Our Villa Les Pins is a delightful air-conditioned home and garden in a leafy village street.
Revel in country house comforts: lawns, trees and terrace - a true family home - just behind the old village, far from the bustle of other people's summer holidays, yet an easy amble to shops & port.
Home is where the art is - and the spacious gite in this fabulous air-conditioned villa, with its imposing round tower, standing in its large gardens, just behind the old village, is a true family home - a magical moment in time far from the bustle of other people's summer holidays, yet an easy amble to the village shops and the al- fresco dining of the port.
Now - for just a few weeks each summer - our guests may revel in the comforts of a country home with lawns, trees and terrace - and share the experience of Languedoc living at its best.
Most visitors to Marseillan could spend weeks without ever discovering this charming sleepy tree-lined avenue hidden behind the old town. But unlock the gate, step up to the front door and taste the country in Marseillan Village. Take a few steps down to the quiet room, the den where you may sit with a good book, a glass of wine and your own private thoughts.
Or climb upstairs to the main living area on the first floor.
The salon-sejour is a cluster of comfortable chairs and sofas around the fire place and dining corner by the window. Here is where you'll find the main TV for quiet evenings in.
This is the year-round home of a local artist. So you will discover original hand-crafted lamps on every side table, curios and family mementos on the shelves, a spacious family room for quiet nights in.
At one end of the room is the main dining table, in front of the sliding glass doors leading out to the terrace and the colourful summer dining area looking up an the age old pine trees and down at the garden.
The south-facing terrace has its stone barbecue for grilling the catch of the day that you bought that morning from the village fishermen, or those prime steaks selected for you by Monsieur Valette, the butcher, at his shop next to the church. Or perhaps some special cuts from the pork butcher who visits Marseillan every Tuesday morning and has quite a queue for his stall on market day.
Hunt out sarments des vignes (twigs from the local vines) to add a special je ne sais pas to your outdoor grills.
Another door from the terrace takes you into the kitchen - a large family affair with its dresser, long worktops and the kitchen table for a quiet tete a tete whilst the rest of the family is sunning itself outside.
The recently redesigned kitchen has plenty of space for preparing the meals, and is amazingly well equipped cupboards and draws with all the pots, pans and utensils for making that memorable meal, on the ceramic hob, and there is a dishwasher to take care of things after dinner. There is even a second TV in the kitchen/breakfast area for welcome distraction when chopping those sweet Lezignan onions and Marseillan market garden courgettes, aubergines tomatoes from the vilage farm stall along the route des Plages.
The same stall sells fresh melons as sweet and heady as muscat wines, grown in the fields around Marseillan. And if you are baking a tart, there are figs in summer and medlars in autumn, all ripe for the scrumping downstairs in the gardens.
Three bedrooms:
The yellow room, a bright and airy space, with its twin aspect windows looking out to the gardens, has a comfortable double bed;
As does the blue room, with its stylish distressed paintwork and its quaint lamps on the bedside tables. There is a versatile third bedroom along the corridor, which is ideal for children,and has a convertable sofa bed, should you prefer to use the space as an extra den or private hideaway.
A nice big bathroom with a bathtub, shower and double basins, and there is a separate shower room along the passageway. There is an extra wc too. So no early squabbles before the first fresh coffee of the morning.
Downstairs, you will find a washing machine and drier - although there is a large area at the side of the house for drying your clothes in the summer breezes that rustle through the branches of the bay tree by the parking area in the drive (with room for 4 cars), the swaying palms in the front garden, the bamboo and those tall spreading pine trees that shade the lawn from the heat of the noonday sun.
Yes, the garden - plenty of space for the youngsters to let off steam (they'll enjoy the slide, whilst the grown ups savour the illicit treat of windfall forbidden fruit from the fig tree that lends its name to the family's annexe appartment on the ground floor.
Prices quoted do not include linens - available at a modest charge.
Enjoy our diary of events in and around Marseillan and the region during your stay, with tips on nearby markets and festivals and updates on the best restaurants in the village and port.
Ask for information on sight-seeing, itineraries, wine tasting, dining further afield and other trips, from visiting a goat farm to taste delicious cheeses to catching the local overnight ferry to Palma and the Balaerics!
We can also advise on cycle hire (subject to availablity and a locally paid deposit).And we know the places where the locals go to eat and relax, away from the tourist spots by the plages.
Weekly bookings Saturday 5pm - Saturday 10am.
