Home description

The villa is situated on the corner of a quiet street only a few yards away from the Banyuls dels Aspres's main square.

Banyuls dels Aspres is a friendly, unpretentious French village, 11 miles from the Mediterranean, 11 miles from the Spanish border and 11 miles south of Perpignan. The main square is about 30 yards away, with its baker, tabac, hairdresser, general store and bar. The post office is in an adjacent street. Banyuls dels Aspres is built on a low hill, surrounded by vineyards and overlooking the Roussillon plain. Thus, from the roof terrace of the gite there is a panoramic view over the traditional red-tiled roofs, along the eastern ridge of the Pyrenees and the coastline to the Corbières hills to the north.

The village is a mile or two from the main Perpignan - Barcelona autoroute and route nationale, giving quick access to northern Spain, Girona, Figueres with its Dali museum, Barcelona and the Costa Brava. It is a 20-minute drive to the nearest coastal resorts. The beaches at Canet Plage, St. Cyprien and Argeles are supervised and have received European awards for cleanliness.  There is easy walking in the eastern Pyrenees, and plenty of interesting places to visit in the Roussillon.

Accommodation detail

6 Rue d’Andorre offers high standards of décor, furnishing, equipment and overall comfort.

Ground floor

Large living-room with dining and kitchen areas. The kitchen is well equipped with dishwasher, microwave, refrigerator and four-ring electric double oven with separate grill. (The washing-machine is in the bathroom and there is another fridge on the roof terrace’s sunroom). In the sitting area, there are comfortable settees, a satellite television, radio/cassette, telephone, plenty of books and cassettes, and a CD/DVD player with 100 films for those rare rainy days. There is a travel Journal, now in its third volume, full of visitors’ experiences and recommendations. You are invited to add to it.

First floor

A single bedroom and a twin bedroom, both with tall windows and wooden shutters. The bathroom contains a shower, wash-basin, w.c. and washing-machine. There is another separate w.c. on this floor.

Second floor

The double bedroom and the second twin room. The double bedroom has a shower and wash-basin. You will find a travel cot in one of the bedrooms.

Top floor

The sunroom has a refrigerator, small electric stove and kettle. The spacious roof terrace is divided into two sections, one having the washing-line, the other with seating, the dining table and barbecue. There is exterior lighting enabling you to barbecue and dine on the roof terrace in the evenings. The views over the rooftops towards the mountains and the Mediterranean are truly spectacular.

About the location

The Roussillon. Things to do. Places to visit.

• Banyuls dels Aspres is ideally situated for anyone wishing to explore the Roussillon, the Catalan area of France.  In particular, the valleys of the rivers Tech and Tet are within easy reach by car.  Both lead to the heights of the Pyrenees and to passes into Spain. The shorter of the two, the Tech valley, is densely wooded to the very tops of the hills. The road passes Ceret, the town of cherries, with its ancient buildings and modern art museum. The home of Picasso, Braque, Matisse, Chagall and Dufy early in the present century, Ceret is said to have been the birth-place of Cubism, as Collioure is of Fauvism.  Further up the valley lie Palalda, a medieval village clinging to the hill-side, and Amelie les Bains, a bustling spa town in a beautiful setting.  Towards Arles sur Tech, Prat de Mollo and beyond, the valley becomes steeper and more spectacular, with deep gorges to either side.  The longer valley of the Tet leads past many small medieval towns to the mountainous area of Mont-Louis and Font-Romeu, the ski resorts and ultimately to Andorra.  The little yellow train from Perpignan or Villefranche de Conflent runs all the way up this valley, making a very pleasant day's round trip.  A detour by road to Vernet-les-Bains leads to the upper slopes of the Canigou, 2784 metres high, a mountain celebrated in Catalan song and story.
• Further afield lies the castellated city of Carcassonne, and on the way there are numerous ruined castles recalling the days when this area was politically independent of France and heretical in its religion.
• Around its ancient centre, Perpignan is a modern busy city, the commercial centre of the Roussillon. It contains good shops, broad avenues along the river-side, and open-air cafes in its pedestrian precincts. On its outskirts, the hypermarkets are numerous and huge, and offer a comprehensive range of goods. For purchases beyond the capacity of the shops at Banyuls dels Aspres, however, the nearest shopping centre is Le Boulou, a town four or five miles away straddling the Route Nationale. Le Boulou has good restaurants and cafes.
• The guide-books say that the Roussillon has twenty kilometres of rocky beaches and forty kilometres of sandy beaches. All are within easy reach by car, the nearest being little more than ten miles away. The sandy beach from Canet Plage to St. Cyprien and beyond is safe and generally not crowded. Near the towns, it is supervised and kept very clean.  Many of the beaches in the area have been awarded the highest EEC commendation. South from Argeles sur Mer, towards the Spanish border, the coast is more rugged with many coves and inlets. Collioure, Port-Vendres and Banyuls sur Mer, interesting places in their own right, have clean and safe beaches.  This is the Vermilion Coast, its clear waters providing endless scope for sub-aqua sports.  The fishing is said to be good.  There is a first-class golf course near St. Cyprien and an aquapark near Argeles sur Mer.  Close to Banyuls dels Aspres are tennis courts and horse-riding facilities.  There is a swimming-pool in Le Boulou, and easy bathing facilities off the sandy shore of the lake at Villeneuve de la Raho.
• The Alberes mountains, only a few miles from Banyuls dels Aspres, offer wonderful walking country, and the large-scale maps which are easily available show the routes through the forests clearly.  The Alberes are over 1000 metres high but still more vigorous walking country lies towards the tops of the valleys in the heights of the Pyrenees. It is about 90 minutes drive to the ski slopes beyond Mont-Louis, in the Cerdagne and Capcir.
• The Roussillon combines the full range of French cuisine with the Catalan style of traditional cooking. There are plenty of good, inexpensive restaurants within a short distance from Banyuls dels Aspres and most are written up in the house's Travel Journal.  The local wines, including those available from the Cave in the village, are cheap and very acceptable, whether table wines, sparkling or fortified.
• Figueras with its notorious Dali museum is approximately 30 miles away; Gerona about 50; Barcelona 110; Carcassonne 80; Montpellier 100; Toulouse 135 miles.  All these cities may be reached easily by motorway.  Mainly by the Tet valley road and through the spectacular mountains, Andorra is around 100 miles distant.

