Beaux Rêves: near St. Marcellin, in Rhone Alps

A lovely "Maison de village" in the Isere River valley, located between the cities of Grenoble & Valence, at the foot of the Vercors mountains. Our home is situated at the center of a historic village, in an area known within France as the Dauphine. The entire Rhone-Alps region is known for its rich history and natural beauty. Filled with small farms, pre-renaissance era architecture, alpine ski stations, scenic villages, and lively urban centers, the Dauphine holds something for everyone. The main living space, on the ground floor, features an open living/dining area with a fully equipped kitchen, large foyer, and WC. There are terra cotta tile floors throughout. The kitchen has a refrigerator/freezer, gas & electric range, an electric oven, and automatic dishwasher. There is a land-line telephone and Wi-Fi. The living room features a queen size convertible sofa, and a sound system & CD/DVD/MP3 player, and a fireplace. Three bedrooms up a winding staircase have parquet wood floors and plenty of storage space. The bathroom features a lavendar ceramic bathtub long enough for even a six-footer to stretch out comfortably and terra cotta tiles on floor and coutertop. Les Étoiles - The largest bedroom, it has a queen-size bed, an antique armoire, and windows with distant mountain views. Good lighting for reading in bed. Le Ciel - This bed room has a full-size bed & a built-in walnut armoire. There is a small desk with access to electrical outlets, and a straight chair. La Lune - This bedroom has a daybed (single, converts to queen-size) & built-in walnut armoire. This room can also make a comfortable office space, boasts a small library with selections in English and French, plus assorted stationery supplies. The main bathroom has a full tub & shower, a washing machine. and a drying rack. Our co-host Céline is available locally to answer questions or assist guests with any difficulties. She lives near the house, and is usually accessible by text message or mobile phone. Celine does not speak English. Co-hosts Chas&Em are very responsive by message through the site, however their time zone (in Eastern US, 6 hours behind France), may cause occasional delay in reply. If you do not speak French and need help in English, send a message through the site to co-hosts Chas&Em. While enjoying a stay at Beaux Rêves, you can start your day with fresh bread and pastries from one of the local boulangeries to be found just outside your door. There are several marked trails which pass through the village allowing for a leisurely stroll through rolling hills. Or you could spend the morning in the town square beneath the sycamore trees. The restaurant Sainte Philomene, just around the corner, offers a daily prix fixe meal at noon for an extremely reasonable price. And the food is excellent! On Saturday mornings, a short trip (3 km) into the nearby town of Saint Marcellin will bring you to a delightful open air market with fresh produce, eggs and meat from local producers, local cheeses and regional specialty foods, as well as linens, clothing, and other wares typical to the area. If you care to venture farther out of town, you might explore the Vercors mountains. Visible from your bedroom window at Beaux Rêves, these nearby mountains offer many scenic vistas, picturesque villages, marked hiking trails, a nature preserve, world renowned caves and ski stations. Nearby Grenoble, host city of the 1968 Winter Olympics, is just a short drive up the Isère River valley. Nestled below the peaks of the Massif Chartreuse and ringed to the east by the Alps, this vibrant city provides an exciting juxtaposition of cosmopolitan chic and cultural heritage. Several noteworthy museums, live theatre, and other cultural venues, combine with a selection of fine restaurants and a thriving nightlife to make a visit to this city a memorable part of your stay at Beaux Rêves. Home to the Université de Grenoble, the city also boasts one of Europe's premier nuclear physics research facilities, the CERN reactor, in the shadow of the Bastille monument. Local SNCF trains run from Saint Marcellin to the station in downtown Grenoble. Auto rental agencies have offices in the lower level of the concourse at the Grenoble rail station as well as across the boulevard. Local and long-distance buses also have departure and arrival gates at the rail station. Travel to Beaux Rêves on the TGV (high speed train) from Charles De Gaulle airport (Paris) to Valence TGV takes approximately 3.5 hours. Car rentals are available (best reserve in advance) outside the TGV Station in Valence. From there, a 40-minute drive north along the Isère River brings you to our village. Travel to Marseille and the Gold Coast of the Mediterranean is about four hours by autoroute & two hours by TGV (high-speed train, nearest station to Beaux Rêves is Valence). "Beaux Rêves" is about a 5-hour drive from Paris on the Autoroute (interstate highway system), or about 8 hours on secondary roads. FLIX buses (book online only) also provide service across Europe, an alternative when trains are on strike. (Be sure to ask when booking train tickets in person!) USA travelers will be shocked at the price of gasoline at the pump. Prices on pump are per LITER (about 1 quart). Most accept credit cards. The closest major international airport is St-Exupery (formerly Satolas), located in Lyon. The drive from Lyon to the Saint Marcellin-38 region is approximately 90 minutes. Other airports to consider would be Marseille or Nice (in southern France) or Geneva (in Switzerland). Driving from the Riviera (fashionable eastern stretch of the Mediterranean coast) can take 5 hours (by Autoroute) or up to 9 hours (across the Alpes Maritimes and Provence). Driving from Geneva takes about 3 hours. Located in the Isère River valley, within the small hamlet of Chatte, Beaux Rêves offers access to the easy pace of life in a rural French village, while allowing for ease of access to explore the countryside. Near the borders of both Switzerland and Italy, this largely rural area known for its rich history and natural beauty provides the visitor with an authentically French experience not typically found in the major centers of tourism. There is not a yard or garden at the house. There are several small parks in town, within easy walking distance. The house is not accessible by wheelchair. Indoors, the entry foyer and the kitchen/dining level are separated by a single step down onto the living room level and a single step up into the small WC. These steps are marked by tape on the floor, but still pose a threat to safe movement of anything on wheels, or to toddlers, as well as to people with low vision or anyone with impaired mobility. As noted elsewhere, the house is very close to a busy road, so traffic noise can be bothersome, especially at peak travel times, early on weekdays and again in late afternoon, or on special occasions like street festivals or auto rallies. When windows and shutters are closed, traffic noise is largely muffled.