Artist's 3 bedroom family home on edge of peaceful hillside Drome wine village.

Our romantic house is well equipped, comfortable & roomy. Restoration retains rural village character: white walls, wide pine & red tile floors, oak beam ceilings. Roomy farm kitchen. Serious 4 burner butane stove with all utensils. Rustic fireplaces (decorative in season, functional in winter). Our self-catering holiday rental on village edge has a vine shaded breakfast balcony with partial view onto valley of vineyards & apricot orchards. Bath has 2 showers, 2 sinks & reading/waiting room outside. Separate WC. Master bedroom with fireplace (working in winter) & queen-sized bed. Smaller 2nd bedroom has double-sized bed. Additional 3rd bedroom (supplement) is available for large families traveling with children (double sized bed & bunk beds). Cheerful living room off the Master Bedroom is a comfortable place to read / relax. Bike storage in basement, parking just steps away on village square. If we're in town, your first French breakfast (coffee & village bakery croissants) is complimentary. Just let us know. What is Venterol like?: Venterol is a peaceful hillside Cotes-du-Rhone wine village with its own bistro / restaurant on the square, a second smaller restaurant, and an excellent pastry baker offering morning-fresh baked croissants & baguettes. It has arcaded narrow streets, traditional 'lavoirs' for laundry, and a lovely church with an exceptional wrought iron belfry. A vast lavender harvest occurs in mid-July with numerous tiny distilleries perfuming the air. There are sunflower fields and olive, apricot and cherry orchards. Shepherds still watch flocks near hamlets on the mountain roads toward Dieulefit and Comps. Village summer festivities feature fireworks, music, and an August village feast with dancing. Our bistro (indoor and outdoor dining) serves great lunches and evening meals under shady plane trees. Our second restaurant (the former Cafe de La Poste) also provides more intimate outdoor dining on Place Sabarot. Farmers sell goat cheese bedside the Mairie once or twice a week and a A mobile pizza oven positioned across from Le Temple, our municipal art gallery and concert space. Every Thursday will discover one of Provence's liveliest Market Days in Nyons, right next door. Nyons also has many cafes to choose from. Cultural and recreational activities? Nyons (1.7K) has its own Cinema Arlequin, many cafes and restaurants, an outdoor theatre, tennis, supermarkets, banking & services... plus one of Provence's best Market Days. Nyons has a complex Aquatic Park (outdoor Municipal Swim Center) with cafe ...a great place for cool family fun. Another unique public pool is found beneath the Marquise-de-Sevigny's huge Renaissance castle, at Grignan 25 minutes away. Or you can swim and hunt fossils in mountain streams right behind Venterol. There innumberable wine tasting possibilities all around our region. You can bicycle amidst seas of Cotes-du-Rhone vineyards. Or hike and ride horseback along the high altitude mountain trails of the French Resistance. Many excellent museums bejewel nearby villages: museums of the Silk Manufacturing Era, of Olive Oil, of Lavender Distillation, and even of Cardboard Box Manufacturing. There are music, opera & dance spectaculars in Vaison-la-Romaine, Orange, Arles and (a day trip) Nimes. In July, the Avignon Theater Festival offers a vast array of productions. Where is Venterol situated?: Venterol is located near the Rhone, on the southern edge of the Drome Provencale and Vaucluse, in the Region of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes. We are on an interesting climatic divide: To our south, a warm and dry 'Midi' climate extends past Mt. Ventoux, through the Plateau of Vaucluse and the Luberon, to the sea. To our north, reaching up to the high mountains of Vercors, the climate is cooler and vegetation greener. Flocks graze the slopes. Corn grows, sunflower and poppy fields border blazing yellow scotch broom. Venterol is close to the Rhone River and the Gorges of Ardeche (kayaking and limestone cave exploring) to the west. Right next door (8 minutes away) are Valreas and the Knights Templer town of Richerenches, both in the ancient Enclave des Papes. Suze-la-Russe Castle, a must-visit for our rental guests, is home to the renowned International University of Wine. This Renaissance castle is owned by the Dept. of Drome, as is Grignan castle. Multilingual visits to both are possible.