Hi cupcakes, use this link to book your holiday online and as far as I can tell you can go right through to the individual gite listings, in English - for some departments at least. If not, the introductory pages explain the terms and conditions pretty clearly in good English.
Some tips for gite bookers:
terrain/jardin clos/privatif = grounds/garden enclosed/private
terrain is quite likely to be scrubby and not like an English garden, jardin might be a bit more formal. Pelouse (lawn) is worth looking for. Cour (courtyard) is rarely paved IME and usually rather crappy gravel popular with local feral kitties.
Etang/ruisseau/plan d'eau in the grounds means pond/stream/lake. Usually says clos if it has been fenced off.
Enclosed ground is a must in France as the norm is to have rural properties unfenced, even when on a road.
Anything described as commun is shared with either the owner or other gites/houses
Mitoyen means the gite is attached to another building, sometimes a farm outhouse, sometimes the owner's, sometimes other rented properties.
Maison independante is a detached property, maybe isolated, but if you want total privacy go for this.
Plein pied means all on one floor.
Salle de bains means bathroom with a BATH, essential if your small children are scared of showers. Salle d'eau is a cloakroom, often only a lav with washbasin.
Location de linge means you can hire table linen and towels, location de draps means the same for bedlinen. Fournis means included in the price. Because most French pillows are not the same as UK ones it is worth paying the few euros extra rather than take your own.
Caution means deposit charged (this is usual in France and unless you trash the place you get it back).
You are expected to clean the gite thoroughly at the end of the stay - or pay the owner for this to be done. The hoovers are often rubbish but as many gites are still hard flooring downstairs a lot can be done with the inevitable broom and dustpan.
A three epi gite (there is an explanation on the link below), IME has all the home comforts you'd expect from a reasonable holiday let in the UK - dishwasher, washing machine, often at least two loos and sometimes two bathrooms.
BUT - it is unusual, especially south of the Loire, for the floors to be anything other than tiled/wooden. Mountain or Northern gites often have fitted carpets in the bedrooms, but not always.
And often the soft furnishings are not brilliant - elderly/lumpy/non-existent (although always clean IME at least).
If you have never gited before, give it a try. To give you some idea of the cost, a typical 3-epi gite in the Pas de Calais, up to an hour from the Tunnel say, and maybe up to 20km inland, might cost £600-£700 for a fortnight. In August. Given the unexpected attractiveness of the countryside around Boulogne and Calais, the choice of big, clean, if bracing Channel beaches, I think that's a bargain.
You get more facilities and more for your money in gites that are off the beaten tourist track. The gites scheme was devised to stop rural communities dying completely so there are more of them well inland in unfrequented areas than in the beach hotspots - and very few near Paris!
MB is right - you often get to meet the owners and even get to know them a little during your stay - and not speaking much French doesn't really matter. We've always found gite owners hospitable and friendly (take an "English" present like a big box of M & S biscuits) and enjoyed this aspect of it all very much.
And you are contributing in a small way to keeping a way of life going too. But mostly you are sitting under a lime tree in the sunshine stuffing yourself on celeriac coleslaw, local cider and sausage