It’s not often I actually outrightly refer to our self-catering gite in this blog, in fact I don’t think I’ve ever written explicitly about it, except for the time we were awarded a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence.  Occasionally I refer to how easy a place of interest is to reach from Lou Messugo, or how close a certain walk is, but that’s it, nothing overt.  However today I want to tell you about the many great reasons why you should not just read my blog but take that step further and actually book a holiday with us!  So as not to overload you all at once, I’m splitting my reasons into 3 parts, to be published over the next 3 days.  I hope you’ll take the time to read each section.

UPDATE 2020 COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS All these reasons to entice you to our gite are even more relevant in this time of Coronavirus. See the update box at the bottom of the post.

 

self-catering gite Lou Messugo Côte d'Azur

What is a Self-Catering Gite?

Firstly, let’s talk about the word “gite” (gîte in French), for those of you not too sure, it really just means a self-catering holiday (vacation) rental.  There are several different types of gîte in France, varying from basic stopover accommodation to luxury villas, and everything in between.  The beauty of the word is that you don’t have to specify cottage/apartment/villa etc, it’s simply understood to be furnished holiday accommodation.

I use the word for our place, Lou Messugo, as it’s short, snappy, French (thereby immediately indicating which country we’re in and possibly giving it a certain cachet) and I think it suits what we offer and sounds more charming than the word “apartment”.

Mölkky_on_the_lawn_at_Lou_Messugo_gîte

Which leads us to the fact that Lou Messugo is an apartment not a cottage and yet I don’t think the word reflects what we have here.  For me, and I’m sure I’m not alone, the words holiday apartment conjure up blocks of flats, or at the very least, several flats in the same place.

What we offer is a ground floor apartment attached to our family home.  It is 100% independent, with its own front door and no internal access to our house.  It is very sound-proof and despite being under our bedrooms you won’t hear us and we don’t hear you.

The apartment has its own private sun-trap terrace which leads to a large garden.  The garden is shared with us but realistically you’ll only see us in the area around the gîte if we’re actually gardening, so effectively you have a large lawn to yourselves.  It’s big enough for football, badminton, croquet, mölkky (in the photo above), rounders, French cricket etc.

In my mind, this isn’t what you expect when you think of an apartment.  The word gîte, therefore, fits Lou Messugo perfectly.

Outdoor Space – Garden and Pool

pool at Lou Messugo self-catering gite

Let’s talk about what else we offer, starting with the outside.  We have a pool.  It is fully fenced for your security meaning no toddler can wander off and fall in by accident.

It is shared with us and after many years of running Lou Messugo we are very good at judging whether you would like to be left alone or wouldn’t mind our company.  While you are here on holiday you are our priority and we work around you.

Often we find our kids get on with yours and enjoy mucking around in the pool together giving parents a bit of time to read or relax without being on permanent play duty.

Of course, if you are holidaying here as a couple without kids we make sure ours don’t bother you!

We provide sun loungers, inflatables and “noodles” as well as balls and other toys that can be used in the water.  This means you don’t have to bring anything of this sort with you.

relax by the pool

Other outdoor equipment includes a large netted trampoline, ping-pong table and boules pitch (pétanque).  We provide all the balls, bats etc necessary for these games (and badminton, croquet and other garden games).

The climate is so mild on the Côte d’Azur that children in particular use the garden all year round (the photo below of boules is in late October).

boules_at_Lou_Messugo_gîte

The pool however, is usually in use from about early May till late September (depending on the weather).

Finally, in terms of outdoor equipment, we also have a number of bikes, go-karts, scooters and trikes that you can borrow and our lane is so free from traffic that children can safely ride around outside the gate.

Depending on the make up of your family we might have the right size bikes for you all to go for a ride together.

family on bikes at Lou Messugo gite

There’ll be more great reasons, highlighting the interior of the gîte and our personal touch coming up in subsequent posts. However, if I’ve already convinced you to get in touch to discuss your self-catering gite holiday please get in touch. You can use the contact form on the website, found at the top of the page, or leave a message here. Questions and comments always welcome.

!! UPDATE 2020 CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 !!
COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS All these reasons to entice you to our gite are even more relevant in this time of Coronavirus. By holidaying at Lou Messugo you will be independent. Social distancing won’t be a problem as you’ll be alone. We can arrange for a self-check-in with the keysafe, thereby avoiding all contact with us. This summer we will not share the pool with you, and only use it when you are not around, disinfecting all surfaces on sunloungers and the gate handle etc after our use. We will provide separate inflatables for you and for our personal use. Self-catering means you don’t have to worry about restaurants not being open.

Read more reasons to holiday at Lou Messugo Part 2 here

Read even more reasons in Part 3 here

Save this PIN for future reference

Lou Messugo self-catering gite

 

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