We had a wonderful stay at Le Petit Rossingnol. The gite is perfect for couples looking
to relax in authentic rural France, and the pool is a blessing for cooling off in the heat of the day. The views from the terrace go from lovely (minimum setting) to jaw dropping when the heat haze clears and the mountains are visible.Gail and Ric are all that you want from hosts; discreet and allowing you privacy, but friendly and on hand if you need them.There's plenty to explore in the vicinity if you can tear yourself away from the view: the Gallo Roman villa at Montmaurin is one of the prettiest I've ever seen, set in greenery and glades, Boulogne sur Gesse is a sleepy bastide town with a market and a couple of restaurants- although the best food we had was at two Ferme-Auberges in Boulogne's outlying villages: Peguilhan and Preville, where the three course lunch time menus were less than 14 euros, home grown and home cooked. While the Pic du Midi was a little disappointing when we visited, being shrouded in cloud, (to be fair, the chap at the ticket office warned us that the summit was foggy) it was still an interesting experience, meeting the wild alpaca at the bottom of the mountain, and going up in the cable car for a coffee at the top. We stopped at the Chateau de Mauvezin on the way back from the Pic- a small medieval castle with fabulous views of the mountains. St Bertrand des Comminges (which belongs to the association of the "Prettiest Villages in France") was indeed very pretty with craft shops and an ancient monastery. The wildlife around the gite was fun- an unidentified honking/rustle from over the road turned out to be two frogs going a-wooing in the pond, birds of prey swooped and screeched in the midday sun, and the bovine ladies formation eating team kept us entertained as they moved around their field munching. All in all, we had a lovely time- thank you Gail and Ric.