Maison St. Georges / St. Antoine L'Abbaye / Saint Marcellin / Our Gite for Week 2

For our second week in France, we stayed in the beautiful, amazing, medieval city of St. Antoine L'Abbaye. Our gite for the week was Maison St. Georges, an ancient stone building connected to what was once the old hospital where the monks of the abbey treated the poor.

There were many, many bedrooms, three bathrooms, and loads of fireplaces. The house had the unique feel of a very old structure that seems to exist on as many levels are there are rooms. Always stepping up, rounding a corner, twisting through a hallway, and ducking through an entrance, you really feel you're in an old castle, with surprises around every corner. Here are some of our pictures of the interior and exterior of the house:

This is the kids' bedroom, with their own bathroom / shower:



On the third floor was this cool sitting area, as well as two bedrooms and a full bathroom. There was also a patio for hanging clothes to dry and gazing at the scenery:



Here's a picture of the kitchen, looking rather lived in with all our stuff strewn around. The kitchen is on the second floor, definitely a hub of the house:



Definitely one of the kids' favorite rooms, a tiny little bathroom on the first floor that you kind of had to creep up into, almost like a confessional:



The view from the kitchen looking across into our bedroom:



The third floor bathroom, very roomy and luxurious. Old atmosphere, modern conveniences and appliances:



Here's a shot of the living room, and Sadie practicing her violin:



And here's a link to the gite's official site with more pictures.

Entering the city was like stepping back in time. When I envisioned staying in a little French town where we could walk to the grocer, the bakery, the cafes, and the ice cream shop, this is exactly what I had in mind. It was an amazing experience, living here for a week. We met some fantastic people, ate some wonderful food, and in the end felt right at home.

The owner of this gite was fantastic to deal with and the house was beautifully appointed. Everything worked perfectly, and we had no problems with any of the appliances or plumbing or anything. This house has been lovingly, painstakingly maintained and shows the love of its owner and the appreciation of all who stay here.

A few hints for living in St. Antoine L'Abbaye! There is no ATM in the town; you'll need to go to St. Marcellin to take care of banking and procuring cash. The two restaurants in town that we tried were lovely and well worth the price: Auberge L'Abbaye and the hostellier immediately across from the gite. Good food, good service, patience with English speakers, etc. There is a grocery down on the main lower road where you can buy most things -- milk, eggs, produce, etc. It's not open every day though! And the bakery at the end of the road is fantastic.

I highly recommend taking a ramble around the town on your first day -- you'll find little fountains, local artists, donkeys, alleyways and little hidden spots you'll really enjoy. It was a great walking town, and very friendly.

Chantemerle / Fourchette / Amboise: Our Gite for Week 1

The beautiful cottage of Chantemerle is tucked away on a sunny hilltop in one of the loveliest spots in the Loire Valley. At the end of a steep driveway through the woods, the road opens up onto several homes, but the gate straight ahead is Chantemerle. As you drive up past a mini-vineyard and several rustic outbuildings, you can see the vine-covered cottage, and immediately feel like you're in a fairy tale.



Around the left side of the house is a flagstone patio, with a riot of flowers and plants in containers and beds. Here we saw our first lavender plants growing in France, and the kids liked watering the flowers with the giant can by the spigot.



On the other side is an enormous old tree, making a shady spot for outdoor play, reading, or watching the neighboring sheep in their pasture.



Inside the fairy tale feeling continues, with exposed beams and quirky little details throughout.







There's Dan standing beside the barn on his way out for a bike ride to Tours.

Here's a shot of the house and patio:



The house, while quaint, is also huge. There were two master suites -- one upstairs and one downstairs. Both had modern plumbing including a Japanese rain shower and other really lovely fixtures. The third and fourth bedrooms had two small beds each, and there was also a loft area upstairs with more beds. We could have cheerfully slept ten people in the house, without ever crossing paths really -- the layout was very spread out.

The kitchen was large with a big table for eating, and there was a games room with a pool table too. Appliances were functional, although it took us some effort to figure out the French instructions on the washing machine and dish washer, and the stove pilot was troublesome. We ended up being able to light it by dropping a match down a hole, as our hosts instructed us, but there was a fair amount of crawling around in front of it and burning our fingertips with a lighter before this revelation came home to us. This was our first week in France, and I will say that interpreting the writing on appliances did get easier over our month's journey. However, if you're a French company manufacturing a washing machine, maybe you could choose four completely different colors to indicate the positions on the dial, instead of four strikingly similar variations of pumpkin.

The children loved playing in the yard. There were lots of different areas, divided by trees, different plantings, and the driveway and buildings. There were badminton rackets and other outside toys available, and also just lots of room to run around and play.



We appreciated the detailed orientation folder left by the owners, with recommendations for local shops and places to eat. We used both the Intermarche (closed at 7:30) and the MarchePlus in Amboise (open until 9:30) and while we were not finely tuned into different bread and cheese varieties at this point, we found plenty to eat.

At the bottom of the hill, the village of Fourchette is small and quiet, and something we didn't realize at first was that it continues on the other side of the main road. We found, there, a pharmacie that was actually open when we needed it. The ones in Amboise seemed perpetually closed. The area between Fourchette and Amboise, including the nearby Poce-sur-Cisse (the Cisse is a small river, and "sur" means "on", so this means the town is on the river) is very pretty, with wheat fields waving. Hey, if it's good enough for Mick Jagger, it must be pretty good, right?



We recommend Chantemerle for anyone wanting to explore the Touraine region and the Loire valley, whether on a bicycle or by car. The house is big, comfortable, and beautiful. The area is full of interesting things to see and do, and the owners are very friendly and accommodating. A great gite!