Walking country of Gavarnie (click to enlarge)

Snowboarding (click to enlarge)

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Studio in Ste.Marie-de-Campan, near La Mongie,
Hautes Pyrenees, French Pyrenees

Studio accommodation in small village ideal for Winter Holidays and Summer Holidays near ski resorts

Owned by the bloke who wrote “French Letters – a journey to at least three places”, this little bolt hole will let you enjoy all the delights of the High Pyrenees, just as he did

The studio flat is right in the middle of Ste Marie-de-Campan. It is part of the most modern building in the village and there is ample space for parking right outside.

The studio is up on the first floor with a South facing balcony that looks out over the surrounding hills and distant bigger mountain peaks. When the sun shines (and it can get very hot) the balcony is the best place to eat and drink in the view.

The studio will sleep a maximum of four on one double sofa bed and a pair of wooden bunk beds. It is kitted out with everything you should need, from cutlery, plates, glasses, pots and pans to a small TV. There is a cooking hob and oven, fridge, dining table and chairs. The only thing that you will need to provide are your sheets and towels.

The French sized bathroom has a French sized bath with an over shower, proper loo and wash basin. On the ground floor of the building there is a locker for the storing of skis etc.

We do hope you will want to spend some time in this wonderful part of the Pyrénées and will be happy to answer any further questions you may have about the place so that you too can relax in France.

The key is kept by Louise Butler, now a local, but ex of Tunbridge Wells and Chester and she should "meet and greet" your arrival, provided that you arrive at a civilized time. You will need to telephone her to arrange a rendezvous in the village.

Prices and booking information

From minimum £150 to maximum £200 offering really very good value. It’s probably cheaper than staying at home!

Once you have decided to book your holiday you will need to send a 50% deposit with the balance payable when you arrive.

If you’d like to read about the area and an extraordinary journey around France started and finished from the village, then please do buy a copy of “French Letters – a journey to at least three places”.

Read the book, stay in the village, eat the food, puff at the mountains, sit in the places, and nod at the characters. Take your chance to compare life on and off the page. Enjoy!

About our region

Ste Marie-de-Campan is a tiny village set up the Haute Pyrénées at just below the thousand metre level, midway between Bagneres-de-Bigorre and the ski resort of La Mongie.

The village was created at the junction between two valleys and gets its twenty minutes of fame every July when the Tour de France flashes through with all the excitement and razzmatazz that the Tour creates.

For most of the rest of the year the village sleeps, stirring for skiers in February as they rush back and forth to the snow fun slopes at La Mongie and in July when the "transhumance" (walking the sheep up the mountains) sees a mouton fest.

In mid-August the village is "en-fête" with its summer visitors and drinking, dancing, cycle races and fireworks happen, but not necessarily in that order. There is a constant trickle of walkers and cyclists throughout the year and the village water pump or indeed the little bar satisfies the inner thirst whilst the spectacular scenery and pure mountain air should satisfy the outer and inner man. The well advertised Pic du Midi has become the biggest local tourist attraction and at nearly 3000 metres high, the views from the top of this mountain can make you feel just like Moses looking out over the promised land.

For skiing or snowboarding, La Mongie/Bareges is, as The Sunday Times once said, "France's most undiscovered skiing resort." We'd really quite like to keep it that way and don't want "package" ski holidays to overrun the place. The nearly 200 kilometres of pistes do make the area the biggest ski domaine in the Pyrénées outside Andorra. The skiing is not difficult with only two or three black runs (the hardest), but you can make it as easy or as testing as you like. There is a French ski school at La Mongie and ample ski hire shops. You might find the ones in the village are a little less expensive than the ones in La Mongie. Ski passes can be purchased in the resort and the longer you ski, the cheaper it is. A one day pass is about £15.00. Skiing in the Pyrénées is much cheaper than it is in the Alps and Eric the Shepherd, who runs the Altitude Restaurant on the slopes up near the Col de Tourmalet, offers some of the finest on piste hospitality in Europe!

