I would really like to be able to leave a positive review for this lovely looking house, but I can't because we never got there.

I booked La Gleyaire in May 17, but, on the afternoon of Friday 4 Aug, 5 days before we were due to leave UK for a ferry then to drive down to Toulouse, I received a phone call from Mrs Massey saying that she had double booked us over someone who had booked last year.

All credit to her, she said had found me another house (Tissendie) but, she commented, it was unfortunately not as nice as her own. And she said she would pay the owner direct if I wanted to take it. I therefore contacted the owners of Tissendie for photographs and details; it was not yet officially "on the market" and it certainly was nowhere near as nice as La Greyaire....I certainly would not have chosen it for a memorable holiday. Furthermore it was more expensive than La Greyaire.

As I wanted to avoid a completely ruined holiday, I therefore spent a frantic weekend looking for somewhere else. Amazingly (remember this was high season) I found a property which (a) was available (b) was suitably old, quaint and lovely, and (c) had the requisite bed arrangements for 8 adults and a dog. This turned out to be more expensive than La Gleyaire but not as expensive as Tissendie. Good news, I thought.

So I told Mrs Massey. However, she declared that she was not prepared to pay the extra towards the new property I had found....it seems she was under the impression that Tissendie would cost about the same as her own property. But this was not the case.

She therefore contacted the owner of Tissendie and managed to get his price down to the same as hers.

She then gave me the option of taking that or she would give me a full refund, saying, on 6 Aug that " Just to clarify, you were offered alternative accomodation which would normally be £1000 more than Gleyaire at no extra cost or a full refund with enough time to source somewhere else to stay."

So, with 3 DAYS LEFT BEFORE WE WERE DUE TO SAIL, after putting me through SERIOUS distress, anger, anxiety and work, I was left with the options of taking an inferior property (potentially ruining the holiday) or of cancelling (which WOULD ruin the holiday), or of finding my own. She washed her hands of us and left us to our own devices with nothing more than an apology.

And to add insult to injury she still hasn't returned my deposit cheque

Disappointed to say the least