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.