BASQUE HOME, OLD 17TH CENTURY FARMHOUSE

We loved every minute of our one week stay at 'ferme Urcuit'. The house is tucked away down a country lane, just up from the river Adour. It's about a 15minute max drive from the centre of Bayonne, there are buses that run from Urcuit to the town centre but we all rented cars. There's plenty of parking by the house. The garden and views surrounding the house are fab; fig, medlar, apple and plum trees, and grapevines overhanging the entrance doors - we even saw deer as we drove down the lane! A group of 3 English and Irish families, 17 adults and 1 baby, we decided to allocate rooms before a scramble ensued: there are four private dbl rooms with ensuite, one single bedroom and then two rooms with ensuite that sleep 4 people each (one is a mezzanine, the other room has wall between a dbl bed and two single beds but no door). Since there were 4 sets of parents, we gave them the private double rooms. The loos upstairs are electric and boom when flushed, so we agreed simply to use the downstairs bathrooms at night. The living areas are very spacious, there's a huge dining table that seated everyone which made the evenings great fun. There's a games cupboard, hi-fi and tv. The kitchen has all the mod cons - the dishwasher is a saviour with that many people! and the washing machine was used for baby's laundry. We cooked in every evening bar one, so the two electric ovens and 5 gas hobs were all used. The pool is picket-fenced off from the garden with a little gate for safety (young children), there are deckchairs and comfy beanbag style chairs, and a long 'picnic' table underneath, quite originally, a sail for shade. The supermarket is in Urt, a short drive away, and we got our croissants every morning from the bakery in Urcuit. The one night we ate out it was under the leafy terrasse at the restaurant on the main square in Urt - very welcoming and accommodating for such a large group! From there we took the shuttle bus in for the Bayonne festival, which dropped us back to Urcuit that evening. The Lascaux family were very welcoming, we saw them on the 1st day and last, and Jean just popped by twice in the week to clean the pool. They also kindly left us delicious homemade fig, plum and peach jam - what a treat!