonderful dining room with decorative fireplace- it would have been great to sit around with the whole party- a little lost on just three of us but we still made use of it. The house was heated and was comfortable, the upstairs shower room has no heating but there is a stand alone radiator that can be used- not a problem in summer I'm sure- we were there for New Year so a little chilly. Outside has the seating areas, pool and petanque court but given the time of year we didn't make use and so can't comment. The village has a few shops, a butcher, baker and minimart but we didn't use these due to the opening hours during the holiday period. However, there are good supermarkets only a short drive in either direction (10 mins tops) in Martha or Burie. These catered for our needs very well. We did the run to Bordeaux airport twice and it is about 1 hour 20 mins or so each way. Again the time of year may have an impact. Antony provided fantastic amounts of information about the property and area plus all info on the local towns, markets, sightseeing etc etc. This has been the best communication we have had from an owner so thank you. We took the ferry to Calais and drove down- probably a little to far for one day in winter- it took about 7 1/2 hours. Consequently we left a day early to give ourselves a break of journey and an overnight stop to break it up. Summer may well be a better time to do it. However, the welcome pack was most gratefully received!! A nice touch indeed. We would certainly return if we were staying in this area again. Overall a quiet and relaxing winter break.

I will start by saying that although there were only 6 of us staying there, Antony, the owner opened up the additional cottage next door as it was vacant for the week which allowed us even more space at no extra cost. This was thoroughly decent of him and indicates we were renting from someone who was genuinely keen on us having a good time. All that said there was more than adequate space in the main gite. We have stayed in numerous gites with Owners Direct in France, and whilst some have been finished to a higher standard, none have represented better value for money. For what we paid it was excellent. We wanted something for our grown up family with a pool at a reasonable price and this one fitted the bill perfectly. Great level of kit in the property, kitchen utensils, towels, seats, loungers, games, books, outside eating area, BBQ etc and the table tennis went down a treat. Also enjoyed an evening in the elevated bar where we kept dry, enjoyed a drink but were immersed in a late summer storm - spectacular. This is also a great area of France where a day out and evening meal in La Rochelle is a must - in our opinion you need a car at this location. Cognac is also great, with various tours available of the local Chateaux de Cognac distilleries. Julie lives in the village and was on hand to deal with any questions etc - she was also able to give advice on where to visit (useful to have a local contact where the language is not a barrier). Antony also reimbursed our security payment within 2 weeks without the need to be prompted which is not always the case. Overall we had a great time and would absolutely recommend this property as superb value for money - thankyou Antony!