Getting 26 people from all over the world, aged between 04 and 85, aligned around a summer holiday destination is a challenge in itself. Getting 26 big smiles and 26 "thumbs up" by the time the holiday is over, is something else all together. Chateau de la Bijoire and its charming owners consistently apply the first law of successful marketing: under-promise and over-deliver! The "de Bretagne" family wants you to feel at home, and that's exactly what it feels like by the time you have to leave...
The Château: if you liked the pictures on the website (www.chateaudelabijoire.com), you will love the real thing: it's like a boutique hotel for private use. Very spacious rooms, tastefully decorated with great care for materials, design and quality. Excellent en-suite bathrooms, each finished to a very high standard. Great (and grand) drawing rooms that we actually used very frequently, a roomy dining room and a modern, very well equipped kitchen. The basement hides one of the many attractions for the children: a café-style "babyfoot".
Outdoors: the many terraces follow the sun around the house, so there is always a place to enjoy the sunlight or sit in the shade. The beautiful garden is great for all kinds of adventures, and our kids provided us every morning with baskets full of blackberries, skillfully picked around the pond by rowing boat.
The Basse Cour: this is where the pool is situated, as well as a large, covered, open-air play area with ping-pong table. The charming outbuildings are basically the old stables and storage rooms that used to support life in the big house in the old days. The pool is modern and equipped with an electric floating cover, which makes opening and closing pretty convenient. Another plus is the UV-water desinfection unit, which is a much less agressive method than the regular chlore treatment.
Activities: one of the reasons for us to pick la Bijoire was the close vicinty to the atlantic coast and its beautiful beaches. We discovered the region and spent many hours on our surf boards (manusurfschool.com). There are many other activities and some interesting cities in the vicinity, which should cater to all different tastes and age groups.
In summary, a highly enjoyable experience with only one major down-side: time flies too fast at la Bijoire, so next time we'll come for two weeks!
July 2016, the Merks family: San Diego, USA / Amsterdam, NL / Saint-Gervais, F / Ankara, Tr / Maastricht, NL / Accra, Gh / Belfort, F
