Dear Ann,

We tore ourselves away from your gorgeous house on Saturday and are back full of happy memories.
We wanted to thank you very much for making the rental so painless, for making us terribly welcome and for your kind gift of wine on arrival. We really did appreciate it! We like the way you have done the house, simply yet so comfortably, and can quite see how you must love it. We'll certainly be recommending it to friends!

Francoise did indeed come mid week and whizzed around, Fritz was terribly helpful when call upon to replace the filter net (I sewed the old one in the meantime!) - it was great to know they were nearby.

Your top 20 recommendations were a great boon; we did as much as we could while still enjoying the pool and the ping pong table!

If you want any detailed feedback we'd be happy to give it but suffice to say that we had a fabulous week at La Patge. Infact, we would like to consider the possibility of a 2-week rental next summer and wondered if you have any spaces for us to think about.

Best Wishes

We hope you are both keeping well.

Unfortunately we are having to send a retrospective letter to tell you how much we enjoyed our stay at “le Patge”. We would obviously have preferred to have written our feedback in your visitors book, but the culmination of enjoying our stay up to the last minute and a very early morning flight meant that we forgot, sorry.

Our stay was absolutely fantastic. Everyone enjoyed it and wished we had booked for longer. We crammed so much into the week it is difficult to know where to start. The list of 20 things you liked to do was a very useful guide and I think in total we took your advise on 7 or 8 of them, believe it or not we still managed to completely relax in the solitude of the area and enjoy the house and especially the pool.

I am extremely envious of you and your family as the house is stunning. I would guess that there was a fair amount of work to the actual house and clearly you have built the pool area and games room and what a great job you have done. It is finished superbly you must be very pleased with the finished result.

Our stay was accompanied by some mixed weather but that worked really well as it meant we could relax by the pool for a few days to unwind and then when the weather deteriorated slightly we could spend some time exploring.

Things we did:

• Vere Gresigne Lake – We spent an afternoon at the lake. The kids really enjoyed it. We hired Canoe’s and pedaloes, splashed around in the lake and played mini-golf. It was a lovely afternoon and was a nice change of scenery.

• Market at Castlenau-de-montmiral – We spent a morning at the market which was great fun sampling all the local produce. Of particular note was the cheese stall, with some exquisite cheeses to try and buy (we apologise if they stunk the house out!) My wife enjoyed the Creperie more and wants me to highlight it as a recommendation from her. We then went into Gaillac and had a wander and some lunch.

• Wine Tasting – On the way back from Gaillac we stopped at a few vineyards. The owners were very welcoming and it has to be said tolerant of our broken French! It was good fun and while it may seem strange at first as the wine flowed we really got into the swing. I was glad I wasn’t driving.

• Visit to Albi – This was a beautiful town. We visited the church and had a trip along the river, although if I am honest I wouldn’t really recommend the boat trip, there was not really much to see that you couldn’t see from the river bank.

• Puycelsi – We visited this bastide early one evening sat in “le Petit Creaux bar” and watched the world go by, before having a fantastic meal in the hotel restaurant (sorry can’t remember the name but I’m sure you know it). I would highly recommend the Seafood platter that the chef prepared and the homemade pizzas she made for the kids went down a storm.

• Cordes sur Ciel – The short drive through the countryside to this bastide village was lovely. The train up was good fun for the kids and was a relief that I didn’t need to push my daughter up the hill! It is a lovely arts and crafts village and we relaxed with a glass of wine and enjoyed some of the street entertainment and shopping.

• Restaurant at Castlenau-de-montmiral – We had a really nice meal at the hotel in the square, it was extremely good value and very good food.

As you can see we weren’t the most energetic of visitors. Most of our visit centred around relaxing, food and wine. We really couldn’t complain about anything. There were a few things that we feel we should point out for no other reason other than for constructive feedback (hopefully).
Probably a bad idea to have lavender around the eating area by the pool. We were continually being attacked by bees and wasps (I think Lavender attracts them?)
We felt a fridge for drinks by the pool would be a good addition. Partly down to laziness but more importantly keeping wet feet out of the house

Over all we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I have been recommending it to friends and I have no doubt that we will be visiting again.

Thank you

"A very enjoyable stay.I love the house.So much do in the area,can't wait to come back again"