Our stay in the Gites des Lutins was a fantastic one despite having a bit of rain. We were welcomed by Pascale and the family on the first day to show us around the gite so we knew how everything worked, as well as receiving an overview of the area and good ideas of places to visit. This was really helpful as some of the tips were places me may not otherwise thought of going and really were lovely, such as which beach to go to at the nearby swimming lake and Marcoles, a beautiful village where we took the recommendation for L'Auberge de la Tour which was fabulous. The gite itself is really well equipped with high quality furnishings and equipment and is a very warm, welcoming and homely base, with beautifully thought out decor. We were concerned about head height in the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom areas as my partner is 6'9" but he managed perfectly well, the only place that was a squeeze was the access to the loo under the stairs (hence the reduction in rating). Pascale and family are very friendly and helpful, the boys speak fantastic English, but I was really glad that Pascale spoke to me in French to help me with my language ability, which assisted me no end. We were not so lucky with the weather and had quite a bit of rain, but being from Yorkshire, we're quite used to that so made the most of visiting as many places as we could. The area is stunningly beautiful with rolling hills in the local area and impressive mountains to the north - both are equally picturesque. The distinct lack of British tourists made this area better for practicing our French and we felt that the local people were incredibly friendly and helpful. We were quite shocked when we visited Bergerac for an overnight stay on the way home to hear English being spoken all around us after being immersed in French for the preceding couple of weeks. Overall, we returned home feeling relaxed and refreshed after a fabulous holiday. My thanks to Pascale and family for their well thought out gite and their welcome, it made the holiday very easy!