Justin in Aquitaine - Autumn 2009

Arrived at Bordeaux airport on the last Sunday of the September. On a clear day, the flight into Bordeaux down the west coast of France is attention-grabbing to say the least. The alluring islands of Re and Oleron give way to the might Gironde river mouth which in turn gives way to the distinctive Aquitaine panorama - the dunes, the pine trees and the vast netoek of freshwater lakes. It's pretty impressive, even to the inherently biased observer such as myself.

A good start just got better. When I arrived at the airport, the thermometer was showing a temperature of 29 degrees celsisus (I repeat, this was the last Sunday of September), and those lovely, kind people at Europcar had allocated me a retro-style Fiat 500 for my visit. My toy for the next 5 days. My two boys at home were going to be so jealous!

It's a fairly long haul down the A63 autoroute heading to the border with Spain. The carriageway is often loaded with HGVs traversing the continent - and of course a smattering of local lunatics trying to drive their Citroens through your own car. When will the French learn some road manners?

My first port of call was Etxe Aita, a lovely villa in the French Basque Country foothills, a short distance from the border with Spain. The owners, Laura & James live in Caribbean but visit their holiday home here a couple of times a year. This is a lovely place to relax; the terrace has a memorable vista and the only sounds are from farm animals in the valley. This is the ultimate 'chill out' villa location yet you are only a short drive to St-Jean-de-Luz, arguably my favourite resort on the Aquitaine coast. Little wonder then that this villa has been one of the biggest sellers since we took it on in 2005.

Staying in a Campanile motel in Hendaye (the border town with Spain) I had the slightly surreal experience of catching an episode of Midsomer Murders dubbed into Basque. I can highly recommend this experience. Unfortunately, I arrived and left Hendaye in the dark (who says these property-visiting trips are glamorous?!) which was a shame as I have a soft-spot for this town. It feels more Spanish than French, it has a superb sandy beach and an enviable setting in the shadow of the Pyrenees. We've struggled over the years to source rental properties in Hendaye; how we'd love to capture a villa or two here.

Little more than 12 hours after arriving in Bordeaux, I was heading for the A63 auto-route again, this time northbound to the lakes and beaches of Mimizan. I was keen to visit the high-profile campsite, La Reserve, situated near Gastes on the Lac de Biscarrosse. Our neighbours had taken a holiday there in the summer and I'd come across it in several brochures. Whilst I thought it was a cracking spot, I just didn't think it was right for us. It's an enormous site and the accommodation was oriented towards camping and mobile homes which isn't 'our bag'. I thought much the same of Le Vieux Port at Messanges which I visited a day or two later. Both have their appeal, but wouldn't fit in to our Family Holiday Sites collection, which are a little more low-key and authentic.

I spent much of the day visiting our new holiday apartments in this area, Les Terrasses du Lac on the banks of the gorgeous Aureilhan lake, and Les Jardins de l'Oyat at the seafront in Mimizan Plage. Aureilhan is practically unheard of, over-shadowed as it is by it's far larger lake cousins up and down the coast. This is obviously one of its benefits as its less crowded in summer. It's a real gem and the apartments would suit young families perfectly - there are sandy coves for safe bathing and plenty of footpaths and cycle trails around the lake and in the forest.

The Mimizan apartments would work well for families of all ages, including teenagers who will love the surf and actitivies available. Also, couples who want walks on the beach and a bit of cycling, etc, would enjoy coming here in June or September. There's nothing glamorous about Mimizan; it's a very straightforward resort, popular with Germans, Dutch and Belgians. You'll hardly see a UK number plate here. The new apartments are just 100 yards to the beach and there's a pool to use too.

After pit-stops at Contis Plage and Cap-de-la-Homy, I reached Hossegor in the late afternoon. I was looking forward to this as I had been invited to dinner with Trish & Simon Hill, who we work with at Villa Trianon (5 bedroom villa with pool) and Ma Lande (2 bedroom beach flat). I'd met Trish previously but had never met Simon. It was one of those strange situations when you've spoken and emailed someone literally for years but never seen their face! Trish had warned me to expect a larger-than-life character with tourettes, and so it proved. An entertaining evening indeed! The Hills' villa is ever-popular and will typically rent 20 weeks each year.

My trip-planning skills left a little to be desired, as on leaving the hills I then ventured back up to Mimizan where I was staying for the night. I'd only been in the region for 24 hours but already the driving had made it feel like days. I have to say this is fairly typical of our whistle-stop tours.

And just to prove my point, on Tuesday my schedule took me away from the coast and south east into the Pyrenees. I had two cottages to visit which had been inspected by our Area Manager, but neither of which I'd seen myself, so I was eager to check them out. Alas, as it turns out, both Maison Azkaine (in the pretty Basque village of Ascain), and Maison Garat (near Oloron-Ste-Marie, and without doubt the most difficult-to-access property I've yet to experience - but the views are worth it) are up for sale so we cannot take bookings at either. Quelle dommage.

By this time I was severely fatigued, but keen to press on to view, also for the first time, Maison Dorenia. My journey took me for the first time, to the market town of St Palais. I was very pleasantly surprised by the experience as I was expecting a town similar to Mauleon (quite nearby but somewhat agricultural and grey), whereas in fact it proved to be very Basque and colourful with some excellent shops. "Dorenia" is only a short drive away in the village of Garris, itself full of delightful and ancient architecture. I have high hopes for this cottage as it is very well priced, has a private pool and excellent countryside views too.

Visiting St-Jean-de-Luz is never anything other than a real treat. It has a super town beach, perfect for younger kids, stylish boutiques and great cuisine. It's just the right size too and can easily be covered on foot. The Basque architecture and business of the fishing port are further draws. We've taken on a new apartment in the town, Iduski Mendi; it's full of charm and plugs a gap for us between the Appartements Gambetta and more upmarket Appartements Elianthe.

My final night on this tour took me to Biscarrosse where I met up with our Area Manager for dinner. I spent the next morning in and around Biscarrosse, where we are lucky to have several holiday villas and apartments on offer. It was another occasion to meet one of our partners to whom I've probably exchanged 1000 emails over the past 7 years, but never met in person. Agnes is very helpful and supportive to us and she manages the Biscarrosse Golf Resort Villas and also the Atlantic Beach Holiday Apartments right on the sea-front. They've added some new units to the venue which looked their best yet and they have plans for two more developments in 2010 and 2011.

It proved to be another day of temperatures in the high 20s celsius and both lake and ocean looked awesome. The fresh scent of the pine forests were the icing on the cake and I vowed to bring my family here for a summer holiday.

And so it was time to leave. Somewhere interspersed amongst the above, I visited and rejected taking on new properties in Bassussary, Moliets and Biarritz. This is the side of our visits that is less rewarding, but it's a fact that we turn down over half of properties that we visit - and that's after they've been filtered for visiting!

So, as we took off from Bordeaux, my eyes remained glued to that coastline I adore. It had been a hectic trip and not surprisingly I was napping for an hour. Then, before I knew it, I'd arrived at a fresh and blustery Bristol airport. A bientot, Aquitaine...