Maison près d'un ruisseau, calme

While I absolutely hate that I must do this, I’m sorry I just can’t recommend Martine’s home. Upon arrival, she greeted us warmly, offering tap water and a lovely dessert. She introduced us to her friends who were visiting and showed us around her home. Martine was very sweet and helpful to give us directions and advice about our traveling into Bordeaux. Except for our arrival, we did not see her again until we left two days later. We could, however, smell the cigarette smoke!

The house reeked of cigarette smoke so badly, two of us were nearly gagging. I have allergies and had an immediate reaction to the smoke and had to take an allergy pill so I could breathe. We heard Martine tell her friends not to smoke “when guests were in the house”, but as anyone who has ever been around a smoker knows, the odor permeates every inch of furniture, walls and the hair and clothes of the person(s) smoking; there is just no way to get rid of it!

We had to dash out for a tour so we left soon after arriving.
When we returned later that night, the smell of cigarette smoke was so bad, I could not breathe.

The home itself was not conducive to comfortable sleeping. The WC (toilet) was separated from the bathroom wherein were located a tub, sink and bidet - but no toilet - so we had to trek down a short hallway to another room in order to go. The sink in the WC was inoperable so we then had to go back to the bathroom to wash our hands. Unfortunately, neither the WC nor the bathroom were clean and both were in varying stages of painting and in need of major decorating do-overs.

The house sits at the end of a cul-de-sac and appears to need a lot of repairs: doors didn’t close properly nor did they lock. Our friends who were traveling with us were given door keys to open their bedroom patio door but none of us was given a key to the front door. That meant there was no other access so we had to go through their room to get to ours. Paint was in various colors and stages of completion, wallpapers were peeling off walls.

The yard could have been a showplace as it sits near a small river or stream. It appeared it had not been mowed in awhile and there was no indication of any garden or flower beds. The height of the grass was probably the reason the mosquitoes were breeding at an overwhelming rate. We had to walk through tall (4-6”) grass to go from the car to the door. That meant we also had to drag our luggage through that same tall grass which was not easy.

The kitchen and “gathering room” were not clean. We were told we could use the kitchen but when I checked it out, I could not identify a coffee pot and it was so dirty, it would have been offensive to eat or drink anything anyway.

The price was very low, approximately $12.50 per night per person, but we would have gladly paid more for a clean house and bathroom with a WC. My feeling is that Martine was not ready to receive guests in her home and should perhaps wait a bit until the painting and repairs are completed. I also feel that full disclosure about the smoking is imperative. Offering a non-smoker a room in a house that is full of smokers without any warning, is not acceptable.

Here is my review of our accommodation . Our host was very accommodating, warm, friendly and pleasant. We had issues with the home itself. It was quite eclectic which we liked. The issue with our stay is that overall the house needed a major cleaning, ie the kitchen needs to be cleaner, like the food left overnight on the counter, the oven emptied of the dried up food the kettle thrown out as the calcium buildup has made the kettle disgusting and no one wanted a tea when we saw that kettle. The bedroom for 4 would be great if there had been two real beds rather than a double bed and a blow up mattress. This was unacceptable. Also it is mandatory that you state this is a smoking house as half of our party are allergic to smoke and had trouble breathing all night . Regular maintenance like cutting to grass and making sure the outdoor furniture is inviting would really change the whole atmosphere of the place. This home away could be a hidden gem if attention was given to the little details that make guests feel at home!!!