Loire Valley: Chateau de Bournand, nine acres park with pool, up to 18 guests

Lovely stay for 2 families with teenage and older children and one dog. Lots of room for all of us, big bonus was every room with its own bathroom. The pool was great, bigger than most rental properties, properly fenced and with a pool house and toilet, so you could really spend the day there in good weather, which we did. Perfect location for easy expeditions to wonderful venues - talk to Marie, she can recommend great excursions. High harvest season so we had some noise early morning from the farm tractors, and also quite a few restaurants, shops etc are closed in August, so investigate before you turn up! Marie cooked for us one evening, which was lovely but do talk through the menu with her in advance, we had a vegetarian with us, who luckily was quite flexible (vegetarians are not well catered for in rural France, it is not understood) but if you have special requirements then you might be best to agree the menu. I don't recommend the restaurant in the village but that might have been an off day or maybe we were tired, but with a short drive there are many options. Wine tasting afternoon was great. We had a perfect mix of interesting expeditions and lazy days by the pool. The kitchen is extremely well equipped and you can easily cook for your group, or go and pick up pizza. The village butcher is wonderful but that's the only shop, there's a bread automat (not stocked in August) and an unmanned supermarket with basic food. Great place!

We had a wonderful stay at the Château de Bournand. It provided the traditional French atmosphere we were looking for. The pool was lovely (and small pool house very helpful w the children). And we loved Marie’s cooking!

We spent Christmas as a family and the house was simply perfect. There were 16 of us and we had plenty of space.The house is also comfortable and charming

Marie was very welcoming offered recommendations of where to eat and booked a restaurant for us on our first night which turned out to be just as good as she said and in a beautiful location. The rooms were very pretty, clean and comfortable. The grounds and gardens were delightful, not too formal so that you could relax in them. We had three generations of our family with us and everyone enjoyed their stay. A good place for older and younger children to explore. The teenagers and adults in our group enjoyed using the pool. There was also plenty to visit and see in the surrounding area and we had some lovely meals out and also eating back at Bournand sitting in the garden. Thierry showed me the herb garden and said we were welcome to pick and use whatever we needed and we did. Bourand was perfect for our family group as we were able to share the kitchen, dining room and sitting room but also had the privacy of our separate rooms. We enjoyed sitting outside our room drinking coffee with Socks, the cat in the morning. Marie and Thierry were charming and so is Chateau de Bournand.

We had a lovely time at Marie's wonderful property. Great pool for the kids and lots of space from them to run around. The house had a nice gathering area and a great place to grill and dine outside. Marie was super accommodating and helped us out with reservations for restaurants and wineries. Not much to the town of Bournand but close to Loudun which has everything you need. 20 minutes from Chinon.

My family and friends all enjoyed our stay at the Bournand chateau. The place is charming and peaceful. And nearby, there are so many beautiful castles, caves, gardens to explore, good fresh produce & food to savor and interesting culture & history to learn, I cannot find a better place to experience an ideal French country life. Above all, the owner Marie had been a most gracious hostess. Alway with a cheerful smile, she provided helps when we asked and gave suggestions when we were unfamiliar with the local custom/conditions. She had made our stay most comfortable.

We had the pleasure of spending two wonderful weeks at Chateau de Bournand. The Chateau living quarter, the pool and gardens where great. The location in the Loire Valley was perfect for touring with many chateaus, forts, abbeys and castles an easy drive. We have traveled the world but have never found hosts who were as friendly and always offering assistants and suggestions of interesting places to visit. Thanks for a memerable stay John and Vicki