Holiday château with private heated pool, Château Mabrouke.

The Brewer Family
In 25 years of renting houses for our summer holidays, Château Mabrouke truly topped the lot!

Ed and Katie have kept it as a family home which gives the house a lovely ambiance and makes it so welcoming and interesting. We loved the artworks, both in the house and the garden. The guide to the house, helpfully shared in advance, was comprehensive. It meant we weren't struggling to work anything out for ourselves and the information on the local area was really helpful. The local team gave us a lovely welcome too and looked after us flawlessly throughout our stay.

The rooms all have great character and were very comfortable indeed. The hilltop setting gives outstanding vistas all round and the terraces surrounding the house and pool offered the best of the sun at all points of the day, particularly sunsets at dinner. The kitchen is amazingly well equipped and the cooker is fabulous. Martin and Philippa, who Katie recommended, cooked a wonderful meal for us and were thoroughly engaging company.

There is so much to do, in and around the house and in the local area, that it was hard to do it all justice in a mere two weeks. A day's white water rafting and kayaking with Eau Vive at Foix was a big highlight.

The most charming, stylish château which is full of character, lovely art and enormous beds! There is a room for every mood, including a club (!) a billiards room and the most beautiful drawing room. The best equipped kitchen we have ever stayed in, a wonderful pool, tennis court, croquet, pétanque… it's impossible to be bored here! The house strikes the perfect balance between being impressive yet still a home. There are lots of different seating options for eating but we highly recommend dinner at the back of the house for the incredible sunsets. We couldn't have loved our stay more and had booked our return visit by day two!

Collier family
We celebrated a big family birthday at Château Mabrouke and enjoyed a welcoming and stunningly beautiful home, with great fun at the pool, tennis court, zipline and on the dance floor. The Pyrénées were the backdrop to the most glorious of settings. An unforgettable holiday.

Mary G.
It's hard to know where to start with this wonderful home, the inside and outside are so special its impossible to choose a 'best bit'! I didn't know this part of France at all and whilst it was a wonderful discovery, the château itself stands head and shoulders above its surroundings (literally) with his jaw dropping views. 360 degrees of rolling hills, almost no building in sight and just the sheep and their charming bells the only signs of neighbours.
The pictures simply can't do it justice.

The house itself is extremely luxurious in its proportions and furnishings. The main difference to other holiday homes is that it is so evidently a comfortable home. We had one rainy day on our trip and the excuse to be inside for the evening with the fire and comfortable sofa's was a great treat.

The mixed accommodation is wonderful, with the farm house next to the château and the two charming cottages in the grounds. Very much one for a gang of friends or large family.

The owners provide some brilliant suggestions on what to do when venturing further afield - should you want to! But there seem to be endless possibilities, in our brief 10 days we discovered so much and feel we could happily come back every year for 10 years and still be finding new spots. The castle at Foix is an absolute must for children and for adults, if you don't want to go parachuting after your market trip to beautiful Mirepoix the Michelin restaurant 8 minutes away in Camon is a must.

But equally with the tennis court, heated pool, choice of terraces to eat on, chapel, lake and boat it would be entirely possible to spend a happy week going no where at all. Perhaps apart from a trip down the drive to Olivier and Marielle's informal shop.

Heaven.

Philip W.
What can I say but awesome.

We all arrived at the same time to drive up the long drive to the picturesque château. Obviously we had seen pictures but they did not do it justice.

We were met with a glass of bubbly and were shown around the property. It was like being shown around a personal home rather than a holiday rental property. There was everything you could want for a relaxing holiday for our two families, including a tennis court, swimming pool, snooker / pool table, croquet set and the all important ice machine as we were in the middle of a heat wave.

All the rooms were luxurious with all but one bedroom (which had it's own bathroom) having ensuite bathrooms and the two main bedrooms having dressing rooms as well.

The grounds were spectacular and there was even gorgeous little chapel.

The best endorsement I can give is that we were all discussing how we could come back next year.

Thank you Katie for letting us share your French home.

Charlie C.
A more tranquil spot in France you will not find. The house has 360-degree views across stunning French countryside that rolls and undulates towards a backdrop of the Pyrenees. It feels like you're a million miles from the stresses and strains of modern life, another world and yet within 20 minutes drive you can be in a huge supermarket that will cater for all your needs. The house itself is incredibly comfortable, with all mod cons. It sleeps 14 people in great comfort, including in two well-appointed cottages in the grounds. And yet it retains its cosy feel. Some days we lazed by the pool and ate our meals on one of the terraces, other days – when it was cooler - we lit the fire and settled in. It's genuinely as comfy inside as it is outside, which is not always the case in French holiday lets. Our young children were in heaven. When not swimming or playing tennis, they roamed the five acres of immaculately kept grounds, building camps, rowing on the small lake. There's snooker croquet and table tennis too, if it's wet. And then of course there is the party room. Set well away from the grown-up bedrooms, the party room has a bar, DJ–quality speaker system and a proper disco – glitter ball, lights and all. Incredible fun.
You really won't want to leave the château and grounds at all – it's a self-contained little hill-top world - but if you do have itchy feet then there are lots of walks nearby, or you can visit one of the many beautiful French towns nearby (Mirepoix market is a must). I cannot wait to return.

Felicity D.
We had the most magical week at the enchanting Château Mabrouke. A beautiful house with outstanding facilities set in a most stunningly unspoilt expanse of French countryside. With some gloriously grand rooms in the château, immaculate gardens and seemingly endless out-buildings, Château Mabrouke still had a wonderfully homely feel to it. We enjoyed days spent splashing in the pool, long lunches and drinks with a view. And a couple of nights of being cooked for and hosted by the lovely Martin and Philippa were an absolute treat.

Visits to the nearby pretty towns of Foix and Mirepoix were lovely and other places to recommend include the stunning Montsegur and some interesting prehistoric caves near the charming town of Mas d'Azil.

All in all a most heavenly escape. We look forward to returning.