Sol du Mazel Reviews

Check out the reviews

Sol du Mazel
Dordogne
France

4.97 / 5.00 average review

☆☆☆☆☆ 4.8/5

/ 5.0 Average star rating over 9 years

It's difficult to imagine a better place to stay if you're looking for both a relaxing and stimulating family holiday. Luxury in the form of a beautiful and fantastically well-equipped cottage, with a fabulous swimming pool and acres of space for children to play. Trampoline, slides, sandpit basketball and football are just some of the attractions onsite to entertain the children - although the swimming pool is probably enough.. Within about 30 minutes, there are amazing places to visit: castles, prehistoric caves, canoeing down the river and beautiful villages are just some of the highlights of our holiday. Impossible to have more thoughtful, caring hosts than Andy and Katie, while the incredibly helpful Fiona is available locally to sort out any problems with maximum efficiency and minimal fuss. A perfect place for a fabulous holiday.

We enjoyed a fantastic week at Sol Du Mazel, with two families (3 children aged 3-8) staying in Hope Cottage and Rose Barn. The communication with Andy & Katie before was excellent as we tentatively booked and hoped that we would be able to travel, and the property itself did not disappoint after such a long wait for a holiday - the grounds are huge with so much to entertain the kids and the pool was a welcome relief on warmer days. Inside & outside lots of space to relax and eat, and all the facilities one would need. In the surrounding area so many stunning villages to explore and opportunities for wild swimming - we will certainly be back.

Très jolie propriété au calme. Nous avons passé un excellent séjour chez Katie et Andrew entre amis. Nous y reviendrons avec plaisir. Great stay! Very pretty property in peace. We had a great stay with Katie and Andrew with friends. We will come back with pleasure. 9/9/2020 at 2:37 PM

Grandparents enjoyed themselves, parents relaxed, children had fun and lots of exercise. A lovely mix of rural walks, markets, castles, rivers, picnics and restaurants.o.

Erg sfeervolle villa en smaakvol ingericht. Groot terrein om het huis heen om te voetballen enz. Het dorpje was ook erg schattig en een goede omgeving om te kanoen of hiken. Very attractive villa and tastefully decorated. Large grounds around the house to play football etc. The village was also very cute and a good area for canoeing or hiking. 7/12/2021 at 2:50 PM

Superbe situation et jardin, propriétaires gentils et à l écoute. Un super séjour ! Superb location and garden, kind and attentive owners. A great stay! 8/25/2021 at 5:49 PM

We have just come back from a week’s stay in Rose Barn with our 5 and 3 year olds. It was just brilliant, I couldn’t recommend it more! The gite itself is lovely, extremely well equipped with every child need thought of! Plastics cups, bowls, toys, books, potties, bouncy chair etc etc! The weather was consistently in the late 20s. There are a number of fans in the property which helped with the heat but personally I think if it was any hotter sleeping could be a bit uncomfortable. The only slight negative was the WiFi. It worked ok for the first couple of days but after that it just didn’t work at all and reception in the area was weak. This might not bother some people but thought it was worth mentioning. The pool is great with a couple of steps the little ones can splash around on and then the main part of it is not too deep our 5 year could just about touch the bottom with his toes. The temperature of the pool was perfect. The grounds are huge with so much for children to do. Swings, sandpit, trampoline, football goal. It really was amazing. (Just watch out for wasps around the blue slide as they seemed to take a fancy to that bit of equipment). The walk to the village is a lovely 10 min downhill wander. A little longer on the way back because it’s quite steep! Saint Pompon is very pretty. The Saturday night food market was lots of fun. Would definitely recommend the almond and chocolate croissants from the bakery! There is a useful information book in the gites. We went to a number of the restaurants and would recommend the following: - aux aires de fanny - le cantine de fabrice - le saint martial The pool and grounds are shared with Hope Cottage which is the next door gite. We were extremely lucky because we got on so well with the other family staying at the same time as us and we even hope to meet up back in England. So if you’re lucky like us, as well as having a super holiday, you might also make some new friends!

