Gîtes Coste Belle et Costillon

Beautiful property in a stunning part of the Alps that we had never visited before but will definitely return to again. We chose this accommodation as we wanted to combine a walking/cycling holiday with catching a stage or two of the Tour De France and the location for this was absolutely perfect. Pre-arrival communication from Delphine was really helpful and Delphine did everything she could to make us feel welcome and make the most out of our stay with all her local knowledge. We were two groups - a couple and a family of 4 (with 2 primary school aged children), so the family with kids were able to take the bedrooms and bathroom on the second floor whilst we had a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor, giving us all privacy and space. The big dining table was great for group meals and playing games. So many fantastic walks and footpaths right on your doorstep. The kids really enjoyed the nearby play area and we had a few games of Mölkky there too on the pétanque court. We brought along our bikes which Delphine kindly was able to store safely for us. 10 minute stroll (15 for little legs) into the nearby village for shops. The thing that really struck us was how incredibly friendly all the locals were in the area. We were all from the UK with embarrassingly poor French skills but were never made to feel unwelcome or ridiculed for our poor attempts at the local lingo. Quite the opposite - people were incredibly friendly and welcoming, always trying their best to understand our terrible French and many people spoke fantastic English (including Delphine herself). A group of local teenagers asked the young lad in our group if he wanted to play football with them when we were at the play area which was lovely and the staff in the local boulangerie were wonderfully friendly every morning (fantastic croissants by the way)! We would definitely love to return to this beautiful part of the world and were quite sad when we came to the end of our holiday.

It's a shame the lounge seating area is not a bit larger - if we had been a group of 8 which the accommodation can sleep, 2 people would have been without comfortable chairs. For a group of 6 it was just right. It would be nice if the balcony was on the other side of the property rather than being directly on the road, although the road is exceptionally quiet and not something that can be changed really! It wasn't particularly clear on Booking.com that you need to bring your own bedding (standard for a Gite we know but not everyone will be aware of this - although Delphine did let us know beforehand and you can hire instead) and there is an additional cleaning fee which wasn't mentioned - it may be due to the limitations of Booking.com and not being able to include this but it would make sense to just include this as standard in the cost instead of it being an extra.