Our authentically restored stone farmhouse, called Les Souffrettes, is set deep in the heart of Normandy, within the Normandie-Maine national park. Our property covers 27 acres of rolling, green fields and forest, including three acres of fenced lawn and gardens immediately surrounding the house. The last farm on a tiny dead-end road, it is fabulously peaceful. It is fully equipped, has 4 bedrooms, gourmet kitchen, piano, library, laundry room, offices with computers, full British and French satellite television, all modern conveniences. Atmosphere includes massive stone walls, tile floors, beams, granite lintels and fireplaces, wood stove.

The garden at Les Souffrettes is unique for its unusual trees including an important collection of rare maple trees from around the world.

Additionally we'd like to exchange our Paris apartment, located near Trocadero in the residential neighborhood of Passy, Paris 16. The apartment is comparatively small with 2 bedrooms, and has period moldings, fireplaces, oak floors. There is a modern kitchen. The apartment is on the 5th floor (with elevator) of a early 20th century freestone building. Further there is a parking place included in a building at about 50 meters distance.

Our offer is to enjoy both of our properties, which are about 2.5 hours drive or just under 2 hours train ride apart. We split our time between them, which is the best of the French lifestyle!

Please note that both properties are occasionally available as rentals, but not together and depending on schedules.

The general area the farm is in is called Lower Normandy (Basse Normandie). Our "department" is called the Orne. We are 70 km (about 40 miles) south of Caen and the Normandy Beaches, and 180 km (about 110 miles) due west of Paris. The excellent sand beach of Ouistreham is about 40 minutes by a recently completed autoroute, and the Normandy Landing beaches are only slightly further. There are literally dozens of beautiful, smaller chateaux and cathedrals to visit within a half-hour drive. Mont St. Michel, Chartres, the Bayeux Tapestry and the Loire are all within an easy couple of hours. There is regular, direct train service to Paris from a nearby town. The region is the heart of horse and apple country. It is also famous for its cheeses (Camembert, Pont Leveque, Liverot, to name a few), fruit products (especially the apple brandy known as Calvados), dairy products, hiking, hunting, fishing, and mushrooming. There are very good restaurants and weekend outdoor markets in all the nearby towns (Alençon, Argentan, Seés, Carrouges).Every season has its beauty. We are good friends with many of our neighbors, and past renters have also found them to be warm and welcoming. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.

The Passy, Paris neighborhood has many fine restaurants, renowned shopping, a famous covered market, a movie theater and very good public transportation. The rue de Passy is is 75 meters from the apartment which is located on a quiet side street that receives little traffic. It's a quick walk to the gardens at Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower, or in the other direction to the Ranelagh Gardens.

Here is a link to our old home page for the farm, which has additional photos but is not current:

http://www.adelka.com/normandy/

For lovers of gardens, here are links showing spring and fall colors at Les Souffrettes.

Spring colors: https://picasaweb.google.com/117924576417328929035/May2010YardPhotos

Fall colors: http://www.adelka.com/normandy/fallcolor2009/index.html

Mushroom officionados will notice the Cepes (Boletus edulis or Porcini mushrooms) undergoing preparation in this second gallery. We very often find kilos of these, along with Girolles and Hedgehog mushrooms, right on the property! Not recommended for the uninitiated however.

A further word about food at Les Souffrettes, which is an adventure practically all year. Fresh herbs like sorrel, pimpernel, rosemary, sage etc are available from our herb bed throughout the winter. By June, early cherries arrive in the orchard, followed throughout the summer by gooseberries, currents, cassis, peaches, raspberries, apples and pears (several varieties of each), blackberries and finally chestnuts and mushrooms as the season draws to a close. You won't be surprised to see a basket of fresh vegetables or salad left on the doorstep by our friendly neighbor, from his surplus; but if not there is an excellent truck farmer right in the village where you can stop by any time. Bread and croissants are delivered 3 times weekly, and local pheasant, pigeon, guinea hen, turkey and chicken are always available on the markets, along with line caught fish from the nearby (40 miles) coast. A renowned all organic butcher in the market town of Argentan provides local meats of peerless quality, which along with fish we often grill over an open wood fire in the kitchen. In short, a foodie paradise!

We have a VW Golf that we can exchange, as well as a parking spot just across the street from the Paris apartment. There is another car, a Passat, that stays in Normandy but could be used while you're there if you need a second car. I have checked with the insurance company and there is no problem for lending them.

Dates are flexible during the summer or other times, but we are constrained by school holidays. At other times it might be possible for you to come to the Normandy farm, we are in Paris for school. Or we could swap for weekends! Or during a school vacation (Christmas or summer?) you could stay in Paris. In other words there are possibilities to be flexible, we'd love to talk about them.

Open to any dates

We're looking to spend about 1 or 2 weeks on or near the beach on the outer Cape or islands this summer with family, specifically my Dad who is 88 but hale. Party would be 7 total with the 2 teenagers.

We are mostly interested in the outer cape or islands, but really any Massachusetts or Southern Maine house on or near the shore would be great.

Adele and Emery are Americans who have lived in France for over 20 years. Our 2 children are Gillian, 14, born in Paris, and Paxon, 13, born in San Francisco where we lived for a few years in the end of the 90s. The kids our fluent English speakers and pretty steeped in American culture. Our group is rounded out by our dog Cooper, (officially Cooperstown Hopeless, for baseball fans) and our cat Lucy, although they don't come on vacations.

I'm (Emery) a jazz violinist first, and also freelance doing numerical algorithms for super computers. I also collect maple trees... Adele is a technical journalist who currently writes a newsletter.

We spend our weekends and school vacations at Les Souffrettes, and most weeks in Paris.

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