Moulin de St Blaise is a converted watermill in the village of L'Homme, which is a couple of miles from Le Chartre sur le Loire, about half way between Le Mans and Tours. There are two parts available for rental - a large house which sleeps about a dozen people, and a small house which sleeps just four. We rented both parts as we were a large family group.
The large house has plenty of facilities and space to eat and relax. There is a big dining area, which we never actual used as there is a smaller dining area in the kitchen, a well equipped kitchen with a frightening psychic wastebin, a lounge with a TV and partial access to Sky TV. Upstairs there is a games room which has a Table Tennis table and a Snooker table and assorted other games.
Bedrooms are large, clean and well equipped. Two of the bedrooms are in the top floor in the old roof space. This is not a problem in itself, but the stairs to climb are steep and may be unsuitable for someone with disabilities or the elderly. There are plenty of bedrooms in the middle floor however.
The smaller house is much simpler, offering two bedrooms, a lounge/kitchen with TV and a shower room, but still nice. The houses sandwich the owners area, so they cannot be joined together via a door, but we didn't find this a problem.
Outside there is plenty of land to wander round, the possibility of fishing in the river that runs through the house, and an active vegetable garden (vegetables and jams are available for purchase). There are chairs, tables and sunloungers outside which regrettably we never got much of a chance to use due to the awful weather (which was not typical for the area, just one of those things).
The couple that run the gites are very friendly and helpful and have an adorable dog who is clearly used to being spoilt by visitors and we didn't improve that state of affairs much.
The local village has restaurants, a grocery/post office despite its small size, there are vineyards dotted all round the area, and a larger supermarket a couple of miles away. The house is about half a mile or so from the village though, so it is quite a long walk if you want to indulge yourself in a restaurant and walk back.
The area itself is very pleasant to explore. If you want to travel further afield, to Le Mans or Tours, it does suffer a bit from being half way and a bit off the motorway - to reach most of the main Chateaux of the Loire takes about an hour or so. Le Mans is nearer, and has an excellent museum which is part of the 24 Hour racetrack. You can also visit Futuroscope at Poitiers as a day trip.
There are smaller things to do closer - the week we were there there were two fairs in the nearby villages which were fun to visit and had a sense of 'real France' that you don't get in the more touristy bits ; in fact, despite the extra distance involved in travelling it was nice to stay somewhere that wasn't overloaded with tourism.
All in all, highly recommended, especially if you have a large party.
Toutes les réservations sont effectuées directement auprès du propriétaire 