Situated perfectly beside the iconic chateau, La Maisonette is a beautiful and comfortable hideaway, ideal for accessing the little town of Beynac. The town (in late August), despite being a significant tourist destination, is actually pretty quiet early on and in the evenings, especially up by the chateau. Most mornings you’ll hear the church bells singing out into the valley below, accompanied by the subtle burn of a couple of hot air balloons heading out over the chateau. It’s gorgeous in every direction and suited our party of two grandparents, two more standard parents and two children (aged 8 and nearly 5) right down to the ground.
The terraced garden provided a fabulous warren for (supervised) adventures with swords and shields from the chateau.
If you’re planning on sitting out at night it’s worth investing in a citronella candle or two, just to help keep the odd interested wasp at bay.
Inside the house, we loved the layout and exceptionally high standard of finish. Our hosts couldn’t have been more helpful with an in-depth guide to the area and house itself, and the right amount of advance communication.
Finally, while the walk down to the house is fairly steep, and the one down to the town itself much more so, it is so worth doing and staying here. To have such access to the region, and to a place people tend to visit for only one day, has been a wonderful change and an opportunity to “vivre comme les français.”