See Local guide and map for information on nearby towns and facilities.

How to get here

• Easy access by autoroute to the exit at Perpignan Sud or, preferably, at Le Boulou.
• Ryanair flies to Perpignan from Stansted; to Girona from Stansted, Glasgow Prestwick, Liverpool, East Midlands, Luton and Shannon; to Reus, beyond Barcelona, from Liverpool, Luton and Stansted. There are many international flights to Barcelona or Toulouse. 
• Express trains stop at Perpignan and there are motorail services to Narbonne. 
• There are few bus services in or around Banyuls dels Aspres.

See Local guide and map for information on nearby towns and airports.

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Facilities

Facility	Details
Type	Village House (Self-catering)
Bedrooms	1 single, 1 double, 2 twin
Baby cots	1
Bathrooms	2 bathroom(s)
Separate toilets	1
Capacity	7
Living Area	90 m²
Suitability	Non-smoking, Suitable for children
Linen	All linen is provided, including bath- and hand-towels, but you should bring your own towels for use on the beach or for sunbathing.
Changeover day	Saturday

Facility	Details
Internal facilities	CD player, DVD player, Electric heaters, English satellite TV, Exclusive rental, Fans in rooms, Hairdryer, Hi-fi system, Owner not on site, Radio, Roof Terrace, TV, Telephone
Kitchen facilities	Cooker, Dishwasher, Electric hob, Electric oven, Fridge, Ironing facilities, Microwave, Washing machine
External features on site	Barbecue, Scenic views
Other	Spacious roof terrace with sunroom. Dining table and chairs with barbecue and external lighting. Refrigerator, small stove, kettle etc. in the sunroom. Magnificent view along the mountains to the sea.

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Additional price information

• There is a £20 surcharge for single-week bookings to cover partially the extra cleaning costs. Each week is charged the rate for the month in which its first Saturday falls. Rates are not 'per person', but rather for the use of the house.
• Electricity costs are included in the rent during the summer months. At other times, other arrangements may be negotiated which may entail meter-reading etc.
• We do not require a damage deposit, trusting our visitors to respect the effort which went into making this property so comfortable and welcoming.
• A provisional booking may be made but it must be confirmed or cancelled within a week of being made. The deposit is payable on confirmation of booking. The balance is payable 6 weeks before your holiday. A sterling or euro cheque is acceptable, payable to Mr. & Mrs. Jay and addressed to 11 Moray Place, Glasgow G41 2BA. Please let us know if you wish to pay by bank transfer.
• In the event of a cancellation, the deposit will be returned only if the period is re-let, minus any advertising costs incurred. A cancellation after the payment of the balance will incur the loss of the deposit and balance.
• The telephone accepts calls from anywhere, but outgoing calls are restricted to the local area. We cover telephone costs. Visitors must inform us beforehand if they intend to use the telephone line for internet access, so that we can agree coverage of the dial-up costs.
• Seven (+cot) is the maximum number of people allowed to stay in the house at any one time.
• Changeovers are normally on Saturdays, but off-season we can be more flexible in this regard.
• All linen is provided, including hand- and bath-towels, but you should bring your own cot sheets and towels for use on the beach or the terrace.
• We expect visitors to clean and do washing in the course of their holiday and not leave piles of dirty washing when they leave - the cleaner has enough to do in her six hours. We expect all our visitors to leave the house clean and tidy. Visitors are asked also to let Andrea, our cleaning lady, or ourselves know if they find anything broken or not working, so that we can put it right. No smoking is permitted within the house.
• We do not permit pets into the house.
• The travel cot is in one of the twin bedrooms.
• We shall send you two copies of the front-door key before the beginning of your holiday. Please send them back to us in the stamped, addressed envelope on your return.
• The normal arrangements are that visitors arrive at the house after 4.00 p.m. on their first Saturday and leave before 10.00 a.m. on their final morning.

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