Le Jardin Secret — a unique historic courtyard house in the heart of Arles

Thank you Melita, it was a delight to have you visit :)

Thank you Anna, it was a delight having you to stay. We would welcome you back anytime :)

thank you Emily, you were delightful guests, welcome back any time

Thank you for your kind words, it’s always lovely to have return guests who get to know and appreciate the house and the area

Thank you for your review. We are pleased you enjoyed the location, quietness and historic character of Le Jardin Secret, but we are sorry that aspects of your stay were disappointing. To clarify the maintenance issue, the plumber attended on the day of your arrival, 18 June, to assess the bathroom basin tap. The repair required a part, and your stay ran across the weekend, so the work was completed once the part became available. As we did not receive any message through the WhatsApp group indicating that the tap was causing you difficulty, we treated it as routine maintenance rather than an urgent call-out. However, with hindsight, we should have checked in with you directly, and we accept that our communication should have been better. We were also very sorry to learn after your stay that you had fallen in the bathroom. Le Jardin Secret is an old Arles house with internal steps and level changes, which are part of its historic character, but we are reviewing whether the level change beside the bath can be made more visible for future guests. Regarding the bedroom temperature, Arles was experiencing very high temperatures during your visit. The property is not advertised as air-conditioned and fans are provided, but we appreciate your feedback and are considering what further cooling options may be practical in a house of this age and type. Thank you again for staying with us and for raising these points directly.

Thanks, Joanie; it was a delight to have you stay. Come again soon!

Dear Helen, thank you for writing a review and for your patience with the issues that the heavy rain caused. i'm glad to say these have now been rectified. Thank you for drawing attention to the mobility issues for any future renter. The house, as you say is composed of parts - actually three parts not two. The first and oldest part is the stone kitchen and stone bedroom above it. It has been suggested that this may have been part of a roman monastery and you will have noted the arched stone ceilings. what you would not realise is that under the kitchen is a vaulted room sized cistern (for water storage). Interestingly the roman aqueduct enters the town at this point and runs past the house somewhere under ground. i have always wanted to be lowered into the cistern with a good torch and see what i could learn about it! The second part of the house makes the second side of the courtyard. You are right this would have been a separate house once. This is wooden in construction and younger - just hundreds of years old. this is the living room with loft bedroom with attached shower and sink room. A yes - a steep wooden stair. The third side of the courtyard is a large stone wall that makes up the neighbours external wall. The fourth side of the courtyard would have once been an alley to the two houses. This has now been infilled to make a third 'house'. The entrance from the street leads to a high ceiling hallway with toilet, stairs to the upstairs and stairs down to the basement. Because it is infilled the internal walls are the external walls to the neighbours and there is a stone archway similar to those you will see in the alleys around town. A small conservatory then forms the fourth side of the courtyard. Upstairs is the study, main bathroom and small terrace over looking the courtyard.... the stone stairs are indeed steep and worn with time. This part of the house has a basement (again with steep stone stairs). this basement had become infilled when we purchased the house and we excavated it out to its original depth and renovated it to form a utility room. Interestingly when digging it out we found what appears to be a damaged German helmet which we have placed in a niche in the wall for all to see. it must have an interesting story! For us the house has much to tell and we value its history and respect that it is part of a UNESCO world heritage site. We have tried to leave the house as a record of its fascinating history.