The hills and mountains around Ste Marie-de-Campan give the walker or climber an enormous canvass on which to make the mark. From Gavarnie you can walk through some spectacular scenery and into Spain. Just like the skiing, the walking can be as steady as a gentle ramble or a serious trek with a tent on your back for two or three days. The Lac Bleu is a good walk to cut your teeth on and takes about four hours up and back. This walk can be found at the end of the valley Lesponne which is between Campan and Bagneres-de-Bigorre.

If you don't want to use your own feet, you can go on a mountain trek by horse, either for the day, or better still taking two or three and staying over in cheap hotels or refuges. For even more high flyers there is hang gliding (floating down from the top of a mountain under a big kite) under instruction at Campan.

On Saturday morning the market comes to life in Bagneres-de-Bigorre. The food bit is focused in and around the Market Halls, with clothes and pots and pans in the Plane tree lined square and plants etc down by the town swimming pool. It's worth a wander, followed by a plat du jour at Le Café Londres.

If you like that sort of thing, Lourdes is only about 15 miles away from Bagneres-de-Bigorre. Here you can join or watch the believers as they make their pilgrimage to Saint Bernadette. It's a bit like Blackpool meets the Vatican with all the worst and some of the best aspects of religion thrown into this melting pot beside the Gave de Pau.

The mountain way of life in these parts offers the visitor a snap shot at the simple and unsophisticated style. The restaurants are not "flashy," the decor is often hilarious and for a country that boasts "chic" as its middle name, it is rather refreshing that neither the influence of Conran, IKEA or those ghastly TV DIY make over programmes that we love in England, have yet got their foot in the door. The food, on the other hand, doesn't need Jamie Oliver to make it wonderful. Pure, unadulterated in its rustic charm, if it were served up in some Brit "foodie" eatery, it would cost you an arm and a leg.

Les Deux Cols in Ste Marie-de-Campan may look like something out of the 1970s and "Le Patron" a French version of Basil Fawlty, but his food is better than you'd get in many so called decent restaurants in England. Nowhere you could eat out here is bad but some are better than others. Like a book, play or a film, it's up to you to be the best judge because recommendation can often lead to disappointment. In these parts vegetarians are a misunderstood breed. The sheep are the vegetarians and then they are eaten. Why try to shorten the food chain? The local red wine, Madiran, is an acquired taste. You should open the bottle some considerable time before drinking and even then, the first sip can make you pucker up like a punctured football. The locals often drink the red Corbières and at about one pound for a litre, some of them drink quite a lot of it. The best wine sellers are in Bagneres-de-Bigorre and there are several of them around the town. The white Jurancon sec is wonderful chilled.
In the village there is a bar and a shop which sells good meat and bread and cheap wine. The cheaper supermarket is in Bagneres-de-Bigorre. The local garage and filling station is about two miles out of the village on the road up to La Mongie.

Getting there

The area is good to fly to with the nearest airport being Tarbes/Lourdes.

Ryanair fly to Pau which is under an hour away and a gracious town worth visiting in its own right.

Biarritz is to the West and Toulouse to the East and both are served by budget airlines which can mean flying from Luton or Stansted for as little as £5.00 (plus taxes). Biarritz and Toulouse are both under two hours away by car. The Atlantic coast offers the nearest beach with some great surf and if you like to eat fish, St Jean-de-Luz is full of it.

The TGV runs down from Paris to Tarbes and if you leave London at about eight in the morning, you can arrive in Tarbes via Bordeaux in time for an evening dinner.

The nearest ferry port in Brittany is St Malo (it's also a pleasant place to stay overnight before the return journey), and the drive down will be about twelve hours unless you are in a Ferrari. There is a crossing to Bilbao and Santander in Spain which gives you more time in the waves and less on the road. To fully enjoy the surrounding beauty of the area, you should plan to take or hire a car. Remember diesel is cheaper than petrol in France.

If you would like to receive a brochure about the studio flat or make your booking, please contact one of the following:

Charles Berridge.
Louise Butler

Click here to email the owner

Or telephone (UK) 01373 452889
International: +44 1373 452889
To call Louise in France,
Telephone: 05 62 91 85 12
International: +33 5 62 91 85 12

When booking this property please mention Relax in France

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