18th Century Cottage in heart of Loire Valley

There were many positive aspects of our stay at this French country cottage in Anche. The building is a 17th century well house with beamed ceilings, thick stone walls and period appropriate furnishings. There is also a sheltered patio which leads into a back garden. The beds were comfortable and made up with clean linens. The windows, floors, bathroom and kitchen had been cleaned before our arrival. The medieval town of Chinon, which is only a 5-minute drive away, has much to offer tourists with its many historical buildings and interesting shops, cafes and restaurants not to mention the 12th century Norman castle overlooking the city. There are a number of famous medieval chateaux and abbeys which are within an hour’s drive such as the Fontevraud Abbey. In addition, the region is famous for its high quality, inexpensive wines. For example, we found a wonderful Rose at the SuperU supermarket in Chinon for only 1.79 Euros. There were, however, some negative aspects to the cottage not the least of which was the moldy smell in the building. Even though it hadn’t rained in the area for a number of weeks, some parts of the walls and floor were damp. There were also mold stains on the washing machine seals, so we had to use the laundrette in town. We left the windows open all day to air the place out, but the moldy smell persisted. There were no complaints of mold in any of the reviews, so perhaps the place might dry out as the summer gets warmer and drier. The owner had to be in the UK at the time, so he asked a non-English speaking neighbor to look in on us. Fortunately, my wife speaks French; otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to communicate with her and a plumber when the water heater ran out of propane. The Sky TV satellite worked fine but for only a few days. We asked the landlord to contact Sky for service, but all we got was an apology instead. Finally, there were problems with the rent payment. We arranged with the owner to pay by foreign bank check instead of wire transfers which are very expensive for us in the States. The owner, however, waited seven months to cash the check by which time it had expired, so we had to pay the rent in cash to the neighbor. Our bank reimbursed us for the expired check but at a loss of $87 in foreign exchange fees. In general, we would recommend that visitors to the cottage stay at a time when the owner is available next door to deal with any problems.

The cottage is full of character, clean, comfortable and very spacious. The best bit is the wonderful shaded terrace at the back and beautiful garden.
The owner is very friendly and helpful and arranged wine tasting for us in the village.
It is a very peaceful place to stay with many places to visit in the area. We could have stayed more than a week!

This cottage is absolutely value for money! You get a lot of space for a family including a large kitchen and a functionable bathroom. The cleaning standard at arrival was fine and it is quite modern facilities but in a very charming original well-house with nice antique furniture. Especially the big terrace with it´s sitting facilities provides both lot of sun and lot of shadow depending on what you prefer. We had our breakfast, lunch and dinner outside every day for a week in the summerperiod and even when it´s a bit windy or rainy you can enjoy the terrace due to the big roof that is above it. In front of the terrace is the most beatiful garden - we can recommend you to go there for a rural quite holiday with only a few kilometers to the nice city of Chinon. The well-house is hosted by mr. David Thomas who - during the summer-time - stays in the mainhouse; he´s a friendly landlord! So thank You, David, for a pleasant stay. Maybe we will be back someday.