Big villas

[prufrock]

Firstly a very belated thanks to Tillysmum for the website and villa recommendation a coule of months ago. Things have now changed though, and I am now looking for somewhere to go next May and hoped all you lovely people might be able to help. I need:
4 dbl rooms +2 others (8 adults and 4 kids under 2)
A fenced off pool -don't want any drownings
Anywhere in Europe - Max 3 hr flight and 1 hour drive
Not too secluded -don't want to have to get in the car for every trip

Does such a place exist? Has anybody stayed in it? Alternatively does anyody know of websites where I can search using above criteria, I am sick of trawling through huge lists of villas that are not suitable.
Thanks in advance

Fenced off pools might be a bit tricky. Do any of the countries on the continent have laws that require them? It was my biggest worry when we took DD to a villa in Spain with friends. Beautiful place, lovely pool but very little in the way of security to prevent an accident.

Shame you can't stretch the flight to Canada, Oz or NZ - I think they all have rules about young children and pools.

Good luck in your search

You'd probably still have to trawl a bit but if I remember right the particulars of almost all villas in France state clearly if the pools are fenced off or not.
Prufrock, this sounds like quite a special occasion. For me that always means Corsica. Try Corsican Places or Simply Corsica if you want to take it further. It is a magical place and I think they have largish villas near Calvi and St Florent on the northern side of the island. 2 hour flight: Calvi has its own airport and St Florent is between Bastia and Calvi airports.

The Landmark Trust has a beautifull Palladian Villa nr Pudua, Italy - sleeps 16, not sure about fencing but does have a pool. You have to buy their catalogue to get booking details (they're a charity which buys historic buildings, renovates them and then lets them out at very reasonable prices to cover the works programme). Go to their website . They also have loads of really interesting places throughout the UK if you do this sort of thing more locally.

Personally I'd do either Tuscany, Amalfi or Portugal - Italy and Portugal are so fantastic with kids and babies. As for companies - I'd contact Simply Italy/Portugal and speak to a consultant as they have lists of properties which are more suitable for children. However I've never come across a fenced off pool area. The other company which we contacted and loved the look of the villasapartment is called palazzo belmonte - they have a website too. happy hols

Marina - how do I get to Corsica from the UK - we looked at this but couldn't find any direct flights from London?

Corsican Places do charters to Calvi, Bastia and Ajaccio airports from Easter onwards I think Prufrock. Only once a week and usually at the weekend...big cities from Gatwick, Calvi was served by Stansted when we went.
I should think Simply Corsica offer a similar service. There are no direct scheduled flights.

Ring Simply Travel -- they're based in Kingston Upon Thames and go to loads of locations in Europe, have lovely villas and single out those suitable for families.

Have now remembered that the charters are (or were when we went) Air UK and in every respect pretty much like a scheduled flight (sedate, lack of air rage, no straw donkeys on return flight...) - so all the Corsican travel specialists use them.

Prufrock

What you are looking for sounds exactly like the place we stayed at in France last summer. It was a farmhouse, in the countryside, but walking distance to the nearest village for provisions. We flew to Limoges from Stanstead and rented a car, drove from airport to house it was just over the hour. We have 2 small children and went with friends who drove alongside with their 3 children.

It had 3 dbl rooms and a twin, and 2 single rooms I remember the house had a travel cot as the ohter couple had a baby (1 year). It had a fenced off pool. The pictures on the web don't do it justice as the couple who let it out did a lot of work on it, and it was ideal for young children, it was clean. Wooden floors, tiles etc. All the washing machine and tumble dryer things you need with children. I was amazed! Also everything was new and tasteful, it was so different to where we stayed the year before. This place was clean! It wasn't scorching but with young children you don't want them to be burning all of the time.

Anyhow look up their website.

www.frenchconnections.co.uk/accom/3620

Prufrock
Not sure if I am too late to give any more advice, but we found a REALLY helpful company that look after villas - nice ones, in Italy. We have stayed in 'Simply' ones before in Spain, and the Italian ones were SO much nicer. The company is run by an Italian guy and he is SO helpful: Tuscany Now - www.tuscanynow.com
Really good range of villas, locations and with great facilities. They also include cots, highchairs and babysitting etc if needed.
Certainly comes with a huge recomendation from me!
Kiwishell

Try Dominique's Villas for really nice, big villas in France (southern France would be nice in May) and they can tell you whether or not the pools are fenced off or not.

www.dominiquesvillas.co.uk

also "reasonably" priced large villas in the south of France try Quality Villas who are very friendly on phone, and will also be able to tell you if a particular vill has a fenced off pool

www.quality-villas.co.uk

the only thing about the pools in May is, unless they are heated, the water will probably be still quite cold.

We've done villa holidays for the past 2 years in the South of France with friends and family dropping in for a certain part of the holiday. We use an excellent company (but not cheap) called Palmer and Parker and they have all theirs on a website (do a google search?). They are amazingly well equipped, the kitchens are so well stocked up, and most have pools and I do remember that one was fenced off but not sure how big the villa was.
Our, then, nearly 2 year old was in armbands whenever we went outside and once she did fall in the pool, simply walked off the side, and she was absolutely fine and even enjoyed the exerpience! One other thing, if you have young children then do try and get a pool that's heated, our daughter wouldn't go near the pool the first year as it was freezing, gutted!
Oh, and they do villas everywhere, eg Algarve, etc, and their website is very well presented, you get 3 or 4 photos for each villa.
May be worth a look?