Calvados holiday cottage: Montamy

This cottage may have started life as a bake-house, but it has been extensively and professionally redesigned and rebuilt. It features a half-timbered look which gives it an air of rustic charm, though all the wiring and plumbing is modern and works!
Being unfamiliar with wood-burning stoves, on more than one evening our efforts at ignition caused the smoke alarm upstairs to burst into life, but with practice, this became less frequent.
The sitting area is adequate and comfortable, the dining area all you need. The kitchen includes a multi-fuel hob, microwave oven and a small conventional oven/spit roaster.
There is a refrigerator, a gas heater and electric radiator for quick heat in the mornings.
We would have liked there to have been at least one empty cupboard in which we could have stored our food purchases, and certainly, anyone who enjoys cooking even moderately elaborate dishes will note the absence of measuring jugs, scales, electric whisks, food processors or blenders, though in other ways, the kitchen is well equipped - steak knives as well as kitchen knives (though no steel to put the edge back on them), for instance. An instinctive cook will overcome such hurdles, and - let's face it - most people don't expect to find a holiday cottage with a fully equipped kitchen.
Upstairs there is a good sized double bed, fairly firm, a chest of drawers and a dressing-table, and a small but very well-appointed toilet and shower-room. Hot water in the cottage was lethally hot and there is a clear danger of accidental scalds if one isn't careful. We estimated it was 20-30C above normal domestic hot water temperature, so care was needed when washing or showering.
The location is quiet and very dark at night. Torches might be a good thing to pack if you're likely to be out in the evenings (especially when the nights are drawing in).
Nowhere is within 'reasonable walking distance', and a car (withSat-Nav for preference) is essential.
Finally, the owners live next door. They were very pleasant and helpful, yet not intrusive if you wanted privacy. The advertised availability of wireless Broadband/ADSL just about works (off a router in the owners' house) but could do with a range booster. It is also cringingly slow, around 0.5Mbps.
We never got round to plugging the TV in.
This is an ideal property for a couple wanting a week or two 'away from it all', less than 40 miles from Ouistreham, and handy for visiting the D-Day beaches and towns like Bayeux.