La Haute Barberie Farmhouse - Holiday with Pool

La Haute Barberie is a delightfully restored development of three houses with a solar heated pool in large grounds set at the end of a long driveway in a peaceful valley. All three properties are separate and have their own private outside area for barbecues and relaxation. The complex is surrounded by open countryside with panoramic views on all sides. The local village of Notre Dame du Touchet has a beautiful church, antique shops, a boulangerie, general store, post office and restaurant. The Farmhouse is the largest of the three rental properties and sleeps up to 10 people in three large en-suite bedrooms on the first floor. A staircase from the open-plan living area leads to the first-floor landing. Opening off the landing is the East Bedroom, a family room that sleeps 5 with one double bed, one single and two bunk beds. It has an en-suite shower, washbasin and toilet. The West Bedroom sleeps 3 in one double bed and a single bed, with an en-suite French bath, washbasin and toilet. The middle bedroom has two single beds, and en-suite washbasin and toilet. Should it be required there is also a double bed settee in the family room downstairs. Downstairs the generously sized open-plan family room has a well-equipped modern kitchen with a large cooker, fridge freezer, dishwasher and microwave. Two tables provide sample space to cater for large groups. The lounge area is perfect to relax in with a cosy wood-burning stove should the evenings be chilly, a TV and DVD player, and a bookcase full of holiday reads. Opening off the kitchen area is the utility room with a washing machine and a downstairs toilet. The Farmhouse is an ideal focal point for large parties booking two or three properties together. All three properties are separate and have their own private outside area for barbecues and relaxation. Outside there is a barbecue and patio furniture for your use. The pool is just across the lawned area and is shared by the other two properties. It is fenced off with kiddie-proof gates to stop toddlers wandering in without supervision. There are two pools, one a small kiddie pool with a slope leading down into the main pool. Both are solar heated. The grounds contain a large lawned area with children’s play equipment, an orchard with eating and cooking apples in season, a very productive vegetable patch, a soft fruit garden, a greenhouse for tomatoes and a summerhouse in a secluded sunny corner leading down to the stream that forms the boundary of the property. The complex is surrounded by open countryside with panoramic views on all sides. The local village of Notre Dame du Touchet is about a mile away. It has a beautiful historic church, a number of antique shops, a boulangerie, a general store, a post office and a restaurant. We live on site so are available for queries and requests The surrounding area is packed with opportunities for you to enjoy at your leisure, with something for every member of the family and to suit all tastes. Locally, 15 minutes away, in Mortain we have the waterfalls of Le Grand et Le Petit Cascade de Mortain which is great for walking. The town of St-Hilaire-du-Harcouët was founded in 1083 at the request of William the Conqueror and is 15 minutes in the opposite direction. It has an impressive street market on a Wednesday morning, an imposing Church and a lake. This is where you will find easy to access supermarkets, cafes and shops. St-Martin-de Landelles, which boasts a theme park with excellent reviews, is 15 minutes drive. It has attractions for all ages including laser games in the woods, a roller coaster and a farm where little ones can feed the animals and ride the ponies. Half an hour away, if you like gardens there is Les Jardins de Renaudies, home to more than 3000 varieties of plants spread out over 4 hectares. Domfront, a 25-minute drive away, is a fortified medieval town and is a delightful place for a stroll, with the remains of a castle, as well as the Norman Church of Notre-Dame-Sur-L’Eau. And don’t forget that this whole area is famous for producing perry, cider and calvados from the local pears and apples. Bagnoles-de-L’Orne, a spa town in the heart of the Andaine Forest, is about 30 minutes away. There you can find a range of outdoor activities including zip-lines, aerial adventure activities and trails in the forest at Le-Bois-Parcours-Nature. The complex is in easy reach of Mont St Michel, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as the coastal towns of Granville and Jullouville where you can find quality beaches in a classic seaside environment. These are a 45 minute to 1 hour drive away. The medieval town of Fougères which is 50 minutes away, provides a wonderful place to explore the heritage of Normandy with its feudal castle and beautiful timber frame houses dating from the 12th Century. These are just a few suggestions to whet your appetite, there are many more things to do locally which there is not space to describe here. You can, of course, choose to simply sit by the pool, enjoy the sunshine with a good book and relax!! It’s your choice. We are ideally placed for family and leisure cycling with a plethora of ‘Green Roads’ linking with long-distance tracks used for cycling, walking and horse riding. The Veloscenic Route goes from Mont St Michel to Paris for over 440Kms on an old railway track, and the Velodysse crosses Brittany and Normandy and eventually links with Devon and Dorset. These are all safe off road havens within 10 minutes of the complex, great for walking as well as cycling, and accessible for push-chairs or wheel-chairs.