Mr B. Danson: Superb garden with shaded areas and beautiful trees. Villa always cool despite high outdoor temperature. Very homely feel to accommodation. Thank you very much indeed for a wonderful holiday at Belle Combe. We enjoyed excellent weather and simply loved the villa and garden.
Mrs C. Lidchi: We had such a lovely time.
Mrs P. Collins: The house is really lovely and it has been furnished and refurbished beautifully. It was an enormous pleasure.
Mr Michael Chalfen: Excellent.
Mrs E. H. Macmillan: Very good standard.
Dr F. H. O'Driscoll: The house at Moncaut is delightfully situated in the French countryside and a great place for a family gathering. You are in the real France away from the crowds. A great place to relax.
Mr Bryn Frank (editor of the Good Holiday Cottage Guide): We were delighted by the substantial, traditional 19th century 'Maison de Maître'. It's a real family house which is used from time to time by the owners themselves and therefore functions properly: there's plenty of heating, instant hot water, a well-equipped kitchen, a big outdoor pool - with shade - kept in tip-top condition by the efficient caretaker. He also looks after six acres of grounds, within which there are separate sitting-out areas: we loved our al fresco meals on the shaded paved terrace outside the ktichen. The main, first floor bedrooms are spacious, even elegant. And the hall and the staircase are a joy. Though the surrounding scenery is not dramatic, it's pleasant, and we were deeply impressed by the virtually traffic-free roads. The country town of Nérac, fifteen minutes away by car, is a charmer, with lots of cafés and restaurants, plus boat trips and a preserved-railway jaunt.
Mrs Bernadette Stott: It was a beautiful villa with big rooms and comfortable furnishings.
Mr Henri Bretaudeau: Bellecombe is a wonderful property with a lot of character, an attractive decor and much comfort.
Mr Iain Hill-Trevor: Perfect accomodation for our family groups with small children, comfortable but not too precious furniture etc. Pool was a little separate from the house which was ideal. Lots of kids toys, etc, provided. Very helpful caretaking couple, house very clean and well presented. Basic supplies in fridge wonderful
Mr Amarjit Bdesha: A very comfortable, spacious house which felt like a home as we gather it is still sometimes used by the owners. Everything well planned including planting around the house.
An article by our client Pasternak who stayed at Bellecombe in August 2006
IT WAS A VERY BAD START
It was a very bad start. The deviation from the autoroute caused by what must have been a very serious accident had driven us into uncharted territory, certainly as far as the mapreader was concerned. The small town of Nérac suddenly appeared before us in all its splendour – a welcome apparition. From there it was a doddle to find Bellecombe and we easily spotted the impressive row of poplars lining the driveway; the house sign by the road faces the other way, presumably directed at arrivals from the more sophisticated town of Agen. Up the drive and what do we find, an ivy-clad house for sure but definitely not the one we thought we’d booked with Dominique’s Villas! Further inspection of the unexpectedly large grounds revealed the main house (the first one houses the table tennis and other games) tucked away amongst a great variety of mature trees.
We had advised the caretaker of our late arrival and he had kindly left the keys under the doormat, as well as a welcome surprise of milk, butter, bread and eggs, ideal for Sunday breakfast, and more importantly cold beers and wine. Since I was little I’ve always loved reaching a new destination at night with the excitement of discovering the place in the morning. I wasn’t disappointed. The next morning was glorious…
We had decided to spend a week at Bellecombe and then a week in
a hotel by the sea near La Rochelle to give our grandchildren a taste of all sorts of watersports. In fact it would have been far more relaxing to just spend two weeks at Bellecombe – the children loved the pool so much – it had a large shallow end ideal for little ones afraid to venture deeper than up to their waist. And we loved the fact that it was away from the house and fenced-off. So the children spent most of the day playing by the pool, exploring the grounds and collecting insects, and in the evenings, as the countryside fell silent, they waited for the toads to gather by the side of the house. There were hedgehogs and red squirrels too, and even deer if you woke up early enough.
The adults indulged in cooking in the evenings – there were so many cook books to choose from (and far too many cooks), and everything you needed in the kitchen, from a purée maker to a fish steamer. The market at Nérac had great produce but the local supermarket in Roquefort had fantastic meat and fish, inconceivable in the UK. We’d planned so many outings to the local villages and vineyards, and ended up doing far too little – it was just too tempting to spend the hot afternoons reading under the trees. It was really a charming place full of paintings and large colourful butterflies decorating the stairwell, very comfortable too, with two sitting rooms – it was just so relaxing, a proper holiday.
An article by our client Mr Danson who stayed at Bellecombe in May 2004
MAGICAL MONCAUT - THE LOT-ET-GARONNE IN MAY
“Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star, How I Wonder What You Are”, the softly sung words of our five year old granddaughter Katie drifted into our bedroom stirring us from slumber. Katie had risen earlier than the rest of our family; she was so excited about visiting France for the first time. Her happy singing suggested to us that she had ventured downstairs to discover her new surroundings. She had spoken excitedly of her eagerness to explore her “new house” from the moment she knew that she was to accompany us on holiday. The words of her favourite song were pure joy to listen to and a poignant reminder of the day she had resolutely refused to leave her maternal grandfather’s commemorative plaque until she had sung them especially for him. We lay listening to her gentle singing which did nothing to disturb the early morning serenity of the villa. It was the most perfect introduction to our newly discovered holiday location in the Lot-et-Garonne. Romanticism engendered by the beautifully produced brochure from Dominique’s Villas had suddenly become reality and we knew that the ensuing days were going to be something really special. Our bedroom window was slightly open and a warm gentle breeze stirred the net curtains. Innumerable crickets had ceased their nightly cacophony of chirping and the rich scent of a gardenia bush wafted into our room. A multitude of birds were still competing for a place in the dawn chorus, their cheerful twittering forming a fitting backdrop to the happy little vocalist downstairs.
Unwittingly, Katie had earlier spread her unique magic over our holiday. Her expectations had been steadily building as we completed the final leg of the journey, then as we rounded the last bend and caught sight of the villa she could no longer contain her excitement and let out a string of joyous little squeals that were music to the ear. We were so glad that she had opted to travel the final leg of the journey in our car rather than her parents’ and felt very privileged to have shared that special moment with her. With arms outstretched she ran to greet us as we entered the kitchen to prepare breakfast, “I love it here Nana” she shouted excitedly. Her youthful enthusiasm and simplistic love of life continued throughout our stay at Belle Combe making it a never to be forgotten holiday.
