Comfy Cozy cottage

The French word gîte, pronounced jeet -- is a French holiday home that is available for rent. Gîtes are usually fully furnished and equipped for self-catering. Technically speaking, to be called a gîte, the owner must live close by in order to provide help, assistance, and a warm welcome to guests.

Gîtes are generally old farm workers' cottages or converted outbuildings and barns within proximity of the owners' principal residence. This type of holiday accommodation is sometimes regarded as 'basic' in terms of facilities; however, most gîtes are generally very well kept, and have excellent facilities.

The word originally meant a form of shelter but now the term gîte encompasses most forms of holiday cottages.

Earl and I have spent some time traveling and staying in simple, inexpensive and comfortable gîtes in France. The owners do live close by and help us find fun local things and recommend interesting places to see, paint and photograph as well as offering us a friendly glass of local wine and a chat.

We love traveling this way, meeting new people and having a kitchen saves us a lot of money. We do go to restaurants occassionally but more often we go to local markets and buy fresh food to cook ourselves. It’s fun and helps us discover an area, meet new people, make friends and feel more like residents than tourists.

We’ve chosen all the things we love most from the gîtes we’ve discovered and opened our own little American gîte. If you aren‘t familiar with this form of travel we hope you’ll give it a try.... your glass of wine awaits!