Thursday, April 12, 2012

Has anyone stayed at Chez Jallot?

Chez Jallot was featured on Channel 4%26#39;s %26#39;Grand Designs Abroad%26#39; a couple of years ago and was repeated on telly (More 4, I think) last week. This house has been lovingly restored by the owners and is now being run as a b and b. Has anyone been there? And is there much to do in the area in late summer?



Any tips or advice would br gratefully received.




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Not been there but we have a house in the area....can let you know some places to go and restaurants if you like





Steve




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Yes please, we%26#39;d love to hear of recommended restaurants, places of interest etc.



We like the outdoors, birdwatching, lovely scenery and we also adore looking around brocante markets, lovely towns and villages as well as appreciating the food and wine, so any tips you can give would be gratefully received.



Thanks very much.




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Here we go:





We know the area south and west of Chez Jallot:





Lac de vassiviere is a must really... it is a very large man made lake... with an island ...Ile de Vassiviere which has a sculpture walk in the woods and a gallery a nice cafe for both salad lunches and tea/coffee.. great to walk round the island.... you can also hire boats at Auphelle ( which has a little cafe overlooking the lake). There are also swimming beaches





Peyrat le Chateau is a pretty old %26quot;town%26quot; ( more like a village) with a v. good traditional french restaurant (Auberge de Bois de l%26#39;etang) and a good pizza place. You can also swim here, resistance museum and working mill





Cheissoux has a lovely little restaurant, our local, called Auberge de la Fountaine, which does great meals ( closed sunday and weds evenings).. They also speak a little Engish.





St Moreil... group walks every weds at 2.30 from the church yards in the centre of the village.... small group all are welcome.. generally organised by local french and english...





St Leonard de Noblat... is a lovely old town with loads of patisseries and chocolatiers and an excellent restaurant : Le Gay Lussac





Aubusson... has several tapestry museums... and a first rate exhibition with Dom Robert at present... he was a monk who created great tapestries until hs death in around 1997





Bourganeuf... another lovely medieval town with bars, eating places etc.





Sauviat le vige... famous porcelain manufacturer... Medart le Noblat with factory shop and v. small dispaly of porclain manufacture







Be aware that there will not be many people around!



Also the weather can be very changeable and it has been very wet this summer.. as the UK!....



When the sun is shining it will be quite hot..... but on rainy days you will need to put a layer on.







Wild life abounds.... deer, buzzards, wood peckers, owls, heron, kingfishers etc..... up to you how much you want to put into it....





walking is great and most areas have walking guides. .you will also be there for the mushrooms.....





There will be local area guides... sort of free papers with loads of info...a tourist info place will have... and they are very helpful .... they will have info on farmers markets and vide-greniers ( car boot type sales) and brocante places




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oh and let me know if you need any more info



Steve




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Thanks very much for all the info. Most useful.



Jeanie.




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Hi,





We stayed at Chez Jallot four weeks ago, the house is fantastic and Doug and Denise are extremely friendly. Open house is the best way to describe the arrangements, you can use the kitchen, help your self to beer and wine (noting it down on the honesty sheet of course!) and they have a fantastic dog called Jogi that will show you around the area if you want.





As per the other posts the lake is fantastic, we particularly liked Broussas to visit the lake, nice quite sandy beach with boat hire and good snack facilities. Be aware that on Mondays very little is open due to the whole 35 hour working thing.





Would recommend that you eat at the House most nights, the food is excellent and the wine never ends… Also if you might be offered to be taken to a local restaurant with the hosts, we also found this excellent.





Hope this helps a little, let me know if you would like further info.




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Thanks very much for the info. The house sounds wonderful; we are greatly looking forward to our trip and are keeping our fingers crossed re the weather although anything%26#39;s better than August in England this year!



J




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How did it go?



Steve




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We had a super time, thanks. The house and surrounding countryside were wonderful, quiet and peaceful and Deni and Doug were great hosts. We fell in love with Jogi the dog of course.



We were lucky enough to enjoy some lovely meals in the evening with our fellow guests; a really interesting mix of people from as far away as Australia (they came because they had seen Grand Designs). The only downside we thought was the fact that everything is closed from about 12ish to about 3ish every day and on Monday the whole area was like a ghost town as there was nothing open all day!



Apart from that, we were delighted to have stayed in the magnificent old house called Chez Jallot and would recommend it wholeheartedly.




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We recently stayed at this accommodation and were very disappointed. Why does no one mention that the house smells of cat pee due to the six cats the owners have in the house (litter trays on floors one and three if you are interested) Did I mention the hunting dogs to the rear of the house in pens that constantly bay (early mornings are a specialist subject of theirs )



Others mention convivial dinner parties, we felt the owners tried to %26quot;forcefully encourage%26quot; participation at such events. We were told we had booked dinner even though we knew we had not. To be honest we ate superbly locally at half the price. Thirty odd euro’s for the host’s meal (with wine at twice the price it can be bought for locally as an extra). Not for us thank you very much ! This accommodation is for visitors who want to minimise the warm welcome given by the French residents to visitors that want to experience their country.



Oh and by the way all transactions are in cash only !! Total transparency I think not !



In short, my view is that this is an over rated experience that only continues to survive on the back of an old television program. Please do compare prices and locations carefully before booking at this location.

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