Domaine de Poulaines

The gite itself was very good, but the arrangements made the stay frustrating. The host sent a lot of emails and phone messages about little details, the kind of holiday admin I wanted to get away from. Everything seemed to revolve around the contract, even our ETA at the gite. Also, if you're visiting from outside France, be aware that the deposit has to be in cash. For our two nights, that meant 500 euros, and this only became clear after we'd paid. Non-French guests can't use credit cards.

Beautiful.

We found the entrance gate promising, but further inside it was clear how much work the Poulaines estate needs, especially with so few staff on site. It's hard to keep a property like this maintained, so we didn't feel the entrance fee was justified. The brochures had led us to expect something remarkable. Then at 5:35 pm, although the garden was meant to stay open until 6 pm, the gate was locked and nobody was there to let us through. Fortunately, we managed to open the large gate and get out. Unacceptable.

We visited Domaine Poulaines on its last open day in September. It's definitely a garden with a lot of potential, and a lovely place to go if you enjoy photographing flowers and nature.