See the best of France from a beautifully restored characterful chateau.

Martel is a lovely rambling, open sort of a place. Lots of space with secluded bits for privacy, if privacy is what you want. This wonderful place has just been restored from top to bottom.

Martel is in the Midi Pyrenees department in the south west of France, specifically the Tarn-et-Garonne. The immediate area remains very French, friendly people, cheerful and keen to help.

The ground floor has a sitting room , a garden carriage room, a dining room, a clodgey and a remarkable kitchen. All of the downstairs rooms has access to the garden, except for the clodgey. Cooking is done on an Aga, with a couple of gas hobs. The garden room gets no direct sunlight in the summer and stays delightfully cool.

There are three bedrooms, the White, the Blue and the Fragonaard, on the first floor, two with their own bathrooms, and a shower room a few steps away from the Frag'.

The second and last floor has two more bedrooms . The Pigeonnier bedroom has a double bed and another enormous en suite bathroom. The final bedroom is the Tower bedroom. This has a double and a single bed. Two futons, a cot and a Moses basket for a baby can be put in any of the rooms. Between these two rooms is a laundry room with a washing machine and a random shower that anybody can use.

There is enough space for at least 10 people, more if children are involved.

Three families have been very comfortable here and had a memorable time.

The garden of nearly 5 acres, is not overlooked and has plenty room to do pretty much anything that you want. A mobile gas barbeque, a fixed pizza oven, several tables and lots of chairs make al fresco dining possible anywhere in the garden. For those who want to relax, the 12 * 6 metre pool and large garden is just the place to switch off and recharge the batteries, drink local wines, walk unmolested by traffic, listen to grasshoppers, frogs and Little Owls without getting out of bed. Then, when you have acquired sufficient energy, you can go bicycling, canoeing in the spectacular Aveyron gorge, time travel to the medieval villages Bruniquel and St Antonin-Noble-Val, wonderful market on Sundays. Make a day of this time travelling and take in Puycelci, Albi and Castres too. All this not too far away. Then there is the small city of Montauban, a mere stone's throw to the south west. Montauban is the capital of the Tarn-et-Garonne and has the usual sort of city based stuff. shops, bars, restaurants, people, a cinema, loads of super markets, opticians and hair salons. It also has some unique stuff. The Ingres museum, some really interesting architecture, a large market on Saturday mornings, it's own cathedral and a delightful Place National right in the middle.

The nearest village to Martel is Réalville. Here you will find a depot de pain for your morning croissant, a pharmacy, a delicatessen type of place, a couple of restaurants, hair salons and a petrol station. all the essentials.