~ Songbird Sanctuary ~
Composed of three guest houses that can be rented separately or together: The Swan, a 3 bedroom 165m² house that sleeps 8 plus a 30m² separate cave bedroom for 2, The Dove, a 2 bedroom 80m² house that sleeps 6 maximum and The Skylark, a 1 bedroom 80m² cave ("troglogite") that sleeps 4.
Please find their individual information, along with their photos, prices and availability, on their separate pages - on this page I have the photos of the grounds and auxiliary spaces.
The Spaces
Our 'Songbird Sanctuary" has two traditional guest houses:
‘The Swan’ is 165m², with a fully equipped kitchen, two bathrooms, lots of comfortable spread-out space with three bedrooms in the house and a separate 30m² bedroom-with-bathroom in a cave that is accessible from the private patio, not to mention the 'game room' cave, with it's large seating area and ping pong table.
On the other courtyard, you find our other traditional gite, a two bedroom 80m² charmer called ‘The Dove’, and our “troglogite”, a troglodyte gîte called our ‘Skylark' a spacious 80m², with large living room, dining, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom in three contiguous caves.
The property is set up on three levels. There is a lovely pathway to the left, leading to the courtyard where you will find the Swan on the second level, and a staircase on the right, leading to the courtyard where you will find the Dove and Skylark, also on the second level. There is also a road that leads to this courtyard, so that you can bring your luggage up to the Dove or Skylark by car, before parking back down on the lower level.
The courtyards on both sides have a steep but beautiful stone staircase leading up to the land above the caves, which is the garden on our third level. At the street, we have several caves cut into the rock and forming the foundations of the house above. Here we have the laundry that the Dove and Skylark share, an enclosed parking and two open air parking spaces - there is additional outdoor parking on a piece of land we have just down the street. We keep several bicycles in our ground-floor caves, that you are welcome to use.
The previous owners were bird lovers, and had built some lovely nesting places into the cliff face, hence our decision on the names.
The courtyards on both sides have a steep but beautiful stone staircase leading up to the land above the caves, which is the garden on our third level. At the street, we have several caves cut into the rock and forming the foundations of the house above. Here we have the laundry that the Dove and Skylark share, an enclosed parking and two open air parking spaces - there is additional outdoor parking on a piece of land we have just down the street. We keep several bicycles in our ground-floor caves, that you are welcome to use.
The previous owners were bird lovers, and had built some lovely nesting places into the cliff face, hence our decision on the names.
The Neighborhood
If you are looking to spend some time in the Loire Valley, this location is fabulous – you can walk to Chenonceau, we are very near the river Cher. There are multiple bicycle routes, we keep some bicycles in our storage cave for people staying here to borrow. There is a canoe rental place by the river Cher, a few minutes walk from our house; you can canoe right under Chenonceau! There are many castles in the area; you are close to Amboise and the wonderful museum at Clos Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci’s residence, which houses many of his experiments, designs and paintings. You’re a half-hour drive to Tours in one direction along the Cher, and a half-hour drive to Beauval Zoo and Park in the other direction.
Getting Around
To take full advantage of the Loire Valley, you really need a car. We have our own parking available right by the Songbird Sanctuary. You can take the train from Paris (or the airport) into Tours – the high-speed train takes a little over an hour – and rent a car there, if you don’t want to drive too long a distance. Or you can take a train directly into Chenonceau or Blére, both are a few kilometers from our place – which would be about a 40 minute walk, but if you are planning to get around by bicycle, this could be a good solution for you. You can also take your bicycles on the train. There are taxi services in Bléré, Ubers are listed in the area, but guests have reported that they get cancelled quite often. There is also an incredibly inexpensive bus that goes from Paris to Tours - it's part of the Ouibus system, and prices are usually between 8 and 12€!
