Alas, I am starting this review with an apology, because this place more positive adjectives than my small mind can come up with. I am not a sycophant and struggle to get excited or inspired by very much - BUT, if you are looking for the most peaceful, tranquil, natural, original, clean, welcoming, home from home feel to your stay in the Dordogne, then this place oozes all of that and more. As soon as we came off the 'main' road and headed up the road through the woods, and through wild flower meadows we knew we were in for something quite special. But, neither my wife, me or my children quite realised how special our stay for the week was going to be.
We have been to France on multiple times before, and we are quite pedantic over what we are looking for in a property. It has to be clean, it has to feel comfortable, well decorated, it has to have modern amenities whilst all balanced against the charm of a traditional French farmhouse. This place has that and spades more. We immediately felt relaxed, comfortable, dashed around the house mouths wide open utterly blown away by Gaurenne. The front room is so comfortable to relax in - great lighting, huge dining room table, lots of games for the days when you just cant be bothered to explore and would rather chill. And to be honest, this place was so comfortable, we probably did not explore the area as much as we could.
The gardens, the flowers, the birds, the deer and wild boar (yes, they were in the meadow one night just as the sun was setting but no picture unfortunately), sincerely this place is simply stunning.
Do not be put off by the pool not being heated, granted we had reservations particularly because the weather was not at its warmest whilst we were there, but the pool was up at 25c most days and whilst there is an initial chill when you get in, the temperature was perfect for us and our children. Its a really decent sized pool.
I should write more about the area - Sarlat great city, very pretty, lots of history. Monkey Forest superb for a day out as is canoeing down the Dordogne. We saw loads, but our holiday was not made by the seeing new places, it was made by knowing when we were out, we had the most amazing home to go back to. Thank you Judith we will be back