House with garden

My wife and I spent hours looking for a property for a month’s holiday from the UK in August. We wanted somewhere reasonably near Bern, self-contained and preferably detached, just for the two of us. Most detached properties in Switzerland are, it seems, chalets big enough for large families. In terms of its suitability for us as a couple this was a gem and almost unique! The listed description of this property is accurate. The house is of a modern timber framed structure, sympathetically furnished. It was certainly clean and everything that we needed worked. Anne and Brecht met us upon our arrival and explained everything. As a couple we found them personable and enthusiastic and, importantly, from this first meeting, we had the security of believing that if anything went wrong, either personally or with the property they would be more than willing to help.

It's on the edge of a cluster of delightful villages in the wine producing and agricultural area of Mont Vully. The neighbourhood is very quiet and Chemin de Cible is bordered on one side by open fields. There are several restaurants in the area though a car is still essential to reach them. We liked the Bel-Air (it's best to telephone for a reservation) which also has a delightful café with tables between flower beds and trees right on the edge of Lake Murten. If you drive a short distance along the Route du Lac towards the top of the lake you pass a small supermarket and a Boulangerie selling amazing bread. Most shops close on Sunday but the Boulangerie is open as is also a Spar food shop attached to the petrol station near the roundabout at Sugiez. There's a large Migros supermarket on the approach to Murten.

We had purchased a Swiss Rail Pass and Anne advised that Ins mainline station would be preferably to Murten station. She was quite right; Ins is about 15 minutes away with easy parking. Certainly rail is the way to explore Switzerland but local trips by car well worth doing would include Murten (plenty of restaurants), Biel (Saturday's are a good choice for the market). Friboug is steep for walking but has lots of history including the only waste water funicular in the world. It also has a great Starbucks coffee house if you are into UK style coffee culture! Neuchatel is very French and well worth a visit as is the watch museum at La Chaux de Fonds. As an alternative to the train there's a paddle steamer that cruises the three lakes (Murten, Neuchatel and Biel) through their interconnecting