Summer villa rentals with Quality Villas

As the Spring moves upon us, with a little sun and the flowers coming into bloom, so we can start to dream about summer.
A dream of course is always helped when there is some reality to the story, for example if you dream of lazing by a glistening blue pool, warmed by a hot sun and with cooling drink in hand, it certainly helps if you have somewhere to go to experience this!


Our French villa of the week is Bourg Barn, click here to see this villa in France . Located near Moissac in the rural south west, this is an excellent value property, from £1160 per week in high season.



Our most demanded Tuscany villa rental is La Riserva, a stunning restored farmhouse, dating from the 16th century. Currently there are some remaining weeks left in July, starting from £2680 per week. To see the complete portfolio of all our villas in Italy please click for more details.

Our Tuscany holiday villas have good late availability, though we are expecting bookings to run right up until the date of departure!



If you do not see the villas you are seeking in the above selection, please call us on 0044 (0)1442 870055 and one of our friendly sales team will be happy to offer more suggestions. Our staff visit the properties often and can advise on the smallest details.

When travelling with the family...

Being specialists in the family market, we are aware that a large percentage of our clients that travel with us each year often do so with children of a variety of ages, indeed some bookings have several generations of family that travel, meaning grandparents are as likely to be soaking up the rays and beautiful views from one of our featured villas as are excitable toddlers!

For this reason, we have invited a professional in the family travel market (Anne Coates) who is founder of the website http://www.parentingwithouttears.com/ to offer her top 5 tips for a successful holiday with children this year:

Always pack a first aid kit including plasters, antiseptic wipes, anti-histamine cream for bites and stings, oral rehydration therapy to replace essential body salts in cases of diarrhoea, and insect repellent.


Take plenty of sun protection – creams should be at least factor 15 but remember sun hats/caps and loose clothing with long sleeves to protect children’s delicate skin.

For journeys/days out – a day pack for each child containing their favourite toy, wrap up a new activity/book/toy as a surprise, mp3 player for older children. Include a notebook and pencils for school-age children so they can write about or sketch anything that interests them.

Baby monitor – these are great when you are away from home for children and toddlers as well as babies. If they get up after going to bed they may be disorientated in their holiday accommodation.

Take old towels for the beach/pool – at the end of the holiday you can use them on the last day (if your departure is after you have to leave your accommodation) then leave them for anyone else to use. That way you’ll have extra space in your luggage for any souvenirs!

Anne Coates is the founder/host of http://www.parentingwithouttears.com/



Quality Villas offer family friendly villas in France and family friendly villas in Italy for all tastes and budgets.
Please contact us to discuss your booking requirements on 01442 870055 or info@qualityvillas.com

Always adding new villas...

As the summer gets ever closer, many of the most popular villas in France and Italy start to get booked up. We are very aware of this at Quality Villas, so beavering away quietly behind the scenes are our overseas area managers and Sally (who writes up the end product in the UK), all of whom continue to work together to add new villas to our portfolio.

In this way, with new houses constantly coming online, we are able to offer new availability to interested clients as well as a constantly changing variety of villas. If the exact villa type (location, size...) doesn't appear on our website, its always worth contacting us. We can usually offer something that is a close match, or there may be something waiting to go online, in which case the complete availability of the house is yours!

Sally (pictured) offers her latest selection of 'new' villas to go online below:

Villa Panoramique - sleeps 8, villa St Tropez, France

Les Martinets - sleeps 8, villa near La Garde Freinet, France

Villa Gracieuse - sleeps 10, villa near Villefranche Sur Mer, France

Les Calanques - sleeps 8, villa near Bandol, France

Casa Villaggio - sleeps 8, villa north of Florence, Italy

The view from the Cote d'Azur

This weeks focus is the Cote d'Azur and our area manager Muriel Haveron, who welcomes our clients each season and keeps a careful eye on the properties we feature. Our premiere offering of Cote d'Azur villas is visible on our website, with new properties being regularly added.

Muriel had the following comments to make on her region:


What there is to do:

"Personally, I love swimming especially out of season when its quieter (May, June and September time). I also really enjoy going for a walk and discovering new places to visit, going to a nice restaurant and in winter going skiing. It is wonderful to live in the Côte d'Azur because we are very close to the sea and the mountains, so very quickly you can do different activities and in a short distance be close to the countryside, and to be near larger towns like Nice, Antibes or Cannes."

Muriels favourite food:

"If I had to select one dish I would take a speciality from Nice "Les petits farcies." It is a selection of vegetables : zucchini, tomatoes, onions, pepper and eggplant which is stuffed with meat and herbs; it is delicious."


