Our gite in Les bourdeaux is 10 minutes drive south of the medieval town of Loches, which is itself 30 minutes south of Tours. Full directions for getting to your holiday home will be sent to you on receipt of your final booking.

Our house is close to the Indre river which runs through Loches. This is a tributary of the Loire itself. It is at the southern end of the area designated ‘The Loire Valley'.

The house / gite is in a country hamlet surrounded by fields and farmlands. It is an ideal location for peaceful, away-from-it-all holidays and it's distance from the main roads and such like can give parents complete peace of mind for their children's safety. You will almost certainly need a car to get the most of your holiday. Nightlife must normally be _self-made but you are sufficiently away from neighbours, including the cows, that they don't seem to mind a bit of noise.

Should you want more than what the house / gite can give you, the surrounding LoireValley area offers:

*Plenty of history and culture. The Chateaux are renowned and too numerous to mention – from sleeping beauty's inspiration at Usse (40 mins) to the ancient ruins and dungeons at Chinon (70 mins). Amboise (40 mins) has a lovely walk along the banks of the Loire, it's chateau and a really tremendous display of many of Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions, sketches and sayings. Art exhibitions, musical evenings and ‘'son el lumiere' performances bring ancient scenes in the chateaux to life. During the first weekend of August (check the website for date) Chinon turns it's whole town into a medieval city and roasting pork, fancy dress, parades etc etc. A great day out.

• Street entertainment: This can include Markets (Loches market is on Wednesdays with a food market on Saturdays), village fetes or simply sitting outside in pavement cafes and bars watching life pass by at a leisurely pace.

• Sporting facilities: Enthusiasts and amateurs are well catered for. Walking, cycling and jogging are popular as the land is gently rolling and very unpopulated. The area is well known for excellent golf courses – much cheaper than the UK and you buy a pass for the day, not the round, so you can go on and on till dusk! There is an excellent 9 hole course in our local village of Verneuil-sur-Indre . Even though there is no sea, watersports are also available on some of the larger lakes – one within 15 minutes of the gite. At Lulu Park (40 mins) they have a huge area of ‘bouncy castle' type things from slides to ball pools + a picnic area. It's a great way to exhaust thouse restless younger children! [And the Macdonalds on the A10 near Tours (40 mins) has the biggest inside climbing room we've ever seen – our salvation in the winter rain!]

• Wine tasters heaven! There are plenty of opportunities to visit vineyards and undertake tastings. These ‘degustations' can be in caves, homes of growers or shops. Some towns like Bourgeuil (80 mins) have a whole weekend devoted to tasting it's specialist red wine! Vouvray white and sparkling (35 mins) will have you fighting over who drives! At Saumur (90 mins) or Langlais (70 mins) you can tour the caves to see how their sparkling wines are made.

• The Loire Valley can be a gardener's delight, from the spectacular formal gardens at Villandry (50 mins) or Chenenceau (30 mins) to the numerous garden centres. Wildlife enthusiasts might enjoy the pond on site, the local buzzards, redstarts etc.

• Access to the rest of France , via the TGV fast train from Tours (Pierre le Corps station (40 mins)): The Journey to Paris then takes only 55 mins!

You can discover the rest of what's on offer when you get here.

Garden Room