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Le Manoir de la Baronie
DL112
Sleeps 20
Sourzac
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Mr J. Nolan: The owner was friendly, discreet and efficient.
Mrs L. Wurfbain: We had a great holiday, much enjoyed by all of us from England, Holland, USA. The owner was very friendly and easy. Thank you!
Mrs A. Palm: Eric (the owner) was truly exceptional. He was kind, generous, helpful and very attentive. He was a magnificent cook. We will all miss him. The property was much better than we thought. It is wonderfully outfitted for children. There are endless amounts of activities and games in the house for kids.
Mrs V. Cook: The cleaner was excellent - very helpful and coped with us all and the children.
Mr David Rogers: The fact that the proprietor was on site made a difference - their vested interest in customer satisfaction came across.
Mrs S. West: We found everything about the villa and garden wonderful for all ages, and had a marvellous time.
Mrs Susan John: Beautiful property. Ideal for a family get together.
Mrs Rhoda M Walker: The olde-worlde atmosphere of the house, combined with excellent modern facilities made this an ideal holiday. There were lots of activities provided for on site to entertain 8 energetic grandchildren, yet those of us who wanted a quiet moment would always find a secluded corner in the extensive grounds.
An article by our clients Nicholas Rhea who stayed at Le Manoir de la Baronie in August 2007
TO THE MANOIR BORN
The children couldn’t believe it. Here was a real castle with huge fireplaces, massive beams, thick walls and bags of places to explore or hide - and they were going to live in it for two whole weeks! Their excitement was palpable.
From the moment of arrival, they galloped around this magnificent French manor, exploring its seemingly endless rooms, c e l l a r s
and passages. They claimed t h e i r b e d r o o m s , admired the views of the expansive grounds, ran down to the swimming pool, tennis court and swings and then wondered where granny and grandad - my wife and I - were going to sleep (we bagged a four-poster bed in a quiet en suite room). And who was going to occupy the extra house near the pool? And when could they use the barbecue? Or the jacuzzi? How do you play pool and would grandad like the mini-bar?
There were so many questions to be asked and decisions to be made but it was all sorted out amicably and so the sixteen of us settled into Le Manoir de la Baronie for our first night. With eight children whose ages ranged from three to thirteen this wonderful old house relished the opportunity to show us how easily it could cope with everybody.
Furnished with atmospheric French antiques among tapestries hanging from mighty walls and with leather-bound books in many
rooms, Le M a n o i r managed to boast a wellequipped upto- date kitchen and modern TV sets in the lounge and bedrooms. We wanted for nothing. In fact, it’s fair to say none of us really wanted to leave the house to explore the neighbourhood. Le Manoir boasted sufficient space with a choice of activities that would keep us all happy and busy.
We ate on the covered terrace around a table large enough to accommodate everyone - and we sat down together for meals. The owner of Le Manoir, an accomplished chef called Eric, prepared a couple of special meals, one being a birthday celebration for twelve-year old Anna and the other a belated birthday treat for Granny. Add two sons-in-law whose remarkable form of relaxation was to cook meals for sixteen and there’s little wonder we did not want to leave in search of restaurants and cafés.
But of course we did explore. There is so much of interest throughout the Dordogne - the delightful medieval towns of Bergerac and Perigueux are within half an hour’s drive on quiet roads that present no problems for English drivers. I went to St Emilion, famous for its wine, whilst the children explored the Rouffignac Cave with its six miles of tunnels containing drawings more than 13,000 years old - including some mammoths.
But the star of our visit was undoubtedly Le Manoir. Surrounded by woods full of green woodpeckers constantly calling, with black-tailed red squirrels gambolling around the grounds and running across the table tennis table, lizards sunning themselves near the swimming pool and buzzards mewing and soaring above the grounds, it was like the Garden of Eden.
A beautiful and unforgettable holiday. Nicholas Rhea is author of 130 books including the Constable series upon which Heartbeat is based. His website is www.nicholasrhea.co.uk
An article by our client Mr Anthony West who stayed at Le Manoir de la Baronie in August 2006
AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE BOUT OF GENEROSITY
The prospect of finding suitable accommodation in August for Granny and Grandpa (celebrating 40 years of marriage and an incomprehensible bout of generosity) together with three sons, three daughters-in-law and eight grandchildren (aged 8 years to 9 months) seemed an impossible task, until Granny discovered Dominique’s Villas. A browse through the brochure eliminated any property ‘furnished with antique heirlooms’, since eight grandchildren would have made light work of them!
Granny then alighted on La Baronie, near Mussidan and very sensibly took Grandpa on an ‘away day’ recce in the previous November, to discover a near perfect property for all the family’s needs: an acre of secure garden, swimming pool, tennis court, swings, outside ping pong, inside games room, a bathroom per family and enough beds for everyone! Added to this the most wonderful and enormous round bath, which enabled all grandchildren to ‘cleanse’ together.
The catering arrangements were shared between families (on a whole day each basis) with one meal out at a delightful restaurant 5 minutes’ drive away and two excellent meals cooked by Eric, our host, owner and proprietor of La Baronie. With Mussidan (two supermarkets, two ‘caves du vin’ and plenty of boulangeries and charcuteries) only five minutes drive, the early morning run for baguettes and other provisions was very easy.
The weather was hot and sunny (with only a little rain during our week, except for the morning of the last day, which was very wet). The grandchildren (whom Granny and Grandpa had expected to have to entertain) were so busy enjoying the swimming pool, garden and other facilities that our week sped by all too quickly.
Granny and Grandpa had driven from England, whilst the families had flown either to Bergerac (40 minutes) or Bordeaux (60 minutes) and hired cars. While at La Baronie, we paid family visits to Bergerac, Périgueux (for market day on a Thursday) and a wine estate at Créon (60 minutes away). At the wine estate, the owner very sensibly took us all around the vines, explaining the different soil qualities and grape varieties, whilst the eight grandchildren could do very little damage. The tour ended with a wine tasting at the château, where the owner’s children had a host of activity toys so enabling the adults to concentrate on the matters in hand! It was a wonderful holiday, in superb accommodation, and one that we shall all remember for many years to come.
Please note that the comments given above were taken from letters and holiday questionnaires from our clients over the years. We cannot accept responsibility for any misleading information but the comments are given by us in good faith.
We have not always been able to obtain written comments from clients so the number of comments does not necessarily reflect the quality of the villa.
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