Normandie Rentals

The house is a very comfortable family house, suitable for very large families or several families sharing. The house sleeps 12 very comfortably, and has a large enclosed private garden, good for running around and football. There are four bedrooms with twin beds that can be converted into superking size beds if preferred and two other bedrooms, one with a queen size 140cm double bed and the other

with a 160cm double bed. They are hotel quality beds, which are extremely comfortable. The bedrooms are situated on both floors, which allows for some extra privacy. The two downstairs bedrooms both have the twin/superking option, with a bathroom and loo shared between the two rooms. Upstairs are two bathrooms one with bath and loo, and one with a shower and a separate loo. There are also two high chairs, and we can provide potties, a baby bath, extra high chairs etc if needed. The house is also equipped with plastic plates, spoons and knives for children. My own children are 4 & 6, and so there is a good range of toys for the smalls, including a wendy house, and all the necessary buckets, spades and toys for the beach. We also supply all the towels for the beach and house, all linens and a 10kg washing machine and all the cleaning products. Our aim is that you should be able to travel as light as possible. There is a good selection of books and films in the house, both for adults and children, and Sky TV. St Martin is a really fantastic place for children of all ages. There is an amazing range of activities for ages from 3+. At the bottom of the street is the sailing club, which also does sand yachting, kite surfing etc. Next to it is the golf course. In the other direction is the riding school. If you take the coast road to Granville you pass another golf course and the airfield, where the brave can go parachute jumping or take a ULM flight over the bay of Mont St Michel. There are also plenty of interesting and fun days out you can do. We only bought the house in May this year, so as yet we haven't had the chance to do everything, but we all enjoyed the zoo, which is about 25 minutes away at Champrepus. If any of your party wishes to bring dogs, we have two dog kennels and runs, and there are great walks in every direction. Because the house is on the edge of the village it is very quiet, and our neighbour is a spa for horses, where the French International teams come and do their final preparation in July. Every morning from 6am to 9.30am, all summer long, you can go and watch the horses gallop along the beach through the surf. This coast-line has the largest tides in Europe, and when the tides are very high, you can go a couple of kms up the coast and watch the salt marshes flood, which is impressive to see. The sea where we are is relatively shallow, at all but high tide, and you can see the mussel beds rising out of the sea and eat really fresh mussels in the village restaurant. It also means it is a good place to learn to swim and when the tide is out you can stand in the sea and watch the fish swimming round you. Gite Lily and Gite Poppy are two bedroom self catering cottages in a barn conversion. They can be rented separately or together for up to 8 people. They are located 800m from Moyon, a village in the rural Normandy countryside. Available for short breaks or longer rentals (weeks). Prices from 325€/week. Our house and the gîtes are down a track about 80m long, down an alley of trees. There are fields of horses and cows all around. The area is very green. The buildings are made of a local stone, which is almost purple in colour, and completely unique to the area. Being 800m, or half a mile from the village of Moyon, the house is very peaceful. People who come to stay are always surprised by how well they sleep. Our nearest neighbours all have 4 feet. We are surrounded by greenery in every direction, for as far as the eye can see, mostly because the area is dotted with natural springs, and Normandy has a generous amount of rainfall! There are lots of walks around us, and the area has lots of footpaths which are suitable for mountain biking and walking. When we first bought la Réauté our intention was to convert one of the two barns into 2 gîtes. The first one, Gîte Lily was completed in 1996, but for financial reasons the second, Gîte Poppy wasn’t finished until 2006, around the birth of my second daughter. Initially both gîtes were rented out on a permanent basis, but in 2010, we re-renovated both gîtes completely, furnished them and started letting them out as holiday cottages. I hope you’ll feel at home here too. We have put a lot of thought and work into making the gîtes as comfortable as possible, and I hope you will enjoy your stay. We make as much effort as possible to respect the environment, and you should find all the necessary environmentally friendly cleaning products, in the gîte. The region

The house is located near the village of Moyon, which has a good bakery, butchers, post office, hairdressers, 2 bars and a restaurant, which is open for lunch, and a small supermarket. So most of your daily needs can be accommodated without ever having the need to even take your car.

15 minutes away is the larger town of Saint-Lô, where pretty much everything you could need is available. Unfortunately Saint-Lô was 80% destroyed by the Allied bombings in the Second World War, but if you search you will find some beautiful old buildings that survived. Saint-Lô is the administrative head quarters of La Manche, but is still a quiet town. It has a beautiful National Stud, which is open for visits all year round, and daily during the summer. It has also has a selection of museums, but perhaps most importantly of all it has an excellent swimming pool complex, with 5 basins and a gym, sauna and hamam. On Saturday there is an excellent market in the central square in St- Lô, and with persistence you will normally find a parking place in the old town. Heading West from Moyon you will soon come to the West coast of La Manche with its beautiful sandy beaches, and the sea is warmed by the ? current. Granville is the main town along this part of the coast and was the birthplace of Christian Dior, and now houses his museum. Granville is a beautiful town, surrounded by the sea, indeed the British once tried to turn it into an island! It has lots of excellent restaurants and boutique shops. A little further along the West coast is the UNESCO site of Mont Saint Michel. Going North, you travel through the Cotentin, which is a marsh area, often flooded in the winter, and not built on. It is said of this area that when the sea levels rise, the Cotentin will flood permanently and Cherbourg will become an island. In Cherbourg there is the Cité de la Mer, which has one of the French nuclear submarines available to visit and a giant aquarium with huge ray fish that come and stroke you hands when you put them into the basin. My children love this experience (as do I if I am honest). The North coast of La Manche around Cherbourg is certainly worth a visit and is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. You can follow the old Customs Officers path for mile upon mile, which follows the length of the coast. Going East you come to Caen, which is the largest town in the area, and is the administrative head quarters of Calvados. This also has the areas largest shopping centres Mondeville 1 & 2. Going South you drive through another area of astounding natural beauty. I have been know to drive an extra exit on the motorway just to look at the view. South is the town of Villedieu-les-Poeles, know for its copper work and bell making workshops. For those looking for a holiday with a few adventures there are a lot of sporting activities in the area: closest is the riding centre in the village, then canoeing and kayaking on the local river – the Vire, which has rental points in two neighbouring villages. A little further afield is bungy jumping off the Viaduct at Soulevre near Vire. They also have other slightly less terrifying activites which involve being propelled at speed, but not necessarily down! There is also a parachuting centre near Granville where you can jump tandem or learn to jump solo, this gives you views of Mont Saint Michel, without the queues. From the same airfield there are also microlight flights. Facilities in the property

The gîtes, sleep a maximum of 4 adults (or 2 adults + 2 children + 1 baby), and comprise a living room with a sofa, chairs and dining table, a kitchen, a shower room with a washing machine, and upstairs there are two bedrooms. There is a television set with English freeview and French satellite TV. The kitchen has a gas oven, a fridge, a coffee maker, toaster and kettle, pots and pans, crockery and cutlery. We have made it a policy to ensure that the house will be stocked with the following items before your arrival: toilet paper, washing up liquid, tea towels, dustbin liners, all cleaning equipment, and basic kitchen condiments – salt, pepper, sugar, mustard, herbs & spices, etc. Bed linen, bath towels and tea towels are provided. There are games and activities for children, carefully chosen by our own small kids. There are also dozens of books films in English and French. You can read more about the gîtes and see more photos on our website: www.normandierentals.com