We found Eileen the owner to be very helpful and flexible, due to a family wedding we arrived a day late and were able to stay beyond the set leaving time allowing us to avoid traffic delays. The house and gite were well equipped and the gardens large. It was great having ensuites to every bedroom in the main house as well as a separate toilet downstairs. There were fans in every bedroom which was very useful although we slept upstairs and had both the balcony and the window open at night so didn't use the fans. There must have been the odd mosquito around but there were very few, over the two weeks I got about 5 bites which was very good considering our bedroom windows were open. The trees in the garden which you can see in the pictures have grown considerably and as a consequence the ground is covered with pine needles, we found we had to sweep the patio on several occasions so as not to keep trampling them into the house. WE also found that we had to keep the cover for the pool on even if we were at the house and not using it otherwise the pool got a lot of leaves and needles in it. The pool is a good size and was wonderful on hot days, our only small complaint would be the pool cover which was a pain and took two people to take on and off despite there being a mechanical winder. The winder was not up to the job and needed lots of help, because of this we used the pool less than normal as the prospect of taking the cover off was not a pleasant one. During our visit Andy and Charlotte came once a week to clean and sort the pool, they were also a great source of information on places to visit.
The area is quiet and the village charming. You do need your own transport as there are no shops in the village, the nearest village is a 10 minute drive away and has a small convenience store, bakers and butchers. The best large supermarket we found was the Intermarche in Castelnaudary about 20 - 25 minutes away. Places we visited which we would recommend are Mirepoix, a lovely medieval town, has an excellent market on a Monday and a nice square with restaurants for an evening visit. We had an exception lunch at La Domaine Gayda, the food was amazing, the service exemplary and the surroundings stunning, an absolute must! Colleuire is a seaside village/town which is very picturesque, although a good two hour drive away it was worth it however it gets very busy so our top tip is leave early in the morning and have breakfast there.