Take a virtual tour of La Maison D'Hibou

At La Maison D'Hibou the front is the back! You can enter the house either through the side door to kitchen (at the front of the house) or walk round to the cottage garden and the front door which is at the rear!! Confused? You won't be, it'll make perfect sense when you get there.

La Maison D'Hibou is a spacious villa that can comfortably accommodate 10 people. Although modernised it retains its rural charm. At its heart is a large open living area with traditional log burning fireplace. Leading off the living room is a fitted kitchen with oven & hob, convection microwave, fridge/freezer and, most importantly a washing machine and dishwasher. LMD has 5 bedrooms, three doubles and 2 twins, plus cot and single put-you-up bed, with a family bathroom and 2 ensuites on first floor plus an additional shower room on the ground floor.

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Walk in from the patio into the spacious living room. At its centre is a feature fireplace with a large mantle in a traditional French style and a log burning stove set within its hearth. The room has chestnut wood flooring and exposed beamed ceiling, which was revealed during renovations in 2004. Either side of the fireplace there are exposed stone walls one with a recessed bookcase.

Leading off the main living area is a very large double bedroom with traditional full length French doors spilling out onto the patio, ideal for those lazy morning breakfasts. Coming back into the living room you walk towards the back (front) of the house and on the way to the kitchen pass the ground floor shower room with its WC and wash hand basin. Directly ahead lies the kitchen and to the right stairs leading to the first floor with its mezzanine landing overlooking the kitchen.

Entering the large kitchen from the ground floor stairwell, you step up onto the diamond patterned terracotta floor tiles. The fitted kitchen (Winter 2000) with its exposed stone walls, pitched pine panelled ceiling and inset velux windows, is furnished in an appropriate farmhouse style and fitted with oven & hob, convection microwave, fridge/freezer and, most importantly, a washing machine and dishwasher.

Leaving the kitchen turn left and climb the stairs to the first floor which opens up onto the large mezzanine landing overlooking the kitchen (this can also be an emergency bedroom).

Turning off the landing to your left takes you to two bedrooms and a family bathroom area. Straight ahead is a cozy twin bedroom and adjacent to it is another large twin bedroom that has more than enough space to accomodate the put-you-up bed should you require it. Each have pine floors with exposed stone walls at one end and windows overlooking the garden, pool terrace and fields beyond. Adjacent to these bedrooms is the English style bathroom with fitted bath, shower, wash hand basin and WC.

Turning left again takes you along a short corridor, up 3 steps to the new barn conversion and master bedrooms completed during August & October 2002/3. Turn right into a master double bedroom room with pine panelled ceiling, vellux windows, exposed beams and a chestnut floor. This would make this room pretty enough, but if you add in the iron bedstead and glass bricks in the wall it becomes something special (Try watching the moon and stars whilst lying in bed). It has its own luxury double shower ensuite, basin and WC. If you had chosen to turn left on the landing you would enter into another master double bedroom, completed Easter 2003. This one is different and has exposed beams and a slightly more traditional feel with its rendered walls, exposed stone work and glass bricks (plus one special glass addition). Lay in bed in the morning, open the window and look accros the open fields, it's a perfect setting. Once agin this room also has its own luxury double shower ensuite, basin and WC so it's ideal for 2 families sharing.

A very English cottage garden, with a range of fragrant roses and wild flowers, will greet you as you walk onto the upper patio that is partly shaded by the pergola laden with intertwined roses and mature grapevine.

Let's imagine we've re-traced our steps and are now standing outside the front (back) door in the upper garden. One of France's best kept secrets is that the Charente is its second sunniest region, therefore, when the sun shines it gets hot. Although we can't guarantee the weather, La Maison D'Hibou's south facing garden caters for sun worshippers and shade seekers alike!

The garden is divided into three distinct areas: an upper English cottage garden described earlier, a large swimming pool terrace with patio (Summer 1999) and sun deck (Summer 2004), a lower open garden laid mainly to lawn and edged with hazelnut, fig and plum trees and, as with many rural French homes, an area with some small outbuildings and a natural well (securely covered). There used to be a bread oven adjacent to the pump room, which was unfortunately demolished some years ago. The small outbuildings, which now house the pump room, bike store, patio furniture and kindling were in times past the farmer's home for his smaller farm animals, such as chickens and goats.

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From the rear door of the house, follow the slab stones that will lead you down to the pool terrace with its timber deck and at its centre an inviting oval pool and terrace. We hope that everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday at LMD, however, a swimming pool can be a dangerous area, especially for small children. To help prevent drowning an immersion alarm has been installed which will detect when an object of 2kgs and upwards falls into the water. Competent adult supervision is the only way to prevent drowning accidents, and the immersion alarm is a complementary security initiative that should not be soley relied upon. In addition to the alarm, access to the pool area is via latched gates, thus providing an extra barrier to un-supervised access to the pool area by small children.

Produced for LMD by The Whizzbang Media Company - Copyright LMD2001