Guest Comments

A wonderful place to be in the autumn – misty mornings, gentle sunshine and ‘mellow fruitfulness’! The heated pool has been a great development for the little ones and for us – a lovely treat each day. Thank you Jean and Mike for your hospitality, friendship and access to World Cub Rugby.

We’ve had a wonderful week in the Loire. What better place to celebrate my parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary. We’ve all thoroughly enjoyed our week here. Thank you Jean and Mike for being welcoming and helpful hosts. Thank you too for the celebratory bottle of fizz!

Thank you for another great visit. The horses have been great, so have you!

Another great stay here. Pool was great with the heating. It has been a holiday to remember.

Many thanks, Mike and Jean, another great chill. Still the perfect combination of tranquil surroundings and great hosts.

Another year, another great holiday. We will be back next year for another does of “The Good Life” – minus Felicity!! See you next year.

Brilliant holiday. Les Mortiers is a gorgeous spot and the pool is fab!

Our 3rd visit to Les Mortiers. Despite the weather enjoyed visiting favourite places again – Langeais, Villandry, Saumur and Chinon. Pool as good as ever and thankfully heated. Thanks Jean and Mike.

Thanks to Mike and Jean with assistance and local knowledge. Must be one of the nicest places in France.

By far the best foreign holiday we’ve ever had. We’re all sorry to go and I’m sure we will be back. Thanks so much Mike and Jean.

We have had an amazing time here at Les Mortiers. Thank you Mike and Jean for being absolutely super hosts. We loved playing with the donkeys and horses. We went to lots of chateaux and our favourites were Villandry and Chenonceau.

Peace, rural peace!

Great to arrive here after our damp week in Brittany! Our third visit here. Once again, thanks for your warm hospitality. A bientot.

Wow! We have had such a delightful stay here! It was so relaxing and welcoming! This was our 2nd time here and it was sooo much fun! The pool was awesome and so were the horses! I really hope to come again! This is the best I will never forget it Merci Beaucoup

If only you could ‘bottle’ what you have here at Les Mortiers you would be millionaires ten times over! Thank you for the peace and relaxation.

And when your trouser button starts to pop after all the local wine and food, then it is well worth hiring bikes and heading off for the day into the woody forests. Many thanks for such a relaxing time here.

Another wonderful week. See you next year!

Do try the local strawberries! Jean and Mike very welcoming without ever being intrusive.

It’s been a great time again.

Culminated in Real’s fantastic wine tour, wonderful wine, but a new perspective on French history, industry, agriculture and entire way of life.

Blissful sunny days in such a beautiful part of France and in such comfort.

What a lovely escape we have had at Les Mortiers. Thank yo so much for your hospitality. PS Swimming pool – fabulous!

Fabulous week at Les Mortiers – unbroken sunshine for the whole week. Our kids loved it all, especially the garden and the pool.

A fine fortnight. We have had a comfortable and relaxed time.

Our second visit. Collecting sweet chestnuts and walks in the wood. We will miss the smell of pine cones burning in the log fire, with chestnuts roasting slowly on the top.

Our second visit was as good as the first – lovely weather, lovely cycling, lovely place. Thanks for a brilliant time.

A wonderful holiday. In all – a great week. Beautiful and even relaxing with a five and a two year old.

We went to Saumur on the horse and cart ride. It was really good. I can’t wait until next year.

The atmosphere here is lovely and still. See you next year.

Can’t think of many reasons to go home really!

A perfect peaceful place to relax and unwind. Thank you Mike and Jean.

A lovely environment for the family and grandchildren to enjoy a holiday in France. A week we will all remember.

Just coming to the end of our eighth visit to Les Mortiers in six years – yes we like it here! See you next year.

Glorious Food Wine Whatever Hosts Gite Pool What more can you ask for? Thank you for a memorable week.

Just had to come back again this year!

Les Mortiers will stay in our mind for ever as the place we got engaged, and will always bring a smile.

What a fabulous time. Rachel (15 months) and Amelia (2 years) have pottered around picking plums and talking to donkeys! The pool has been a delight to us all. Thank you for the extra fans and a wonderfully equipped kitchen (and Dan Brown’s ‘Demons and Angels’). Would highly recommend Chinon and Langeais markets and The Moulin Bleu for a delicious meal overlooking the Bourgueil vineyards. See you soon!

Everything we could have wished for, we hope to return, especially for the pool.

A l’annee prochaine!

A marvelous stay in a great place. Les Mortiers is ideally situated to explore a lovely part of the Loire – great food, wine, culture and gentle friendly people. The gite is so well thought out and excellently appointed with quality and caring showing through. It also has the very best neighbours! Jean and Mike thanks so much for the welcome and for all the helpful advice and recommendations – wine tasting was fun. Thanks for a great stay.

