Gites Bel Air de Rosette

We expected a 3-star place and got something more like 3-plus. Our family group of 21 stayed for 3 days and never felt crowded in this spacious gîte, both inside and out. It was clean and well cared for, and the two kitchens had everything we needed, including large fridge-freezers and big pots and pans. With plenty of showers and toilets, nobody had to queue. The bedrooms are simply decorated, but the beds are comfortable, and it was easy to choose which rooms to arrange as twins or doubles. We made good use of the table tennis, pétanque, scrabble, and barbecue. Two kitchens and two living rooms let people spread out: some could do homework or read downstairs while others sang upstairs. There were lots of places to eat together, with a long table downstairs, a longer one upstairs, two on the balcony, and two in the garden. The weather was chilly and wet, but the heating worked well. The owner also adjusted the settings in my mum’s room so she wouldn’t be cold while resting during the day. There are walking and running loops a couple of hundred metres away, and garden yoga at sunrise was beautiful. The front gate closes automatically, so we felt safe and the kids could run around the gardens without us worrying. It takes 10-11 minutes to drive to Bergerac for bread, Chinese take-away, or a visit to the old town. The downside is that there’s no wifi. 4G worked quite well, but some of us needed to work remotely and our required software was too slow to access. We’d have found it helpful to rent bedsheets and pillow covers from the owner. Figuring out how many to bring, which sizes, and who would bring them was a headache since many of us were flying or taking the train from far away.