Rose Barn is every bit as good as everyone says. As we approached for the first time, our 9-year old said ‘what’s that park?’ And indeed, the grounds look like nothing so much as a grassy children’s park, scattered with climbing frames and slides, and with a beautiful large pool. It was the pool that proved the real highlight for our children (9 and 11): it’s clean, modern, very well maintained, and warmer than other outdoor pools we’ve used. And because we were sharing it with only one other family, we often had it entirely to ourselves. The barn itself was brilliant. It’s very spacious, with loads of room for relaxing and dining, and the best equipped kitchen I think I’ve ever encountered. For smaller children there are plenty of toys, books and other equipment such as high chairs and stair gates. The location is also perfect: easy walking distance to the pretty village of St Pompont (with baker, butcher, pharmacy and small supermarket) but separated enough to be completely quiet. The crickets take over at dusk - quite a sound! It’s a short drive to some of the Dordogne’s most famous sights. Our neighbouring family were delightful and we enjoyed sharing a barbecue together one night. In short, we thoroughly recommend Rose Barn for a very comfortable and relaxing stay.

This was our third year in this gite which is in a perfect spot and is a lovely barn with everything we could ask for.

We are just back from an Idyllic 2 week stay in Sol Du Mazel and we loved it. Beautiful, rural, peaceful - a real chance to relax. St Pompom is the most gorgeous little village. Rose Barn is so well set up it is staggering - 'clean and well maintained' does not even half cover it . Everything you need and plenty more besides, our 2 young daughters loved the bunk beds and adored playing with all the toys and new stories. The outside space is AMAZING, so much fun to be had - they didn't know what to play with first. Hours and hours of outdoor fun for all the family. The pool another dimension again. We did not want to leave.... the beautiful views, the peace, 2 lovely terraces.... so much else, we would absolutely recommend and would love to return ourselves. Thank you

Rose Barn - Sol du Mazel gave us everything we needed for our family holiday plus 70th Birthday celebration. Last year we visited Hope Cottage (next Door) and enjoyed ourselves fully, so this year we wanted to repeat that and have both Hope Cottage & Rose Barn so more of our family could join us. The garden and pool looked superb and the new gazebo was excellent for breakfasts, quite times and our birthday party. We also found plenty to do in the area i.e. Eating out, The Dinosaur park, The Zoo, The Aquarium, canoeing on the Dordogne and Saint Emilion.

This place was amazing. We've stayed in a lot of places in Dordogne and wider France. It was by far the most idyllic and best equipped place we've encountered. You've thought of absolutely everything. We couldn't fault one single thing. Top effort and thanks for a wonderful holiday. The imperfect weather did not detract from the enjoyment for any of us; children and adults. We took the car and loaded it to the gunnels with games, toys etc to ensure kids were entertained. We needn't have bothered. This place has the lot. Highly recommended. And obviously the area is typical Dordogne: BEAU

très bon séjour, à proximité du village très charmant. La propriété est très bien, avec un espace de jeux pour les enfants très bien aménagé. Je recommande Rural setting very good stay, near the very charming village. The property is very good, with a very well appointed play area for the children. I recommend. 8/26/2020 at 6:33 PM

Nous avons passé 2 semaines de rêve dans le gîte d'Andy et Katie. Le gîte est magnifique (grand espace ouvert au rez-de-chaussée avec vue !sur le parc) et très bien équipé. Le terrain est fabuleux avec sa piscine profitant du soleil du matin au soir, ses jeux pour les enfants (balançoires, toboggans, trampoline, cabane et château en bois, bac à sable pour les plus petits) et sa rotonde un peu à l'écart pour un apéro ou un farniente tranquille tout en surveillant les enfants. A la lisière de St Pompon, le gîte est au calme et la sensation d'espace et de tranquillité est vraiment ressourçante, d'autant plus que la nature y est très belle et préservée. Nous avons même vu des biches se promener dans la partie un peu plus sauvage du terrain. Magique.. Un petit sentier permet de marcher jusqu'au centre du village en 20 minutes pour acheter son pain et/ou ses croissants du matin et faire ses petites courses au Viva local. Châteaux (Beynac, Milandes, Castelnaud) à plus ou moins 30 minutes de route tout comme d'autres activités telles l'accrobranche, les descentes en canoë/kayak sur la Dordogne, la visite de grotte préhistorique.. Bref, un petit coin de paradis dans la nature. La gérante, Fiona, est super sympa et super efficace en cas de problème. Un grand merci à elle pour son accueil et son soutien !

