Our holiday home is a refurbished rustic old bar and restaurant set in a tranquil village in La Vienne. It is a large property with plenty of space to accommodate friends and family.

We have 5 bedrooms and 2 huge reception rooms. 1 of these is a relaxing lounge area, with a record player and iPod doc and the very important wood burner, perfect for sitting in front to enjoy a glass of French red in winter. The other is dedicated to games and includes a full sized table tennis table. This can be folded up and the large cinema screen can be pulled down and used with the projector and Bose speakers for a film night to remember! The kitchen is modern and has been installed behind the original cherry wood bar - the house used to be a the village brasserie (before this it was an establishment of a much cheekier nature... allegedly!). At the top of the stairs is a cosy snug where the children keep a couple of game consoles, 100s of games and some toys. The master bedroom is vast, with an en suite shower and dressing room. It also has a Juliette balcony overlooking rolling countryside. There are then 2 further double bedrooms and 2 more with twin beds. There is still further space in the upstairs playroom should you want to add a couple of extra people. There is a separate family bathroom on the floor above, by 3 of the 5 bedrooms. There are numerous lakes in the nearby Brenne, which we love to visit for swimming, canoeing or nature watching - with an obligatory stop in one of the several restaurants for French lunch! Shopping in nearby Poitiers or Limoges, famous for porcelaine, is an absolute must during a visit. Paris can be reached by train from Poitiers in 1 .19mins or it is about a 3.5 hr drive from the house. The chateaux of the Loire are about an 1.5 drive away. If you are interested in WWII history, Oradour sur Glane, a deeply moving memorial to an horrendous act of war, is about an hours drive and really is a site everyone should visit at least once in their life. There is also a museum in Limoges dedicated to the Resistance. A cleaning service at the end of your stay can be arranged.

3 floors with rickety old stairs.

The village is beautiful, it has a wonderful boulangerie run by Jean Luc which as well as doing splendid bread and rather tasty cakes, contains all the essentials you might need. There is a bar in the village called Le Sapin Vert where you can get a cold beer or a tasty meal. There is also a boules pitch in The Place, where some very serious battles are fought! Further afield you can visit the excellent Futuroscope theme park near Poitiers (1 hour) or the Brenne National park which is said to contain a thousand lakes, some for swimming, some for bird watching. It is just over 2 hours to the coast at lovely La Rochelle, where there is an an Aquarium and near by the stunning Puy de Fou - a a truly unique experience. Closer to the house there are several family attractions such as Monkey Vally, Crocodile House, high rope adventure parks, canoeing, bungee jumping, velo rail and the Beauval Zoo housing France's only giant pandas. There are also some giant stepping stones near the house that make the ideal base for a bit of cray fishing. The area is ideal for walkers with or without dogs. There are several paths mapped out around the village, you are likely to go for miles in peace and nature without seeing another soul. After all that exercise, sit in the garden under the gazebo on the old piggery and watch the sun set over the fields behind the house with a cold glass of wine - perfect.

You will need a car to explore the area.