What a wonderful, peaceful place. Thank you for a brilliant weekend, we would really like to return. The swimming pool is fabulous, to be able to swim in October. Wish we were staying longer – we really felt part of a big family. We certainly enjoyed ourselves and our trip to the Cave. The wine was delicious. Hope to see you again.

Lovely to be back, this time with Rachel, 5 and a half months. Swimming has been a daily treat for all of us. Langeais market (Sunday morning) was a great French experience – a piece of “Sanglier” is a very tasty and highly recommended purchase. Autumnal sunshine and bountiful vines and fruit trees have made this an extra special time of year to visit. Rachel highly recommends the local apples and pears. Thanks, Jean and Mike, for two delightful evenings and for those precious extra days.

Another great holiday. Many, many thanks Jean and Mike. Look forward to returning to see the finished Cave!

Our second visit here and we arrived on Heather’s birthday! Have had a lovely restful time, revisited some favourite places – Zoo at Doue and Langeais. Don’t miss Candes St martin, Montsoreau and the waterfront at Chouze. If you are in to gardens don’t miss Chateau de la Chatonniere, Le Rivau and – wacky – new gardens at Parc Monpassant de Bois in Allones – comes with golf carts for driving around in! Thoroughly enjoyed our time – see you again.

Lovely holiday – weather fantastic – children loved the pool and there were no burnt shoulders! Babysitting service a real bonus – we enjoyed an exceptional meal at L’Oree des Bois. Many thanks for your hospitality.

We looked forward to our holiday for months and we weren’t disappointed. The gite was very comfortable, you seem to have thought of everything. We all enjoyed the pool and were grateful for the cover. We visited the dog show as recommended and wanted to take all the puppies home with us! I think we managed to visit every market going. The Gourmet market in Bourgueil was a good evening out! The girls will miss the horses and the donkey and have enjoyed feeding them. I am sure we will return.

This is our 4th French holiday on the trot and without doubt this has been the best. Mike and Jean have been exemplary hosts, unobtrusive but always there for help and advice.

Thank you for a relaxing and enjoyable holiday. The air-conditioning was appreciated the first few days we arrived. We enjoyed the local wines from Bourgueil, Mike’s Chardonnay, playing tennis at the tennis court around the corner, cycling to the Lac at Pincemaille (steam train on Sundays). Finally, we have all enjoyed spending time in the pool – a great asset.

Started the holiday with trepidation as it was so different to what we are used to, but didn’t need to worry, it turned out absolutely great. Good accommodation in Poppa’s cottage, good hosts and great location. Thank you Mike and Jean for your hospitality.

Well, it is time to head back to the rat race in the UK! Although after two weeks here in Parcay it does not seem to daunting a task. We hope to take our new relaxed lifestyle with us! You could not really ask for a better place to explore from than Les Mortiers.

Another lovely holiday spent here at Poppas and The Grange, but this year even more special as we brought all the family with us. We will bring an extra space hopper for you, Mike, for the 2005 Hopper Handicap Race (the handicap being the volume of wine consumed prior to reaching the starting post!).

A brilliant week of running, swimming, laughing, drinking, eating and touristy bits! A relaxing time made perfect by the ice cream Mars Bars on tap and wine by the bucket load. Recommendation No 1 can only be the La Licorne Restaurant at Fontrevaud – the langoustines were amazing! The horses and hens have kept Marie Elise well entertained. She just wishes she could stay longer! Thanks to Mike and Jean for the baby-sitting, the Mars Bars and the air conditioning unit.

We found Poppas an ideal holiday ‘spot’ for oldies and we have had a lovely restful fortnight. But we can imagine this peaceful, well-equipped gite greatly enjoyed by all ages.

Home from home as we are now on our 4th visit. We arrive and relax immediately. Always very sad to leave, the whole place is so relaxing.

Had a really enjoyable holiday on our first visit to the Loire Valley. The gite was great and the weather kind to us. We really respected Mike and Jean’s professionalism and had a great time with them at our final barbecue. Hope to come back again one day.

Thank you for the warm welcome. We’ve had a lovely relaxing few days and hope to come back next year. A l’annee prochaine

Un grand merci Jean et Mike a vous deux pour un merveillieuse weekend. Votre attention a tous les details qui rendent la vie plus belle, plus agreeable, plus humaine, plus sensible et formidable. Bravo pour ce joli gite – merci.

A bientot

We have had an enjoyable week at Les Mortiers. Despite being late in the year, we have had some good weather. Les Mortiers is well situated and in a lovely setting. I’m sure it must look fabulous in the summer. Thanks for a great time.