We could only think of endless positives Only positives about this villa and absolutely no negatives. First impression as you drive up to the villa is how much land it occupies - must be 8 acres - interspersed with what is basically an adventure playground. I counted 7 slides alone! Our boys had endless fun. The trampoline is huge. What grabs you as you walk round is how quiet it is. You feel almost instantly relaxed. To cap it all, there is a large wooden stand alone veranda higher up the garden as it slopes up which looks quite new and has incredibly comfortable rattan furniture and looks down on the house and pool. Benefits from a nice breeze which was great on the hot days. Mother-in-law disappeared up there a few times to escape! Pool is immaculate, very clean, warm with a covered area to escape the sun. Plenty of loungers and a huge amount of kids stuff for the pool too. Fenced and properly gated so no worries with the kids. CLICK FOR MORE.

This was our second summer in Rose Barn. The house is in a perfect setting, is light and airy, quiet, but near to St Pompon for those essential croissants. We look forward to another visit.

Rose Barn is situated in a very large garden complete with lots of activities for children. Beautifully finished inside. It is located 1/2 mile from a village with mini market store, boulangerie and boucherie.

We stay in the Dordogne every summer and this is the best gite we have found. The barn is beautifully positioned, away from it all but not too far from local facilities, on a large plot with a good size pool, beautifully finished and well equipped with everything you could ask for. Our children are 19, 17 and 14 and they loved the gite, pool and local area too. The owners are very helpful. We aim to be back! We went canoeing twice from Castelnaud (Bernard, the pool maintainer, recommended it and got us a discount) and visited the castle at Castelnaud. Monpazier on market day was fun as was market day in Daglan (a beautiful little village close by).

We have just recently returned from our holiday with 2 young children (5 years and 18 months) at Sol Du Mazel and definitely plan to return in the future. We discovered this holiday accommodation through a recommendation from friends who had recently stayed at the owners other property in Kent. We therefore couldn't wait to discover Rose Barn. The property has absolutely everything you would need when travelling with a young family and therefore mobilisation of the small army is made less painful. All essentials for an 18 month old toddler were provided and in excellent condition - stair gates, travel cot, High chairs, plastic crockery and children's cutlery, great selection of toys indoors and outdoors, tables and chairs (indoor/outdoor) etc. All essentials for a 5 year old were provided and again in excellent condition - puzzles, books, board games, balls, cricket, baseball, football goals, a fantastic array of pool toys and not to mention dominoes which has now become his favourite game. All of this in addition to the excellent play park within the grounds makes this an ideal retreat for young children and the bigger children...to enjoy. The accommodation is of the highest standard and made us feel at home. We could not believe the condition of the interior given that this is advertised as a family retreat. There is plenty of space for the children to play indoors and the property is situated in vast grounds. We made full use of the swimming pool and the children loved the hammocks. There were plenty of sun loungers with parasols and a large sheltered area for the children to escape from the sun. The location is ideal as the picturesque village of Saint Pompont is less than 5 minutes drive yet there is not a sound to be heard when relaxing outdoors within the grounds. Absolutely perfect and just what we like. Bergerac airport is approximately 1hour drive. It was also only approximately 1.5 hour drive for us to see the Tour de France which is also a great event for children. Katie and Andy were extremely helpful and informative which helped us plan our holiday with ease. All in all, a great, relaxing, fun holiday which we will definitely repeat.

We stayed at Rose Barn for two weeks with our 6 year old son and 8 month old daughter and had a fantastic time. Friends rented the adjacent Hope Cottage, and it was the perfect set up: there's an interconnecting door joining the properties which means we could have our own personal space but also easily share resources and get the kids together. The cottage is extremely well equipped with everything you might need for a baby. As for older kids, the playground is better than most local playgrounds! The location is also perfect, in the heart of the Dordogne with easy access to amazing sights including beautiful castles, caves, zoos and dozens of incredibly pretty villages. We didn't get enough sunshine to enjoy the swimming pool but there was never a dull day, there's so much to do. We also booked Rosie, the private chef recommended by the cottage owners, and that is definitely worth doing. She cooked a delicious four course meal and was delightful. I would definitely rent Rose Barn again, and in fact we are talking about returning when our little one is a bit older.

