Those looking for a chic place to chill in beautiful countryside will find it here. Owners Gilles and Tanur are a husband and wife team who have captured the essence of their travels across Africa and Tanur's native India and injected it into this spirited B&B. These charming, rustic walls are home not only to this adventurous pair, but also their artistic, philosophical and anthropological pursuits. It sits in a tiny hamlet, dates to the 12th century and comes with a small pool in its courtyard. It’s the kind of place where everyone who visits thinks, “let’s run away to Provence and run a B&B like this!”
Interiors are lovely: beautiful colours, a magnificent stone staircase, the décor draped in upholstery from France and India. Sweet-smelling wood burns on roaring fires, one of which is lit for breakfast in winter; vines shade the courtyard table, where you dig into your croissants in summer. Despite the urge to linger in your gorgeous room or apartment, make sure you don’t. Uzès, Nîmes and Pont du Gard are all close, but take a day to explore the north, too (fabulously beautiful, madly neglected): Mont Bouquet, the stunning hilltop village of Lussan and the magnificent Gorge de l’Ardèche all await you.
Highs
- The pretty shaded courtyard is perfect for long, lazy breakfasts in the sun
- Tanur and Gilles are known to host impromptu private concerts, art events and aperitifs for guests
- The bedrooms and apartments are stylish, rustic and original (this is not ‘off-the-shelf contemporary’), with irresistible prices
- The pool is perfect for hot afternoons
- You're near Lussan, a stunning hilltop village to the north
Lows
- You’re in the sticks and may need to drive out for dinner
- The house is very child-friendly; if you’re looking for absolute peace, this might not be for you
- Perhaps a plus for animal lovers, but do be aware that you'll often find neighbourhood cats wandering the grounds
- Closed during the winter season
- Boutique B&B
- 3 rooms + 3 apartments
- Breakfast only + self-catering (restaurants nearby)
- All ages welcome
- Closed: Closed early Oct - early April
- Outdoor Pool
- Spa Treatments
- Beach Nearby
- Babysitting
- Creche / Kids Club
- Car recommended
- Parking
- Pet Friendly
- Disabled Access
- Restaurants Nearby
- WiFi
- Air Conditioning
- Guest Lounge
- Terrace
- Garden
- Gym
- Daily Maid Service
- Towels & Bedlinen
- Bicycles Available
Rooms
The 3 gorgeous B&B rooms are rustic-Provencal with Indian embellishment. Extremely comfortable beds wear smart, embroidered linen, and you get interesting art, old radiators and shuttered windows.
Blue is the biggest with a chandelier hanging from its high ceiling. We stayed in Green and loved the linen-draped doors that open over the rose-filled terrace below. That said, petite Pink is astonishingly good value, only slightly smaller than the others and very pretty! If you're coming with older children, there's an Annex with twin beds that can be booked with any of these rooms, though note that it's located across the patio and has no bathroom.
The 3 apartments all have open-plan sitting/kitchen areas. In the main house, The Small Apartment is accessed via open stone stairs. From the living area, glass doors slide open onto a terrace, and there’s a double bedroom overlooking the front of the house.
The Large Apartment is similar in layout but almost twice the size. There’s a simple, soothing white double bedroom, a rustic bathroom with a sink carved from a chunk of stone, and a private terrace.
The Little House apartment is in a small tower on the far side of the courtyard. Old stone steps lead up to the front door, where there’s space for a table and chairs. Inside is a small but ever-so-pretty duplex studio - old walls harbour a contemporary interior with glass steps rising to a galleried bedroom and pebbled shower room.
Features include:
- In-room treatments available
- WiFi
Eating
Breakfasts here are gloriously lazy. We spent a few hours happily munching away, slurping coffee and chatting with other guests in the rose-scented gardens, dappled sunlight filtering through the vines. A bountiful self-serve table is laid with freshly baked pastries and pretty homemade cakes, plus a fabulous selection of organic, local produce including meats, cheeses, fruits and scrumptious jams and jellies; jugs of freshly squeezed fruit juices round things off. When it gets colder, you eat in front of a blazing fire in the dining room instead.
For other meals, the apartments have their own kitchenettes (with a microwave, hob and fridge, but no oven or freezer) and there are a few good-value local restaurants.
Further afield, try Le Tracteur at Samillac (8km) for simple food brilliantly cooked by lovely people. There’s also lots of choice in Uzès, not least a small profusion of cafés and bistros in the central Place des Herbes, where you can eat in the sunny square or in the shade of the medieval vaulted walkways.
Features include:
- Breakfast
- Restaurants nearby
Activities
- Uzès, one of the best-preserved medieval towns in France, is 7km down the road. Its hallmark is a network of beautiful vaulted stone walkways that snake around the city and its market is one of the best in Provence
- Head south into the Gorge de Gardon for a good walk in sublime country. Then nip across to the Pont du Gard, the magnificent 3-storey Roman aqueduct dates from 50AD
- Nîmes is a hive of Roman architecture. Its amphitheatre is the best-preserved in Europe, while the only fully-preserved Roman temple in the world sits nearby in Place Carrée
- Spin west from Nîmes and discover the Languedoc wine fields at Pic Saint Loup, a commune of 13 villages and 36 producers who are creating great (and much under-rated) AOC wine
- Explore magnificent Arles for all things Van Gogh (he lived here for a while), and Avignon for its spectacular architecture
- But most of all, make use of your little slice of Provencal heaven - laze by the tranquil pool or read in the pretty shaded courtyard covered in climbing roses and cats snoozing in the shade
Activities on site or nearby include:
- Cycling
- Hiking
- Historical sites
- Kayaking
- Museums / galleries
- Shopping / markets
- Swimming
- Traditional cultures
- Wine tasting
Best Time to go
Come whenever you can and, if you love nothing more than pottering through ‘undiscovered’ French landscapes, visit in mid-season to have the place to yourselves.
Our Top Tips
Don’t miss the north (most people do, so it's all the more special as a result). Start with Mont Bouquet, where you can walk, ride, climb, cycle and paraglide. Keep on going and you'll come to the pretty hilltop village of Lussan, then head up to the stunning Gorge de L’Ardeche, where a winding road weaves through blistering country with rocks to climb, kayaks to paddle and caves to explore.
Location
Les Sardines is set in the village of Gattigues (7km from Uzès), in Provence's Gard region, southern France.
By Air:
The nearest airport is Nîmes (30km), though Montpellier (65km away) is slightly busier and has more international links.
From the Airport:
Les Sardines can arrange for a taxi to collect you from Nîmes. Alternatively, you can hire a car.
By Train:
If you'd prefer to travel overland from the UK, take the Eurostar from London to Paris, then a TGV high-speed train to Nîmes or Montpellier. The journey time from London is about 7 hours, which makes it barely any longer than flying once you take check-in into consideration.
Detailed directions will be sent to you when you book through i-escape.com.
More on getting to France and getting around
Airports:
- Nîmes Garons 30.0 km FNI
- Montpellier Méditerranée 65.0 km MPL
Other:
- Beach 65.0 km
- Shops 2.0 km
- Restaurant 0.5 km
Our guests' ratings...
Based on 6 independent reviews from i-escape guests
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