Rural Holiday Gite with Pool in Tourtouse, Ariege, Midi Pyrenees Reviews

The title is a Gaelic word meaning peacefulness, calm, tranquillity which perfectly sums up all that this wonderful gite, situated in the foothills of the Pyrenees, just outside the tiny village of Tourtouse, has to offer.

The accommodation is very well appointed with all the comforts of home set out over two floors - sleeping quarters downstairs and kitchen/dining/living area upstairs, both opening onto terraces affording a wonderful vista of the adjacent rolling hills and fields. Everything needed is provided by the owners, Maggie and David, who live next door. Although on two floors, the property is perfectly manageable for those with mild mobility issues (of which I am one!).

The area is spectacularly beautiful and views on the road to St-Girons and from the nearby village of Fabas are breath-taking. For the very active there are wonderful walks (I am told) and for the serious R&R practitioners the gite with its very well kept garden and pool is an ideal place to just sit back and relax. The pool is very well maintained, warm enough to dive straight in and is covered overnight to keep in the heat and, if the weather is slightly inclement, can be kept in place to provide protection from the elements.

The one commercial enterprise in Tourtouse is an excellent Bar-Restaurant which, at the time of writing, provides an excellent prix-formule set 4-course lunch, including wine, for 13?. It is no more than half a mile from the gite and is everything you would want in a French village restaurant. Excellent eateries are also to be found in St-Girons (Auberge d'Antan being one), again at very reasonable prices.

Although we did not do much other than relax at the gite, there are many very interesting places within an hour's drive of the area on wonderful country roads, with not a hint of motorway and the pace of life is as far removed from helter-skelter as one would wish.

This is a gite that suits people of all ages, from the retired couple to a young family and one which I will return to at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you, Maggie and David, for your hospitality and for a most enjoyable fortnight - roll on 2014!