We have just spent a week renting out Rose barn and Hope cottage with friends. Both properties are well set out, and brilliant for families with young children. There was everything we could need and more (high chairs, potty, toys, laundry facilities). The tranquil setting had plenty to amuse the children so we could kick back and relax.

In June this year we enjoyed a fantastic week at Rose Barn, the cottage was lovely. Comfortable, clean, spacious and furnished and equipped to a very high standard. The weather was great very hot and sunny and the lovely pool was a real blessing! Lots of toys and swimming aids provided and plenty of loungers and hammocks to relax in. Our party didn't include anyone under 18yrs but the grounds had lots of toys and equipment to keep children amused and happy. There were also plenty of toys and games inside for cooler/rainy days. I have been recommending the cottages to everyone I know with a young family! The Dordogne is a beautiful area, the Chateau at Castlenaud was worth a visit. We also enjoyed Sarlat, which we visited on market day and canoeing on the river was great fun. We had a wonderful holiday at Rose Barn and would definitely love to returo.

We spent a lovely week at Rose Barn, and my husband was already suggesting we rebook for next year before we'd even packed up the car to come home! Some unique things about it (in my experience of child unfriendly holiday homes!): The play facilities are really great (kept ours aged from 2 - 6 entertained for hours!) and, here's the important bit, within easy sight and reach of the house. So you can sit on the terrace whilst your children play, without feeling the need to shadow them all the time. You could actually relax, and enjoy your own holiday. The pool - we spent a lot of time in the pool. It's fenced, and surrounded by nice loungers and hammocks, and again, within easy sight of the house. It's got a child friendly shallow end, and a little ridge round the edge so children can balance even in the deep end. There was a great assortment of pool toys. Our biggest two came on loads with their swimming within a week, and we had a couple of pool days, it was so nice. The toys - our almost 2 year old was very enamoured with the great selection of toys and books in the house. She could potter for a good half hour exploring new toys, which was great. The location - having spent the previous week in a less 'touristy' part of France, we found the location great for kids. Within 20 minutes' drive, we could have entertained ourselves for at least a fortnight. I wish we'd booked for longer. In summary, Rose Barn has been very well thought out by people with children. If you're travelling with little children, and self catering, we haven't found anything better.

Outstanding. We really loved our holiday in Rose Barn. The pool and grounds are perfect for a family. The Barn itself is well equipped and apportioned with everything you need. We felt truly at home for the week. I loved arriving to the crisp cotton sheets, beautiful pictures, games galore for all ages, kids’ toys, books, and more. Indeed as this is our second visit as a family we really appreciated the new sand pit, swings and slides and the fabulous play house (big enough to sleep in!). Coming out of season really works well. The prices are lower and the weather better or so it seems. We had daily temperatures of the high twenties/ low thirties and the pool varied from 28 to 30 deg C making it refreshing and pleasant. We spent a good 5 hours a day in the pool other than when we visited Domme or went on a canoe down the Dordogne.

What a stunning property! We rented both Rose barn and Hope cottage for a family stay with grandparents in May, and we're delighted with everything. This is a perfect property for parents looking for a touch of luxury in a stunning location. Blissfully quiet, and private, we were able to relax and enjoy some lovely warm weather. Very kiddy friendly, everything has been thought of, and the owners were very helpful before and during our stay.

We decided to spend New Year's Eve here and were pleased that we did! The cottage has everything you would need for babies and toddlers (the trampoline was perfect for speedy toddler exercise), the area is interesting to drive around and expore. Lots to do for small children -- even in winter-time. Lots of castle climbing and cheesy cave-dweller displays.The kitchen is well-equipped and the cottage is thoughtfully prepared -- right down to the baby bath toys. All in all, a lovely place to stay. Thank you, Andy and Kate, for making us feel welcome.

