Mas des Lauzes

We loved the fact that at the end of a day we could come back to a large space to relax and unwind. So different to staying in a hotel. Mas des Lauzes is close enough to the village to walk to the bakery every morning and even to walk to Coustellet if we wanted more. The villa was perfectly situated in Provence to see all we wanted to see in small day trips.

We would recommend both Mas des Lauzes and Only Provence to others. I would also recommend the two chefs we used David & Gerard, although they were a bit on the expensive side.

Areas for improvement:
We felt that the villa wasn't ready for us when we checked in at 5pm on our day of arrival. Given the very strict rules for check-in, we felt that it was unacceptable to have towels still on the line and in the dryer and washing in the washing machine. Also, we felt that the way the beds were made up was not hygenic and did not give the bedroom a 5star feel. The beds were made up with a bottom sheet, a top sheet, a doona with no cover and a bedspread that we assumed was probably not washed with every change over. To give this villa a 5 star feeling, crisp white doona covers are required. The towels were also a bit thin and considering that there have been other visitor comments regarding these concerns it does feel that no mater what is said the owners won't change anything.

What star rating would you give Mas des Lauzes? 4
What star rating would you give Only Provence? 5
What star rating would you give Chefs/ Tours you experienced? 4

We were very happy with Only Provence, you were able to answer all our questions prior to arrival, it was an easy process of payment. No problems at all.

I wanted to drop you a line and thank you for our marvelous stay recently at Mas des Lauzes. We had a ball and loved it all. It was casually elegant and tons of fun. Here are some answers to your questions. I sort of did it shorthand but you can ask for more.

LIKES
Location was marvelous. Fun and easy to walk into the small town at night. Very quiet, elegant house. pretty. Nice garden. Wonderful backyard. Well proportioned. Well outfitted throughout. All systems worked very well (but see note below). The house felt private and comfortable and was amazingly well located to roadways and hiking paths. It was amazing to have so many bathrooms.

We loved Chef Ronald's dinner--it was magnificent and he was talented, charming, delightful, knowledgeable, happy to entertain questions and serve and clean, and all-around excellent. His advice about the menu was very good. That was a real highlight.

IMPROVEMENT
Upstairs master shower gets nearly no hot water (but the bath tub does get hot water). not sure about the other bathrooms. Upstairs master sink collects water on wood counter around the sink basin--this may cause you trouble over time.

We were cold and could not find blankets until the wonderful Moroccan housekeeper helped us. Suggest making light blankets available in closets of every room or in an accessible closet. Similarly with the bath towels—they were fine but could have been finer.

Dinner table: could you get cushions for the chairs?

Phone: could you leave a simple set of instructions for making calls? We were confused.

RECOMMEND
Mas des Lauzes: Yes--absolutely.
Only Provence: Yes--absolutely.
Chef Ronald: Yes--absolutely.
Moroccan housekeeper: Yes--absolutely.
Region: Yes--absolutely.

STAR
Mas des Lauzes: **** 4
Only Provence: ***** 5
Chef Ronald: ***** 5
Moroccan housekeeper: ***** 5
Region: ***** 5

THOUGHTS
This was our first time renting a house in Provence and it was a marvelous experience. We learned through the process that bathroom count is very important. Mas des Lauzes was excellent in this regard. I'm not sure if you'd want to promote this funny detail, but we nearly rented places with too few bathrooms, which would have been frustrating. So a great selling point turns out to be that the house was designed very well for groups that like to go to the bathroom.