Wonderful week, great food, marvelous hospitality – excellent rod-building course. Thanks Mike and Jean. See you next year.

Another wonderful week. Thought the addition of the cover on the pool a great innovation for all-weather swimming.

Lots of places in the world are beautiful, but the reason we love the Loire is because of Mike Brookes and Jean Winter. To us you are family and we love that you are part of our lives. Now we expect a return engagement on the other side of the Pond!

Last time we were here I wrote a poem!

We ate too much, we drank too much
We slept for a million years
To stay again in this wondrous paradise
We’ve left ---------------there will be tears.

We feel refreshed and ready to face the stresses of ‘real’ life.

The pool was great, the Parc du Puy du Fou was a superb day

I have had a fantastic holiday and hope to come again. I enjoyed the pool everyday and the Puy du Fou was great. I had a very good holiday and hope to see you soon.

Another wonderful holiday. Many thanks Mike and Jean. Back in September 2005 for the hat-trick.

A week of glorious weather (which surprised everyone!) superb accommodation with every requirement fulfilled and a wonderfully tranquil location. Our busy, bustling city at home was swopped for a week of bird song and frog song. The children spend hours in the lovely pool. The ‘dome’ was very effective and quickly raising the temperature to a very comfortable 24C.

We had a wonderful week, the accommodation was perfect and our hosts made us feel most welcome. We would love to return.

Les Mortiers – idyllic oasis in a beautiful part of France.

It was a long journey and a long drive but worth every kilometre. The gite is top notch and so are Jean and Mike. We have managed to cram in a lot in two weeks … We finished off with a wine-tasting tour with Real which was excellent. He is a lovely man – very interesting and informative – highly recommended.

Our memories of our numerous barbecues, dips I the pool and bottles of lovely wine will help us get through the cold, dark and wet English winter.

Merci et au revoir until next time.

So much to see and so much to do, and such a good time had by all, we must come back.

Thank you very much for a splendid week in this lovely gite. We have found peace, quiet, relaxation and a wonderful sense of space to re-condition our frazzled edges… We are rested and refreshed and back to the fray in Southampton.

A lovely relaxing week – don’t want to leave. We found what we were looking for – tranquillity, good food, good wine and a perfect base for exploring. We will be back next year.

The local pizza van is super (Wednesday in the village) … Above all a fantastic week was had by all, very relaxing, lovely and peaceful. What a shame to have to go home, which seems another world away…

Many thanks to Mike + Jean and all that! And I recommend Doue Zoo Feeding those donkeys and playing with a toddler called Tia, the lake and Vilandry and that’s my recommendation for all you holiday people.

To Mike and Jean thanks for the warm welcome, the lovely wine recommendation and the stoic acceptance of my Tim Henman overhead smash on the light-fitting whilst attempting to blot a moth!! Restaurant musts – The Moulin Blue just outside Bourgueil – 10/10 The Brochet (Pike) was amazing. Les Forges and the Auberge in Place St. Pierre both worth a visit and the 3 Cheese Gallette at the Rille Lac Creperie! Lovely weather, complete peace and quiet. Many many thanks, a beautiful holiday.

Two weeks of bliss, weather fantastic, loved the place, the pool and the evening sunsets.

The wine tour with Real taught us more than we could have learnt ourselves. Will be back next year

A splendid location for the Loire attractions – plus a lovely pool and care and attention from Jean and Mike – what more can you ask.

I had a really good time on this holiday. Too everyone look after the donkeys, especially Greedy they will eat all your leftovers from tomatoes to potato peelings!!!

What a wonderful gite. This was our first time with an independent gite that we found on the internet. Much better than we have used before. Mike and Jean are wonderful hosts. We really enjoyed out time here. Particularly the pool.

Michelin rating – 3 star (worth a journey!). A wonderful time – good location to go sight seeing and to relax in between.

Thank you Jean and Mike for letting us share in your idyllic and peaceful way of life!

This place is magical. From the moment we turned off the road – to entering the gite, seeing the garden, the pool – everything. We have had a super week. Super gite, super weather, super holiday. Don’t want to go home.

We have had a fabulous few days here with our young children. Despite what they say about the changeable weather … we’ve had nothing but ‘blue to blue’ since we arrived. Thanks for a great week

Back for the second time, lovely as ever. Weather glorious and swimming pool so good. This year even I swam! Loved every minute, hopefully we can return. Such a lovely holiday.

We Came…

• After 5 nights in Paris and we felt like we were with our best friends, and knew that we had selected an "ideal home" for our vacation.

We Saw…

• Chateaux too numerous to list.

