We were looking for a hilltop Luberon village in which to celebrate a special birthday and we were not disappointed with Pierre's Gite in St Martin de Castillon. The Gite is situated in the heart of St Martin, within easy 2 minute walking distance from a carpark. The Gite is over 3-4 levels with each area revealing an eclectic range of furnishing, sculptures and art works in what is obviously a well loved and respected family home. All of the rooms were excellent with well appointed bedrooms, bathrooms and lounge, but the rooftop terrace provided an amazing place to sit, drink, eat and simply gaze out over the beautiful valley vista. There is a well stocked local store with everything you would need, and there are major supermarkets in Apt, a 20 minute drive away. The local bar serves great beer and wines and has pizzas available a few nights a week. It's a great place to sit drink and fraternise with the locals.The town itself is fascinating to walk through but it also offers access to the vast number of other local hilltop villages. You would be hard pressed to visit them all! The only down side was that the instructions given to us by BookaBatch were out of date and did not tell us how to access the Gite. However, a quick phone call to Pierre had everything sorted very quickly. This problem was not Pierre's fault, but it might pay to check the date stamp on the access instructions!

We enjoyed our stay at Muriel's immensely. The house is beautiful, spacious, equipped with all modern conveniences but still preserving the marvelous charmed of the 13th century building. The central location makes getting around easy, and the l ability to walk almost everywhere is wonderful. Muriel was very helpful during our stay and very responsive when my wife had an illness that necessitated medical care. We ended up staying twice as long as planned in spite of the extra cost and we highly recommend Muriel's beautiful house !

We really enjoyed our stay at St Martin de Castillon. This is a characterful, historic, village house which has clearly been treasured it's owners and is well furnished and very well equiped (the opposite of a characterless holiday let). The house itself is extensive, with a large living area and even it's own cellars! We enjoyed using the terrace for our meals and it's view. The third bedroom gives access to the terrace, so feels more like a living space with a sofabed, but this worked well for us and, being on a seperate floor, had sufficient privacy from other spaces in the house.The village is attractive, but not over-touristed, and has a good village shop which caters for most everyday needs and a popular cafe bar. We enjoyed the whole area of the east Luberon which has beautiful landscape and villages, but without the larger numbers of tourists further west in the region. Communication with Pierre Stefan was excellent. We wish we had booked for a week or more rather than the three nights we stayed.

*****