Les Hauts Pâturages - Heavenly Hideaway, Heavenly Hideaway in the Pyrénées

The decline in the Oil Industry in early 2015 brought with it the threat of redundancy which gave us the final push toward realising a long held ambition to run a Gite business in France. Having kept a close eye on the tourist industry over the past 10 years and watching regions change and develop we finally settled on the Pyrenees. That was the easy bit, next we spent a couple of years trawling the internet and visiting estate agents in search of suitable properties. After many false starts and we spotted one that could have the potential to support us as a family and so in June 2015 we took a family holiday, met the existing French owners fell in love with Les Hauts Pâturages and did the deal on the spot!
On returning to the UK it was all systems go. We had to return to France after researching schools our our boys Gabriel and Louis AND they had to approve them which thankfully they did along with the lure of ski and snowboarding in the winter on the doorstep so no more being a 'fridge kid' using the dry ski slope and their favourite summer activity is surfing so no problems there. My mum at 85 decided to join us much to the delight of us all and Rolo our dog needed his pet passport.

We were fortunate enough to have a desirable home to sell in the UK. This was rapidly sold and we moved out in December 2015, spent Christmas with our family in Cumbria and arrived in our mountain village on the 30th December. Our adventure begins......

Our previous life on a small-holding in Norfolk has taught us many skills which we use daily in the running of our business. Food provenance and production along with Susan’s experience teaching cookery has surprised our French clients that the ‘Anglaise’ can cook!

Tourism is on the increase in the area and is as yet largely un-discovered by the UK market. With cheap flights available and good connections to Lourdes-Tarbes airport (35 mins), Pau (1 hour), Toulouse and Biarritz airports (1:45) we hope to encourage and develop a British clientele as well as our existing French and european customer base.

For those wishing to bring their own car we recommend the Portsmouth to Bilbao cruise crossing. The 3 hour drive from Bilbao in Spain over the border to us in France is a scenic experience.

As well as an ideal location for fantastic family holidays we are ideally situated to provide accommodation in support of many outdoor pursuits including walking/hiking, tour cycling, mountain biking and skiing. Another attraction of Les Hauts Paturages is its location amidst a tranquil area of un-spoilt countryside. Nature lovers, bird-watchers and artists have all enjoyed the opportunity to get amongst the flora and fauna and see a wide variety of wild animals and birds.

Set in 30 acres wth a 10m outdoor heated swimming pool, extensive mature gardens with badminton, table tennis and football it’s possible to have several days of your holiday just relaxing on site.

A short distance away from our mountain home there is more to see and do than can ever be done in one holiday, it’s all out there to be discovered.