You’re Welcome!

Love at First Sight

When we first visited Fontalbe Peter and I both fell in love with it at first sight. Its modern, minimal interior which is so beautifully designed contrasting with traditional yellow sand stone of the paper mill exterior.

Once we shook off the estate agent and the owners (who were lovely by the way!) the conversation was short and sweet – What do you think? I love it! So do I.

The rest is history. There is nothing more important than that first impression.

First Impressions

When you come on holiday it is important to us that you have a good first impression of Fontalbe, feeling quickly at home and falling in love with it as we did.

As soon as you arrive, we do our best to provide you with a warm welcome. Greeted by our wonderful property managers, Ian and Jayne you will be shown round (briefly as we know you want to get on with settling in!). For the duration of your stay Ian and Jayne will be at the end of the phone and will do their best to answer any questions and help resolve any problems you might have, popping in if you need them. Before you arrive, we will have sent you a digital version of our information pack so you can start to plan in advance, building up the excitement. But if you prefer to wait until you arrive a hard copy will be in the lounge explaining all you need to know about the gite, grounds and local area.

Ian and Jayne, the Fontalbe property managers

A taste of what’s to come

Selecting the items for our welcome hamper of local goodies is one of my favourite tasks in the run up to the start of the season. What a hardship ! Sampling local delicacies such as walnut biscuits, local honey, fig jam, to name but a few, is easy. The hard bit is choosing what this year’s hamper will contain. We add in some fresh products, cheese, pate, bread, so that should you arrive hungry there is a light supper waiting for you. When it comes down to choosing the wines for the hamper, that’s where things get really tricky. The Bergerac wines are not as famous as the neighbouring St Emilion and Bordeaux , but they are just as good. Finding the ones we like best is difficult and involves a lot of sampling and resampling. Carole, at our local Cave (on the square in Beaumont next to the bank) gives us lots of lovely recommendations.

Unfortunately, we can’t put them all in the welcome hamper for our guests to sample and by next year we will have forgotten which we liked best and will have to start the process all over again. But if you like our choice you can pop in and asked for more or ask Carole to help you select some other options for you to choose.

Enjoy your stay

We like to think that when you arrive you will fall in love with Fontalbe and the welcome hamper will offer you a little taste of the Dordogne and the wonderful things to come during your holiday, visiting local chateaux to wine taste, collecting ‘picky bits’ from the local markets for lunch or dining in some of the wonderful restaurants close by.

We hope you feel welcome and at home.