The accommodation was first class. Literally everything has been thought of and there was nothing we needed that wasn't there. The cottage was bright and beautifully decorated. The kitchen was well equipped. The lounge area was perfect for comfortable evenings in. There is even English TV! The pool area is very well thought out with plenty of seating and toys for the children. The kids loved the trampoline and swings and being able to ride their bikes around the vast garden space. We really enjoyed a bike ride from Daglan to Chateaunaud, it was flat so very easy to cycle and beautiful scenery all through the corn fields. We had an excellent week and will definitely be going back!

The living space is light, airy, homely and really well equipped. A kitchen with everything you need, a large dining table when you want to eat inside and a large table outside (where we ate mostly). Sofas are comfortable and a TV with UK channels (if you have time to sit and watch them). Upstairs is wooden floors and tranquil – all the bedrooms are well fitted out and fans in each of them (needed in the summer). A decent sized and well appointed bathroom, with a great separate shower and bath (and plenty of hot water). Linen, towels and everything was of good quality and made us feel very much at home. The outside is a great space for kids to play (safely) and for adults to chill. The pool is perfect with a huge number of inflatables and toys for children (and adults so inclined). Saint Pompont is an attractive small village with the everyday basics you’ll need and easy access to the what the rest of the Dordogne and Lot have to offer.

We have had a wonderful stay at Rose Barn with our 3 year old and 16 month old - our first holiday with our children. The house is beautiful and equipped with everything you need for a family holiday with young children. We spent our mornings visiting local markets, afternoons relaxing back at the house, and evenings eating al fresco on the terrace. The garden and swimming pool are fabulous with so much space for the children to roam safely, and lots of play equipment for them. Katie and Andy (and their local team) could not have been more helpful both with the planning of, and during, our stay. We can highly recommend the personal chef service - a delicious and very welcome meal on our arrival. We have had a truly memorable holiday and hope to return again!

We had a dreamy 2 week stay at Andy and Katie's lodge. The gîte is magnificent (large open space on the ground floor with a view of the park) and very well equipped. The land is fabulous with its swimming pool enjoying the sun from morning to evening, its games for children (swings, slides, trampoline, wooden cabin and castle, sandpit for the little ones) and its rotunda a little away for an aperitif or a quiet idleness while supervising the children. At the edge of St Pompon, the cottage is quiet and the feeling of space and tranquility is truly rejuvenating, especially since nature is very beautiful and preserved. We even saw deer roaming the somewhat wilder part of the land. Magic .. A small path allows you to walk to the center of the village in 20 minutes to buy your bread and / or croissants in the morning and do your little shopping at the local Viva. Castles (Beynac, Milandes, Castelnaud) more or less 30 minutes drive away as well as other activities such as tree climbing, canoeing / kayaking on the Dordogne, visiting a prehistoric cave ... In short, a little corner of paradise in nature. The manager, Fiona, is super nice and super efficient in case of any problem. A big thank you to her for her welcome and support!

Nous avons passé un superbe séjour dans la maison. Elle est parfaitement équipée, propre et très cosy. La piscine pour nous tout seuls a été un luxe! Et le jardin a ravi les petits mais aussi les grands qui ont pu lire et faire des siestes à l’ombre en haut du jardin dans l’abri! Nous garderons de très bon souvenir et recommandons cette maison au calme mais seulement à quelques kilomètres de tout ce que le Perigord Noir réserve de trésors. We had a wonderful stay in the house. It is perfectly equipped, clean and very cozy. The pool for us alone was a luxury! And the garden delighted young and old alike, who were able to read and take naps in the shade at the top of the garden in the shelter! We will keep fond memories and recommend this quiet house but only a few kilometers from all that Perigord Noir has in store for treasures. 7/24/2021 at 2:26 PM

average 4.97 /5 star rating over 9 years

Sol du Mazel Reviews

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Sol du Mazel
Dordogne
France

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average 4.97 /5 star rating over 9 years

Sol du Mazel Reviews

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Sol du MazelDordogneFrance

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Sol du Mazel
Dordogne
France