La Sérénelle - Gîte Holiday Rental in Villars, Dordogne, France

Villars is one of the nicest villages in Perigord Vert. It has its own boulangerie (about 100 metres from the property) and a small friendly bar and restaurant that is very popular with the locals at lunchtime. La Sérénelle is located just off the village square on the road up to the C16 chateau. It forms part of a large maison de maitre that probably dates back to the C17 and is entirely self-contained with its own front door and private garden. Downstairs, in the combined dining and living room there are the original exposed beams and stone fireplace with comfortable modern furniture in the sitting area. Upstairs there are two newly-refurbished bedrooms and two modern bathrooms (one en suite with the main bedroom). There is a large, beautifully maintained garden, with a terrace with magnificent views across the valley. La Serenelle provides a haven of tranquillity with some spectacular walks in the surrounding countryside and within easy reach of the major tourist attractions of the Dordogne. The owner, Madame Goursolle, is extremely kind and helpful; she is also a wonderful cook!

5/5

I would like to recommend La Serenelle to anyone who desires a genuine French experience coupled with real comfort. I have vacationed at La Serenelle each summer for the past five years and each time I find a peaceful atmosphere with beautiful gardens, a lovely swimming pool in a small typical French village with an amazing hostess. Not many tourists have discovered this peaceful oasis so there are no crowds to disturb the tranquillity, but it is not far from the wonderful markets of Brantome and Perigueux.

Historical sites are everywhere, with country vistas to invite walking or bicycling excursions. And the owner and hostess of La Serenelle is very knowledgeable about local and regional sites and history. There are numerous restaurants in nearby towns with fantastic French cuisine and wine to die for! In addition to speaking good English, Mme Goursolle is also fluent in Spanish and Italian! Housekeeping and maintenance are immaculate, and since this house has been in her family for over one hundred years, she takes great pride in keeping it as perfect as possible. Any problem is quickly resolved. La Seronelle is my choice for vacation in France and I am already looking forward to next year!

5/5

La Sérénelle is a beautiful stone house, with attractive gardens in a quiet village. It was a lovely peaceful spot in which to unwind. The owners are very hospitable and helpful. We would recommend it to couples and can't wait to visit again next summer.

5/5

La Serenelle is a lovely property, beautifully furnished in keeping with the age and style of the house. The pool is delightful. The owners are a charming and friendly couple.

5/5

A  pretty and well equipped house in a lovely quiet area of the Dordogne. Pool fabulous and the owner Eliane and her family were very welcoming and made us feel at home throughout our stay.

5/5

We enjoyed a fortnight at La Serenelle with our children (aged 8 and 10) during July and August 2012. We have rented properties in different parts of France for a few years, and this property and area rates highly with us as a family. It was the first time we had rented a property adjoining the owners' home and we were made to feel very welcome. Eliane and Jean-Claude were a discreet and friendly presence during our stay.

La Serenelle is a beautiful property, well decorated and  maintained, with personal touches and facilities that made us feel at home. The rooms are generous in size, and importantly the beds are very comfortable! The large garden and pool area are lovely, with a sunny terrace for evening dining and a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside. The owners kindly provided both pool and garden toys for our children, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

The property is situated in a quiet and peaceful part of Villars, just off the village square. The boulangerie is moments away down the lane in one direction, and the chateaux a short walk in the other. We enjoyed pleasant walks around the village in the evenings. The picturesque town of Brantome is only 15 minutes away by car. We can highly recommend hiring canoes from Brantome Canoe, which we did several times and found it great fun, especially when navigating the weirs! Also recommended is a trip to the local caves just outside Villars, where there is cafe and outdoor play area for the children. On the owner's recommendation we also had a day out on the Velo-rail. Great fun, and thankfully downhill all the way back! We had a very enjoyable holiday and this is the only property in France to which we all agreed we would like to return. Many thanks to Eliane and Jean-Claude for helping to create many fond memories for us.

5/5

A beautiful property - comfortable, elegant, beautifully-furnished and very well-maintained, with a lovely garden and an excellent, clean swimming pool. Madame Goursolle was friendly and welcoming and made us feel at home. The village is quiet and pretty and the boulangerie fifty yards walk down the street was a big advantage!

The countryside around Villars is very pretty and Brantome is a really beautiful town (make sure you hire some kayaks on the river.) Chateau Villars, just along the main road from La Serenellle, is a great place to have a blow-out meal on your final night - the food is superb, the owners are fun and friendly and the chateau is very pretty.

La Serenelle is really good value-for-money and we felt we found a gem!

5/5

Our stay at La Serenelle in the Dordogne was the most perfect French holiday experience we could have wished for.  We stayed here for 10 days at the end of September, where we enjoyed the heated swimming pool and fabulous sunny garden with a view that was idyllic. The house itself is picturesque, with a large sitting room and dining room and the most beautiful bedroooms. The kitchen has everything to self-cater which we did most evenings, although we did BBQ when the weather was good.
It's located 100 yards from the local Boulangerie (closed Mondays) and two minutes walk from a small shop which sells the essentials and cafe/bar (only open until 7 o’clock when we were there, it closes on Sundays and Mondays).

A bonus at La Serenelle was the free wi-fi connection (and English freesat TV).   A luxury which we were grateful for as we are self-employed and needed to access our emails.
The house is perfectly located for visiting numerous tourist attractions. We recommend Chateau Hautefort  (40 minutes), village of Sarlat (1 hour 45 mins)  and the Fortress Baynac with it’s amazing view of the Dordogne. The beautiful village of Brantome is 15 minutes away by car, where there is a Carrefour with 24 hour fuel. We visited most days to walk around and have coffee because it was so nice.

What really made our stay so perfect was the thoughtfulness and attention to detail Madame Gourselle gives to her guests,  extra blankets provided when temperature dropped,  to vegetables and herbs from her own garden. We were made to feel that our holiday was exactly that, a holiday.   We look forward to returning.

5/5