Holiday villa with private heated pool, La Valentine.

Peter Miles - August 2024
The house worked very well for our 3-generation family of 5 adults and 2 children. The bedrooms are comfortable, the kitchen is well equipped and the lounge area is capacious, with a good tv and sound system.
All the windows are protected by screens to keep the mosquitoes out.
At the back of the house is a useful room with a washing machine and a large outside clothes line.
The pool was excellent. The adults used it to cool down, the children played safely and grew in confidence in the water (with the reassurance of a pool alarm.) We had a 2-year-old with us, who mostly paddled in the shallow section.
Shade was always available somewhere in the garden, either from trees or the canopy on the sun terrace. The garden is totally private, with a wooded hill to the left.
We ate outside in the evenings, using spray and candles to repel the mosquitoes which seemed to be attracted to pale English people.
The villa is very well located for visiting Cassis, Marseille and Aix. We also travelled to Arles, Avignon, Les Baux and Nice. The lake at Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon provided a swimming opportunity and some of us visited the waterfall at Sillans-la-Cascade near the beautiful village of Cotignac.
We can recommend a boat trip to see the Calanques from the harbour in Cassis and La Ciotat is lovely.
We mostly used a supermarket 10 minutes away by car in Greasque, which also has a good boulangerie. We found excellent cafes in Fuveau (Caribou) and La Bouillabaisse (The Coffee House). Aubagne has a large ‘out-of-town’ complex with a massive Auchan and a range of chain restaurants. We found a very good pizza van in Gréasque (although they do move around so Google Maps was not reliable).
We were welcomed on arrival by Juliette, who also returned to clean the pool half way through our stay and to collect the keys when we left. She was very helpful in recommending places to visit.

Perfect place for vacation in Provence. We (two families – couple with a child in each) spent 9 nights in this place and used it as a base to visit the area. Only 45 minutes from the Marseille airport.
The property is located in the small village just next to forest and if you are looking for peace and quiet this is the place for you. This is large charming house with big pool, green garden, private parking area, very well equipped kitchen (by all that you only can imagine). It is very clean, comfortable and relaxing. When we came back from our days out we rested up around the large dinner table outside until late and it was a real pleasure. We cooked breakfasts and lunches every day, big village supermarket with a lot of various delicious foods made our self catering easy and pleasant. Free Wi-Fi, TV and very reach films library were also a good surprise. The owners were very friendly and helpful; they supplied us with comprehensive information about all local attractions.
This house met all our expectations and we can definitely recommend it for friends and families planning their vacation in Provence.

Very private and peaceful place to stay. Great facilities. The house was lovely, clean and spacious with all the necessary facilities. Following the advice re when to open and close shutters etc meant we were able to find shade and cool whenever needed. The pool was also clean and lovely to use - great relief in the hottest part of the day.
The boulangeries in Saint Valentine and Bivet were great (as they were everywhere). Intermarche in Bivet proved handy but others available in other directions too.
Late afternoon trips to Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence are perfect and parking very straight forward. Morning trip to Cassis to get into the sea was also a great success. Parking there good in the morning but looked a lot busier at later in the day.

Goddard and Sandlers family.
Our stay at La Valentine has been an absolute pleasure. A walm welcome from pierre and Claire set the tone for a relaxed and enjoyable stay.
Food at the local village square pizzeria was excellent with friendly locals and staff. Trips into Cassis were great fun including trips to the beaches there and hiring a board from behind the tourist info office. Food at the yacht club was lovely and a bit more relaxed than the bustle of the town. All in all a memorable stay.