4 bedroom house near Thuir, Pyrenees Orientales, Languedoc Roussillon, France
Original Stone Farmhouse with Private Pool and All the Comforts of Home
Peaceful Location, Peach Fields All Around, 5 mins from Market Town, 20 mins to the Beach
Sleeps 8/12 (4 Bedrooms)
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5 minutes drive from beautiful bustling market town of Thuir, yet tucked away in peace and quiet of the countryside, surrounded by peachfields and views of the Canigou and Alberes Mountains and foothills. Mas Ribère is a toddler-friendly stone farmhouse with private, secluded and safe private pool and garden. Ideal for 1 or 2 families who wish to sprawl, with plenty of comfy sofas and chairs, hundreds of books and recent-release films and DVDs. State of the art and high quality kitchen equipment together with an eclectic art and music collection, beautiful bedlinen and all the extras you don't want to pack (hairdryers, towels, various toiletries, inflatables, toys) makes for the most relaxing and comfortable of holidays. There are flat and easy walks through all the peachfields around the house and the owners are currently making the downstairs parts of the house completely wheelchair-friendly (including a wheel-through tropical poolside shower under the shade of a palm tree).
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| Rental periods | |
| May | £795 |
| June | £1550 |
| July - mid September | £1860 |
| Last 2 weeks in September | £1550 |
| October | £795 |
| Rest of the year | £650 |
| Christmas Week | £1860 |
| Easter Week | £1450 |
Notes on prices
Prices are for the property per week in UK Pounds.
We offer discounts for long winter lets. These depend on the length of the proposed stay and the number of people staying. We can also offer shorter stays during off-peak season and would be happy to discuss individual requests. Please contact us for details.
Changeover day
Changeover is at 4pm each Saturday during high season (although the day is flexible during the rest of the year in order that you might benefit from some of the low-cost flights available from the UK). The house must be vacated by 10am on the last day.
Accommodation
| Bedrooms: | Bedroom 1 with double bed and en suite (room for cot). Bedroom 2 with double bed and room for cot or single bed. Bedroom 3 with double bed and room for cot or single bed. Bedroom 4 with twin beds or single and cot or 2 cots. |
| Bathrooms: | En suite bathroom to bedroom 1 with shower, basin and WC. Large family bathroom upstairs with bath, separate shower, WC and bidet. Separate downstairs WC. |
| Kitchen: | Fitted American kitchen with electric cooker, gas hob, large fridge/freezer, dishwasher, microwave and larder (washing machine and separate tumble dryer in separate walk-in utility room); all hand and tea towels are provided throughout the house. |
| Utility Room: | Washing machine and separate tumble dryer. Iron and ironing board, shoe cleaning and spare light bulbs, extra children's garden toys (buckets and spades, tennis and table tennis balls, skipping ropes) UK adaptors, etc. |
| Living Rooms: | 45" plasma TV with satellite UK TV (including children's channels), DVD player, music system (large selection of adult music and children's CDs (Harry Potter and Alex Rider?). Plenty of comfy chairs and sofas (2 double sofabeds) for time out of sun. |
| Other: | Bedrooms are light and airy with high-quality beds and new mattresses and pillows. Cool Egyptian cotton and designer linen bedcovers, fans and heavy wooden window and door shutters for undisturbed nights and afternoon naps. Playroom with toys and books. |
| Cleaning/towels/ linen/maid service: |
Large new bathroom towels and huge beach towels are provided for everyone together with hand towels in all the bathrooms and loos, as well as hand towels and tea towels in kitchen. The pool is checked and maintained daily and the garden tidied regularly. |
Notes on accommodation
The property has air-conditioning downstairs in the main open-plan kitchen and sitting room and powerful individual fans in all the bedrooms.
For winter holidays the house is centrally-heated with a large and very efficient wood-burning stove in the sitting room.
The house, garden and swimming pool have been deemed extremely child friendly and safe by all our guests with small children, older children and babies (one of our recent visitors with a baby and toddler, kindly wrote a lovely blog 'Our stay at Mas Ribère', which you can go to directly or which we can email you if you can't access it). The swimming pool area has a security gate which conforms to the new French safety regulations and fencing all around. The garden itself is completely fenced.
- hob/stove,
- oven,
- fridge/freezer,
- fridge,
- microwave,
- dishwasher,
- washing machine,
- tumble dryer,
- iron/ironing board,
- satellite tv,
- tv,
- internet access,
- central heating,
- air conditioning,
- room fans,
- cot,
- high chair,
- barbecue,
- private pool (for sole use of guests),
- pets accepted
Accessibility
We are currently updating our facilities for people with limited mobility. Currently the entire downstairs area of sitting room, kitchen, cloakroom, (including master bedroom and en suite bathroom) and outside eating area with summer kitchen and barbecue, is suitable for wheelchair users and people with mobility problems.
Outside
The private floodlit pool is 10m x 4.5m, with Roman steps for small people and non-swimmers to sit in the water and surrounded on all sides by a landscaped private and secure screened bathing area.
The garden is planted with mature Mediterranean trees and shrubs, with a mixture of gravel boules and parking areas and grassy play areas with swings and table tennis.
The 'alfresco' eating area is shaded by mature mulberry trees (the fruits of which are edible) and is a favourite spot for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This area, together with the covered summer kitchen and barbecue area, is romantically lit by fairy light at night. The special ambiance created by this, and the beautifully underlit swimming pool often tempts our visitors to stay up long after the sun goes down to eat, chat or just star gaze, (to the accompaniment of the cicadas and chatty french bullfrogs); often until the small hours. The sun shines on the pool area from first thing in the morning until late afternoon.