We Ate…

• Mike and Jean reserved a table at L’Oree des Bois for the Sunday after arrival. It was exceptional.
• On Monday we ate at Nichole’s – whose daughters were home on vacation – and are as lovely and warm as Nichole. We all tried to converse in a foreign language and did!
• On Tuesday we went to the market at Bourgueil to stock up on food.
• On Wednesday our friends from San Diego arrived. We had drinks at L’Orangerie (our favourite spot in Saumur), lunch at Auberge St. Pierre – the Coq au Vin is good – and returned to Les Mortiers for dinner at the picnic table where Mike and Jean joined us for an evening (and night) of fun, food, and wine, and more wine! No-one counts wine bottles at Les Mortiers!
• On Thursday we returned to Nichole’s where we were warmly greeted by not only Nichole, but here husband who donned a stetson hat and posed for a picture with Nichole, whom we jokingly referred to as his "squaw".
• Friday – Sunday, we toured Normandy and Brittany.
• Monday we lunched at Jeanne de Laval in Les Rosier – lobster salad, turbot in béarnaise – only 3½ hours because we passed on the cheese course – sensational cuisine!
• Tuesday, back to the market at Bourgueil where we bought sea bass for Wednesday and joined Mike, Jean and their friends Iain and Jo for lunch at the Faisan D’Or. Of course, we had the Gallette Bourgueilloise for breakfast.
• Thursday, our last day here was the best. Lunch at L’Orangerie, and after a day in the life of a gite owners buying supplies and testing the wines of Guy Delanoue – superb!

Thank you for your assistance, hospitality and friendship.

Lovely to be back, if only for a few days. First in the pool this year! Bought the wine for our wedding this summer from Bouvet Laduaby – highly recommended. A truly wonderful place to be…

Les Mortiers was the perfect place to stay while exploring the Loire. Your generous hospitality made this vacation a great one. Thank you so much for all the advice on where to shop and buy food and wine. […] We appreciated how well equipped the kitchen is, since I love to cook.

Managed to totally chill-out.

As it was our first time in the French countryside we didn’t quite know what to expect, however, all our expectations have been surpassed.

We leave feeling totally rested and relaxed

Thanks for a great holiday. Troglodyte caves were a great visit, but I much preferred your wonderful pool. Nichole’s chicken + chips was wonderful.

Jean and Mike, thanks for the great holiday, you’re right Nicoles is a great place to satisfy your appetite! The troglodytes gave a cool atmosphere and were very interesting but I much prefer your relaxing pool! Your chicks certainly caused some panic when we came back to find 2 escaped. Thankfully we were brave enough to pick them up, thanks again.

Had a lovely time in a lovely place. The horses opposite are really friendly and your chicks are really really sweet. We hope we didn’t traumatize them too much by picking them up (the story is opposite)

P.S. The pool was fantastically groovy.

Les Mortiers has the best of both worlds, old world charm and new world comforts.

Seven days of loveliness. thanks very much Mike and Jean – you’ve got an oasis!

Recommendations:

    Train touristique @ Saumur
       Tuesday market @ Bourgueil
         Lazing about @ The pool
      Avoid the drunk @ Parcay
       Swatting flies @ The kitchen
             Earplugs @ Saumur (loud Vespas)
               Boules @ The sandpit
Sparkling Brut wine-tasting and museum
                      @ Bouvet Laudebay
Toilet seat balancing @ The bathroom
        Keep it short @ The visitors’ book

Everything about your place is conducive to total relaxation.

A lovely relaxing retreat for our honeymoon and our first visit to France.

We came a long way but it was worth every minute. Thank you Michael and Jean for a peaceful and happy time. A wonderful retreat from the rush of modern life.

And finally a lovely house, good weather, brilliant hosts and a magnificent pool – loved our time here!

I think we will look back on the 2 weeks we spent at Les Mortiers as one of our best holidays ever. We loved the relaxed ambience provided by Mike and Jean. From the cotton sheets to the ice creams in the freezer, every detail was attended to. It was the perfect place for us as well as our children. Our children loved feeding the horses carrots, watching the chickens, playing in the sand and of course the pool. We enjoyed the pool as well as sitting out on warm evenings drinking wine and enjoying Jean’s lovely flowers. We hope to return next year.

Probably the best holiday so far! The most relaxing place we have been. So much for the kids to do with the animals, pool and so much open space to run around.

Les Mortiers is one of the few places in the world we would return to!

To think we found Mike and Jean’s labour of love on the bloody Internet. We never would have discovered this precious hideaway without the web, web pages and the miracle of e-mail. Hi-tech brought us to a place where the pace of life slows down and the outside world can just go away for a while.

We only paid a fleeting visit to this lovely little gem in the Loire valley … the accommodation is outstanding.

I can’t remember having so much delicious wine and relaxing this much.