eymet - Le Portanel

Season 5

We are open for our 5^th season at Le Portanel, and new for 2026 all our bedrooms now have air-conditioning. The fans and chillers that we were using were good, and generally our stone house stays cool during the summer months, but when the temperatures get up into the 30s it gets uncomfortable, so this will be a big improvement. The heat-pumps we had installed have also been keeping the house warm for us over the winter, although it helped that Tom and I spent the coldest weeks in the south of Spain!

While we were at home over the winter, we once again hosted the musicians performing at the Jazz-Off concerts that take place in Eymet every 2 weeks from October to May. We are lucky to live a village that remains so animated off-season, and the Maquiz’Art association should be congratulated for the time and effort they put in to enable these concerts every year.

Some other highlights for me since my last entry on here have been

What I call our ‘end of term’ holiday of doing absolutely nothing in the Canaries for a week or two
Running the Cognac Half Marathon with Tom again (even though he beat me in a race for the first time since we have been running together!)
A great few days in Paris
Having family over to stay with us over Christmas
NOT having any big winter projects for the first time since we bought the house
Getting out with our lovely running group on Friday and Sunday mornings

… oh, and being able stay in bed until midday if we choose to

Looking at the diary, we already have over 200 room-nights booked for 2026 so it is another busy season ahead, but we are well rested, looking forward to welcoming everyone and trying to make their stay with us as special as possible.

Although nothing major, we still have a long to-do list for the house and garden over the next couple of months before we get too busy, so fingers crossed the glorious weather we have had over the last couple of weeks continues into the spring.

And relax…

Life in France / admin / 01/10/2024

September has proved to be another busy month in the B&B with a flurry of last-minute bookings and, I think, a great end to another successful summer season. A 7-night booking for two rooms from guests that stayed with us earlier in the year was very welcome, and we hosted other returning guests during the month along with first-time visitors.

A lot of guests stay with us for a couple of nights as part of holiday / road-trip of the region, and during September, we closed for a week and did exactly that ourselves heading down to the mediterranean coast. What a lovely week we had stopping in Carcassonne, Nîmes, Fréjus and Béziers, all stunningly beautiful historic towns and it was great to lie on the beach for a few days with my paperback.

Having had Le Portanel up and running for 3 seasons from a standing-start, we have learned a lot, listened to feedback and adapted to make staying with us as relaxing and comfortable as we can, whilst becoming more efficient and making life more enjoyable for ourselves as well. Over the coming quieter months, we’ll be reflecting on how to improve things further for next year as well as getting on with the house and garden maintenance and improvement that has to be put on hold during the summer. The utility room is our first project!

I’m delighted that Maquiz’Art have booked with us again for the visiting musicians for their jazz concerts in the village right through the winter and spring, and with flights into Bergerac now available for next year from Bournemouth, Bristol, Brussels, Edinburgh, East Midlands, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Rotterdam, new reservations are arriving, and tentative bookings are being firmed up so 2025 looks like being another busy year for us!

If you are thinking about staying with us or visiting the area, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss your requirements.

I’ll put the blog on hold for a while now. Last week was our last really busy week, and over the next few months we will be taking the opportunity to catch-up with the dreaded ‘to-do list’, spend some time with family, visit some new places, try some new experiences and, of course, just relax in front of the fire with a bottle of wine and some truly awful Christmas movies.

And relax… Read More »