Coast/Beach
The house is between 20 and 40 minutes comfortable drive from a wide range of beaches along the Mediterrean coast. Choose between long sandy stretches of beach such as Argeles, St Cyprien and Canet Plage or quieter, smaller beaches, such as Le Racou and Collieure. Or drive along the old coastal road and the corniche towards and over the Spanish border, with its tiny coves and out of the way but excellent little tapas bars, restaurants and cafes all the way to Dali's home at Port Lleucat.
Golf
There are several very good golf courses a short drive from the house. The French course at St Cyprien is just half an hour's drive and the 18-hole championship course (par 70 at 5177 metres) at the beautiful Spanish Spa of 'Domaine de Falgos',is an absolute 'must see' just over the border and under an hour's drive from the house. There are other excellent Catalunyan courses to be found at Torremirona and Peralada (an area which incidentally also just happens to produce some really excellent wines to be sampled while you're there).
Skiing
With the season getting longer (sometimes from November to April) there is easily accessible skiing to be had an hour's comfortable and pleasant drive from the house, in the traditional French Pyreneen resorts of Les Angles and Font Romeu. Les Angles is small by Alpine standards and biased to the beginner and intermediate skier. There are 29 slopes (2 black, 16 red, 5 blue and 6 green), 19 lifts (including a 16 person cable car)and 311 snow canons. Of the 11 downhill Alpine ski stations in the French Pyrenees, most offer cross-country (Nordic) skiing. There are also 10 Spanish ski stations over the border towards the principality of Andorra.Andorra itself has it's own ski stations and the added advantage of being a tax-haven (2 hours drive from the house).
Special interest holidays
Mas Ribère is situated in an area of Languedoc Roussillon which makes it an ideal centre for art groups or painting holidays. The owner is herself an artist who is very happy to organize informal trips to local sites of artistic merit and interest. The picturesque vineyards, rocky coastal coves and snow-covered mountains provide endless creative inspiration for small accompanied trips, aswell as beautiful places in which to sketch or just soak up the artistic history and organic Catalan flavour:the old fishing port of Collieure, made famous by the Impressionist french painters, such as Matisse, the picturesque Spanish fishing Port Lucat, at Cadaquez,was home to Salvador Dali, the Dali Museum in Figueres and Ceret Museum of Modern Art, founded by Pablo Picasso and many fascinating galleries to be found in Perpignan (including the '500 Metres from the Centre of the World', which refers to the words, used by Dali himself, to describe the city's old railway station, which he decorated).
Travel
To get to Mas Ribère you have the choice of 5 airports, all served by UK budget airlines. Perpignan airport is closest, just 20 minutes drive door to door from the house (Ryanair, FlyBE and BMi). Second favourite is the easy 40 minute drive to Gerona in Spain (Ryanair). Toulouse is 90 minutes drive, Montpellier a little less,and Carcasonne (Ryanair and Easyjet) an hour. Barcelona Airport is 90 minutes drive away and some of our visitors have chosen to spend a few days in the city en route to us.
Distances
Thuir is a beautiful medieval market town, just 5 minutes drive from the house. The breathtaking fortified medieval town of Castenou is just 5 minutes drive away. Cathar fortresses and monasteries, gorges and canyons, archeological sites such as Tautavel and areas of outstanding natural beauty, such as the sandstone cliffs (Les Orgues) at Ille sur Tête are all between 20 and 40 minutes drive away. Perpignan, with its art,music and folk festivals throughout the summer months, is 20 mins drive.
Further details
Thuir, with its pink marble pavements, is itself a place where visitors come to wander around and admire the medieval streets, shops, restaurants or just to sit and watch the world go by at one of the many street cafes. The saturday market with its choice of wines, olives, bread and cheese, is still where a lot of locals do their weekly shop. There is a good selection of restaurants and cafes, 4 butchers, an excellent fishmonger (try the freshly-caught 'seche de calamar'), several boulangeries, chocolate and cake shops and a wide selection of places to buy gifts and treats. (There are also 3 banks in the town!) Perpignan, Gerona and Figueres are all great for shopping, or further afield you could bathe in the thermal baths at St Thomas (1 hr). Diving, snorkelling, kayaking and rafting are just some of the water sports available in the area (30 mins to an hour by car). There is also the outdoor watersports centre of Aqualand,just 30 mins drive, for those with energetic children or teenagers.
Booking notes
A 25% deposit is requested at the time of booking and the balance together with a £250 security deposit is payable 8 weeks before your arrival.
Guest comments
"We arrived from Manchester with two small children, tired, thirsty and hungry. Within minutes of arriving, the kettle was on, the beer was chilled and most of us were in the pool."
"It was a very hot day when we arrived (from Toulouse) and we were greeted with a Magnum each and a bottle of wine chilling. All the basics were already there (tea, coffee, fresh milk -bliss - bread and cheese) so that we didn't have to immediately go out again to the shops. Our whole stay was punctuated with little kindnesses like this. We will definitely recommend it to our friends."
"Staying at Mas Ribère was extremely relaxing. Like a home from home. The huge TV, fabulously comfy beds and ready-inflated toys in the pool meant that we really did feel at home in this beautiful house. The children amused themselves with all the films, toys and books and our little girl, who is 3, actually slept better here, despite the heat, than she does at home in her own bed! Thank you for a wonderful holiday!"
House swap
House swaps are considered in the London, Hampshire and Sussex areas. We would require a sleeping capacity of 3-4 people.
For booking and further information
Amanda Rozier
Tel: (France) +33 468 532133
Fax: (France) +33 468 532133
Email: Click here
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This advertiser joined Owners Direct in October 2007,
and has advertised this property with us since October 2007.
Property Ref FR2771
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