The house, called Terrefort, is situated in the countryside and has excellent dark skys despite being only 5 miles from the local town, Tonneins, which has many restaurants, take-aways and even a swimming pool. The house has three bedrooms and can sleep a maximum of eight. Observing equipment includes a 12" Meade computerised scope and several smaller instruments. The house and garden are not considered suitable for young children unless closely supervised, for example there are steep banks at one side of the property and there are other hazards.
There are double beds in two of the bedrooms and twin bunks in the third. The living room has a double fold-out bed. This is the upstairs bedroom which has a fitted wardrobe and chest of drawers. You will need to supply your own linen and towels but duvets are provided.
The second double bedroom is downstairs. This has a wardrobe and an extensive shelving unit.
The third bedroom is on the upper floor and contains the twin bunkbeds. There is also a clothes stand and chest of drawers.
The living room has a large modular sofa (with fold-out metal framed double bed). There is a widescreenTV which receives French stations and a video player. There is a bookcase with a wide collection of reading matter and videos.
The kitchen includes a large gas stove, fridge-freezer, a microwave and toaster and a large collection of crockery and cooking utensils.
The bathroom has a double wash-hand basins, a corner bath, a shower and a large heated towel rail. Additionally there is a toilet with wash-hand basin on the upper floor.
Downstairs there's a game room with dartboard and table-football. There's also an automatic washing machine.
Downstairs adjoined to the games room is a lounge area with french windows leading onto a large south facing patio with garden furniture.
The main telescope is a 12 inch Meade SCT with 64,000 object database. This is housed in a run-off shed. There is also an 8 inch Celestron SCT. The telescope has been aligned but it impossible to guarantee its exact state for each set of visitors. There are some trees in the garden obscuring some parts of the sky near the horizon.
Location and Amenities
Vares is a very small village about 1 km from the house in the heart of a wine and tobacco growing region. Vares has a sports hall and a bar and not much else. For shopping and most other things Tonneins is very convenient. Vares is 3 or 4 miles from the town of Tonneins in the Lot et Garonne department which is in the Aquitaine region. Vares is about 60 miles south east of Bordeaux and about 50 mile south of Bergerac. There is a railway station in Tonneins which is on the mainline between Toulouse and Bordeaux. This is the public swimming pool just a few miles from the house as you approach Tonneins from Vares.
The train from Toulouse takes just under two hours and from Bordeaux it takes about 1 hour. Cheap flights are available to Toulouse, Bordeaux and Bergerac. The delightful town of Marmande is about 10 miles away with many large stores and amenities.
There are many Bastide (fortified) towns in the immediate area. This is Penn, just a few miles away:
The medieval town of Bergerac offers many flights from the UK and is about 50 miles North of Vares:
Prices depend on the time of year as indicated in the following table which gives the price per week in sterling (UKL). There is a 10% discount on the total for two weeks, and 15% for three weeks and 20% for four weeks or more. A deposit of 25% is required upon booking and the full amount is payable four weeks before the booked period commences. A deposit of £200 is required against breakages and electricity used which is charged at 5 pence per unit.
| November-March | 300 |
| April-June | 400 |
| July-August | 500 |
| September-October | 400 |
Email us at keylink@dial.pipex.com with your requirements and telephone number and we will contact you.