The gite (vacation rental) is a golden limestone and brick farmhouse furnished with antiques and surrounded by compact fields, orchards, gardens and the ten or so other houses and barns of the hamlet. It has three bedrooms, a dining area, a sitting room and two baths. It will comfortably sleep six adults. At the maximum we had seven adults with one guy in the living room on a futon. In theory it will sleep nine, if a couple of them are kids. This view shows a little of the kitchen area. When preparing dinner it was common practice to snack off the counter.

The weather was so fantastically good that we ate most of our major meals outside at the big table on the veranda. This nighttime view of the living / dining room shows a piece of the kitchen area. When we had several guests they spend a lot of time standing around the island snacking and drinking. There is a separate sitting room off this living / dining / kitchen area. We used it for a 4th bedroom when we had seven people. Since we ate most of our major meals out on the veranda or at local restaurants the dining room table became an attractive landing spot for maps, books, backpacks, etc.

All of the plumbing, heating and electrical are completely modern. Our days are warm and nights cool so there is no need for artificial heating or cooling. Occasionally people rent the gite around the Christmas / New Year's holidays, so it probably is comfortable in the cold weather. I think there is an extra charge for heating the gite or the swiming pool.

The gite has a good sized swimming pool, long enough to swim laps. It can be heated but that might cost you a bit extra. During the summer of 2003 extra heat was not necessary.

On the ground floor there is one bathroom for use of people around the swimming pool. There is also a washer and dryer for clothes. The first floor above the ground contains all of the other rooms. Although this photo shows a couple of dormer windows in the mansard roof, there is no access to the attic.

This gite, and a smaller one a short distance away, are owned and operated by Marie France and her family. Her e-mail is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it They now have their own web page which includes a price list.

Marie France speaks excellent, and very rapid, English; no problems with language. She lives some distance from the gite, but often comes to Puymule to stay in the home of her mother.

This is our third visiting one or the other of the two gites owned by Marie France and her family. Although very remote, the gites are a short distance from three tourist attractions each receiving three Michelin stars, the same star ranking as Michelin gives to the Eiffel Tower. These attractions are the cliffside town of Rocamadour, the caverns at Padirac and the valley of the Dordogne. If they were all gone we would still be coming back to Puymule. For us it is the ambiance and the smaller attractions that exert the strongest pull.