La Pelviniere - Our "Home" in Normandy

La Pelviniere- Our Home in Normandy



 

After deciding to take our family to France during the summer of 2014, I immediately began searching for a "home away from home" that would suit our needs and wants. It also had to be located in a place that was within driving range of several locations that would make great day trips. 

 

The best website I found in which to book overseas rental homes was Homeaway.   

 

I spent a few weeks narrowing my search down to Normandy and soon found a home that was spacious enough, cost-effective and absolutely GORGEOUS!!

 

We chose Normandy because it was near enough to Paris to make the arrival and departure from Charles de Gaulle easy. We were within an hour's drive from the coast for beach time and the weather seemed moderate enough to be comfortable during what could be a hot July!

 

Our cottage was called La Pelviniere and is owned by a British couple who frequent France, but make their home available to renters whenever they don't need it. 

 

I picked this house because it had been recently renovated, had enough bedrooms (4) for the people who would stay with us and had the historic flavour we were hoping for in our home in France.

 



 

I instantly fell in love with the blue shutters and the thatched roof.

And the original 18th century stone walls weren't too shabby either!!

 

The thatched roof had been replaced just a week prior to our arrival. A Master Thatcher from England had lived there for 2 weeks while he worked on replacing the slightly leaky roof during the month of June.

 



 

 

The home sat on about 1/2 an acre of farmland, surrounded by other small family farms and had just the right amount of rusticity that we craved from our vacation in France. 

 

Behind the house there was plenty of space for our 3 children to play and lots of shade from the sun under the trees in the apple orchard right behind the house. 

 

 

The kids loved visiting the neighbours farm animals that  included ponies, horses, dogs, pheasants, ducks and chickens.  The rooster did crow, "Cockadoodledoo!" every morning, but it never bothered anyone. It only added to the charm of the place!

 



 

The inside of the house was just as lovely as the outside.

 

The kids spent tons of time in this room - watching TV (luckily lots of it was in English!), playing cards and chess and just hanging out after  a busy day of sightseeing. 

 

 

 

The kitchen was large and spacious and had dinner seating for 8. 

My mom spent the whole 3 weeks with us, my sister joined us for week 1 and my in-laws joined in for week 2 after my sister left.  Lots of family time, but we were never over-crowded in such a spacious house. 



 

 

 

The kitchen had everything we needed to prep all of our meals.  We grocery shopped every second day because the fridge was very small and we were feeding 8 people, but every pot and pan, plate and cup was used daily to create delicious meals in a rustic French style. 

 

This is the "basement" bedroom.  Really, it was halfway below ground and had 2 rather large, sunny windows.  Love that exposed stone wall!

 

Two of the kids slept her in bedroom 2. This bedroom is upstairs and featured a gorgeous beamed ceiling.

 

 

 

 

Bedroom number  3 also had to twin beds where my mother and one of our children slept each night. It had a gorgeous stone chimney climbing up its wall and beautiful antique furniture. 

 

 

The master bedroom had double-height ceilings and plenty of original beam details.  It also had a en-suite so, of course, Kevin and I slept here!

 

 

 

 

This was the view from our bedroom' window.  What a scene to wake up to for 2 lovely weeks!

 

 

 

La Pelviniere: 

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p466155

 

Homeaway: 

http://www.homeaway.com/

 

 

Have a lovely weekend!

(I'm going to spend mine dreaming of the French sunshine!)

 

XOXOXO

 

Bronwyn