Seillans holiday cottage: Seillans

We have been renting properties in France for a couple of years, mostly in the somewhat cheaper region of the Dordogne. But since we didn't get the amount of sunshine we expected for two years in a row, even in the middle of the summer, we decided to head for the Cote d'Azur. Rightly so - we had two weeks of brilliant weather, and the Bergerie at Seillans proved to be a real gem.
The Bergerie is located on a hill, surrounded by terraced gardens. There are only a couple of villas nearby, so there is hardly any traffic and only the occasional sound of a splash in a distant swimming pool. The view of the surrounding hills and the mountain range near the coast is magnificent, at night the lights of Fayence twinkle in the distance...
One of the great pleasures of holidays is food. Since we have two small children, we like to do most of the cooking ourselves. Therefore we were very pleased with the excellent equipment and the shaded terrace in the front of the house (for breakfast) and patio near the swimming pool (for lunch and dinner).
The pool and surrounding garden are so nice it's actually difficult to draw yourself away from them to go on trips. But of course, there's so much to see it would be foolish not to go out and at least drive along the Grande Corniche; take the ferry from Saint Maxim to Saint Tropez; visit the spectacular Gorges du Verdon.
The property is very well maintained, with a pool man, cleaner and gardener appearing regularly. The next-door neighbor takes care of keys etc. We only had a small problem with the hot water boiler (actually my youngest son managed to turn it off someway) - which was instantly solved by a friend of the owner.
The only minor thing I should mention is pool safety - the pool is not visible from the downstairs part of the villa, so you really have to keep an eye on your children all the time!
All in all, this place has everything we were looking for, and we definitely want to go back there in the future.

The Bastide is a lovely stone Mas in a wonderful position on a hillside overlooking Seillans and the surrounding area. However, although secluded, it is not totally private as advertised. There is an elevated and frequently used vehicle track which runs alongside the grounds of the property allowing views over the Mas, patio and pool. This gave some cause for concern regarding security as youths on mopeds stopped there.

The equipment in the villa is basic and in need of updating. Although not essential, a microwave would have alleviated the problems encountered with the aging and poorly maintained cooker. We had stressed to the owner, the importance of english speaking satellite TV being available. He reassured us that of the 500 satellite TV channels, 25% were english speaking; there were in fact 3 english news channels - the remainder being German and French.

Considering the weekly rental costs, the property is not ideal for the British Client. The information pack provided was extremely limited, tatty and not in english. We had no idea of local events or markets etc. On our arrival we were simply handed the keys and left to it (the first task being to make the bed). Customer service is poor; when assistance was required it all became very difficult.

Ein wunderschönes Haus in einer phantastischen Landschaft, das Internetangebot hat nicht zu viel versprochen, im Gegenteil, das Original ist noch viel schöner, als die Photos es ausdrücken können. Die Ausstattung ist umfangreich, es fehlt wirklich an nichts. Das Haus hat sehr viele romantische Ecken und ist liebevoll und persönlich eingerichtet. Besonders der sehr schön angelegte und gepflegte Poolbereich hat uns so gut gefallen, daß wir in einer Woche nur einen Ausflug gemacht und ansonsten diesen schönen Ort genossen haben. Langweilig wurde uns nie, wir konnten in dem großen Garten Boule und Badminton spielen und auch der Pool ist groß genug zum Schwimmen.
Kurz gesagt, der perfekte Ort für einen entspannten und ruhigen Urlaub. Wir haben uns rundherum wohl gefühlt.
Zu guter Letzt hat uns der sehr nette Kontakt zu dem Vermieter davon überzeugt, auf jeden Fall wieder kommen zu wollen.