This is a beautiful old house and it was easily spacious enough to accommodate our extended family of 5. We had thought that we would have the whole house (including the exciting looking turret) but having the bottom floor was fine. In fact, our space stayed a nice temperature even when it was really hot outside. The garden was amazing - so green and luscious and full of flowers, herbs and fresh fruits that we were encouraged to help ourselves to. The little town, Lanheses, is less than 5 minutes walk away and there are plenty of shops really close to buy groceries and fresh bread (even open on Sunday mornings). There's even a post office and a couple of restaurants (which we didn't actually visit due to some of our party being vegetarians). There is a cashpoint and pharmacy 2 minutes walk away yet the area is really quiet and peaceful - lovely!
The pool really was for our exclusive use and was really great to cool off in. It is not too deep but just about possible for a not too tall adult to swim around a bit. We were a bit disappointed that it wasn't cleaned properly during our 2 week stay, although it was re-filled and the insects scooped out so easily still swimable. The neighbour who lives upstairs was really lovely and helpful - she gave us many tips about places to go, she watered the garden every evening and picked us fresh herbs. Communication with her was great - she wrote things down too. There was a bit of noise from above at night but luckily we are all good sleepers. There are no fly screens on the windows and it was too hot to keep the windows closed at night so we were disturbed by mosquitos but there weren't actually too many. The beds were really comfortable and the rooms large and airy. In general, we had a really super holiday and would recommend this place highly for families with children, not too young - there are lots of items around the house that you wouldn't want to risk young children breaking. Our teenagers loved the fact that there is external WiFi out by the pool as well as inside! Eating lunch under the shade of the established trees in the garden was a highlight, as was dipping in the pool and relaxing on the sun loungers - bliss! There is surfing about 20 mins drive away at a gorgeous beach, and canoeing the river about 10 mins drive away.