A serendipitous Google search for a family holiday in the Pyrenees introduced us to Can Llouquette. The excellent website won us over immediately but the reality of the property, the hosts and the location surpassed our expectations. The first guests of the season, we were welcomed warmly and, from the start, offered friendship and genuinely helpful advice tailored to our personal requirements.
A holiday in a new location with 2 small children (15 months and 3 and a half) is not often a holiday, but here we found something special. The children had everything they could need or want - a comfortable and practical home in the gite, a safe and spacious garden with swings, homemade wendy house, trikes and toys aplenty, a paddling pool and ice lollies when the temperature hit an unexpected 28 degrees, and a charming playmate in the bubbly Sophia.
But what set this holiday apart for us was that we were able to have the sort of holiday we once enjoyed before children - fine wine, reading books in deckchairs in the sun, walks in stunning mountain scenery, lazy lunches in beautiful market towns, and daily life in an exceptional setting rather than a bustling 'child-friendly' resort hotel.
Nothing prepared us for quite how remote (we are urbanites, albeit in Ireland) Can Llouquette is. We arrived at night in low cloud and, driving the extremely windy roads up the valley, then down the precipitous driveway, we wondered if we had been foolish to choose somewhere so remote. But the views and sounds the next morning - hills covered in rustling trees, the river at the bottom of the valley (my husband was the first guest to take a dip in the plunge pool - very refreshing!), the terrace perched on the side of the hill with no other buildings in sight, distant mountains, peace and beauty - won us over. OK, it is a 25-minute drive to the nearest town for shopping but that is the appeal of Can Llouquette - you really are getting away from it all. That town, Prats de Mollo, is charming and we returned often to wander through the old stone streets, walk up through the narrow tunnel to the fort and eat in the excellent restaurants.
Our ambitious plans for a walking holiday with toddlers turned to driving because the road journeys here are unbeatable - the drives into Spain via Coustouges to the restaurant at Tapis and over to Camprodon were a particular joy.
Can Llouquette and its hosts are very special and we highly recommend you visit and see for yourself.