Beds and Baths: Sleeps four comfortably in one double bedroom and one twin bedroom. Two full baths, one with shower and one with tub and hand-held shower.

Living Space: On the ground floor is an entry hallway, living room with fireplace and separate dining area at one end, and kitchen. Curving stone staircase leads to bedrooms and baths on second floor.

Outdoors: The garden behind the house is a perfect place for eating meals. The backdrop is a hillside covered with wild cistus and lavender. A roof terrace is reached by a steep stairway from the second floor.

Essentials: Fully equipped kitchen with dishwasher, food processor. Washing machine and dryer. Electric blankets. Electric central heating (wall heaters in every room). Built-in hairdryer in one of the bathrooms. CD player, tape player, radio with BBC World Service. Cable TV.

Details: Children over age 14 welcome. Property is not handicapped-accessible. Smoking permitted. Telephone available in house for local and long-distance calls.

Nearby:

• Large supermarchés in La Foux and in Cogolin, each 15 minutes away. (Many believe the Cogolin store has the best cheese counter in the south of France.)
• La Garde-Freinet has a good selection of shops, including two boulangeries, two patisseries, two charcuterie/traiteurs (selling prepared food dishes as well as cuts of meat), a pharmacy, newsagent, hardware store, two hairdressers, several good-quality gift shops (some of which sell local crafts), two grocers, a post office, half a dozen good restaurants and cafés, and a nightclub with live jazz on Saturday nights.
• Outdoor market held twice weekly in the village square, a five-minute walk away.
• The Office du Tourisme in La Garde-Freinet has information on local walking routes, horseback riding, special events in the area, and other activities of interest to visitors.
• Tennis in Grimaud, 15 minutes away. Golf in Beauvallon and Ste-Maxime, each 20 to 30 minutes away.
• Mediterranean beaches nearby: Gigaro is very low-key, a favorite with families. The Pampelonne beaches at St-Tropez are diverse - some are smaller and quiet, some are good for people-watching, some have valet parking and excellent restaurants.
• Abbaye de Thoronet, a 12th century Cistercian monastery about 40 minutes away, is well worth a visit. The simplicity and purity of its cloister, chapel and monks' living quarters are breathtaking. Chartreuse de la Verne in Collobrières, about one hour away, is a Carthusian monastery founded in 1170. Still undergoing restoration, it is a rambling complex of cloisters, chapels and monks' cells.
• Other hill villages nearby: Grimaud is a picture-perfect village perché on the ridges of the Massif des Maures. Overlooking the village are the ruins of the Grimaldi château, with views down to the Gulf of St-Tropez and inland across the Maures. Ramatuelle and Gassin are other villages perchés, typical Provençal hill villages surrounded by vineyards that produce the Côtes de Provence wines.

Transportation:

• Nice and its airport are 1 1/4 hours away. Marseille and its airport are 1 1/2 hours.
• Toulon and its airport are 45 minutes away.
• Avignon is two hours away, Aix-en-Provence 1 1/4 hours.
• Paris is five hours via the TGV - the nearest stop is 45 minutes away at St-Raphael.

* Rates include electricity, all linen, cleaning service after departure, and heat (when necessary). Security deposit required.

NOTE: Rentals begin after 4:00 p.m. any day of the week, with a one-week minimum.