Les gîtes du Clos Chassepline

Here's the rest of the segment of the recent Maison France 5 about a new B&B and gîte business in Saint-Aignan run by a couple named Létitia and Charles. They also have three B&B rooms in the main house on their big property just across the bridge from Saint-Aignan. The name of the property is Le Clos Chassepline.

A gîte is a vacation rental or guesthouse. One dictionary defines the term as meaning Endroit où l'on couche, réside, temporairement ou habituellement. The expression le gîte et le couvert means "room and board." The gîte is where you sleep — it derives from the verb gésir which means to lie down (and sleep) — and the couvert is a place setting at the dining room table — we use the same term in English when we talk about a "cover charge" — which is a flat entrance fee charged by some restaurants, clubs, or bars.

These gîtes seem reasonably priced to me. The larger one (the first one in the video) is a two-bedroom, one-bath, 1300 ft² house that can sleep eight — one bedroom is furnished with a queen-size bed and two single beds — starting at 100 euros per night. The smaller one is an 850 ft², two-bedroom, one-bathroom house on two levels that sleeps four with prices starting at 120 euros a night. You can read about them and see photos here. I'm sure prices are higher in summer and lower in winter.

This is not an advertisement; I'm just trying to give you an idea of what French gîtes and prices can be like. The gîtes we stay in normally charge between 300 and 500 euros for a week's stay. We take our own bed and bath linens with us, as well as food so that we can have dinners in the gîte. We can also go to local supermarkets and outdoor markets for food.

The last place we stayed in, at Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne region, had three bedrooms and a big kitchen and living room, plus a good-sized yard. The one where we're going to stay for a week in April up on the English Channel coast is a 1400 ft² two-bedroom house with a big yard for 450 euros for the week. Here's the description:

Gîte indépendant (140 m²) aménagé dans une maison picarde ancienne, sur terrain clos de 1800 m², commun à l'habitation des propriétaires. Au rez-de-chaussée : cuisine, séjour, salon, salle de bains (douche et baignoire), WC indépendant. A l'étage : 2 chambres (1 lit 140, 2 lits jumeaux 90), 1 lit 140 en mezzanine. Un cabinet de toilette avec lavabo et WC. Chauffage central au gaz, sèche-linge.

In other words, two bedrooms upstairs (one double and one twin), one bathroom (tub + shower) downstairs with the kitchen and living room, and two half-baths, one on each floor.  There's also an extra double bed on a mezzanine upstairs.

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Here are links to the five clips from the recent La Maison France 5 show

about the Saint-Aignan area that I've posted over the past week.

1. Saint-Aignan introduction
2. A B&B in Saint-Aignan/Noyers
3. Gîtes ruraux in Saint-Aignan/Noyers
4. A "cave dwelling" near Amboise
5. A farmhouse at Pontlevoy