Muriels favourite villa on the Cote d'Azur :
"...they are all wonderful,but if I have to choose I would have to give you two villas. I would say L'Aube Bleue because of the situation, the garden, the furniture inside the sea view, but because I love old houses, which have soul, I will say as well Villa le Vieux Moulin.

Clients interested in renting a villa on the Cote d'Azur that wish to speak to Muriel directly for an insider knowledge of the local area as well as the villas and what they offer, can do so via our UK office.

Car Hire, Ferry travel and overnight hotels

For some time, we have been pleased to suggest Classic Breakaway, a locally based company for any client requests for car hire, overnight hotels and ferry crossings.

Ray Goodwin, the Managing Director of Classic Breakaway is always ready to offer personal and preferential treatment to Quality Villas clients that contact him for these services.

If you are looking for car hire, overnight hotels in Europe or ferry crossings at good rates, we suggest to clients to visit Rays website, http://www.classicbreakaway.com/ or to call him on 0870 220 3535 for a personal consultation on what is the best way to travel for you.

2009 is a year of enjoying necessities such as a holiday but still watching the pennies - Classic Breakaway are frequently able to offer low industry rates, particularly on car hire.

A view from our area manager Gill Woolsgrove in South West France

Early summer in the Tarn et Garonne

Spring has arrived in the Tarn et Garonne with daffodils, sunshine and warmer days. This agricultural region with lush countryside and rolling hills is so delightful, that’s why I live here! The quieter way of life, old farming communities and medieval fortified villages is always a delight to those who come here. New to this region are fabulous night markets with music and food stalls. Sample local duck washed down with a hearty bottle of local wine! We still have quite a bit availability for our houses in this region especially in June which is a beautiful month whereby its still fairly quiet before the hurly burly of July & August. Why not book Maison Touffailles a beautiful French country house with comfortable furnishings, lovely terrace for outside dining and all set in spacious and secluded grounds. This area is really my idea of heaven!

Gill Woolsgrove manages our luxury villa programme in the South West of France, including Biarritz and the Dordogne. With a wealth of experience in the rental market as well as a bubbly, friendly personality, ensures our guests a warm welcome year after year.

The Italian way

This week has been one of our busiest yet; given the economic conditions that are still being fed to us daily by a doomhungry media, is also surely going against the grain!



Our villas in Italy however have not been renting so fast. Strangely and in sharp contrast to recent years, there is more availability than usual.
The situation has to be put down on the whole to less visitors from the USA to villas in Tuscany - certainly this is the consensus emerging from our Italian owners.

There is then of course opportunity for our regular UK clients to enjoy the pick of what remains available...often at a good rate. Many owners are now starting to discount their properties and prices are frequently lower than last years.


If you are looking for a holiday in Umbria this year, our featured villa 'Vigna Sagrantino' is certainly worth a look. Near the wine producing town of Montefalco and with unique covered pool (shielding swimmers from the suns rays), is also excellent value. Click for more details.

Bordeaux for a glass or so...

One of the great pleasures of holidaying in France is enjoying the wonderful cuisine and wine on offer, all that differs from region to region.
From heady reds to light whites, wine is something that is generally treated as an art form in French viticultural circles, there is usually a different blend for every palate and any one particular dish is normally deserving of one particular type of wine to so enhance it.

For those of our clients heading to villas in Bordeaux area this year, especially between 26-29 June, they are in for a treat at the annual 'Bordeaux Wine Festival'. Some 350,000 culture vultures are expected to descend on the city to enjoy parades, wine tastings, vineyard tours, wine barrel races and plenty of good food and drink. There are opportunities to learn about wine tasting before the event comes to an end with a huge riverside firework display.

Quality Villas have luxury villas in the region, including La Vielle Ferme, from £2335 per week, sleeping 6 with private infinity pool. For more details of this charming French villa click here.

February news...

With the arrival of snow, wind and general coldness, there has followed thankfully a flurry of bookings that have sustained us through the weather (and literally battling through it each day to get to the office!) that mean 2009 is set to be an excellent season, despite a 'blip' at the end of 2008 when we were all shell shocked at the daily news!

Picture: Island of Elba

Of particular note are our selection of villas in the south west of France - these have really dominated business, more so than any other region. This green region that includes the Dordogne, the area around Toulouse and Biarritz has shown through of late: excellent value properties, spacious flat lawns, private pools and typical French culture, cuisine and countryside on display. Our south of France villas - meaning the Cote d'Azur and St Tropez of course remain our main fare.

Owners continue to discount rates, our special offers page for France is here - our special offers for Italy villas are here. Click for general information on France and Italy

Special offers from Quality Villas

Things have been moving very fast here at Quality Villas in the last week or two - with the publication of our special offers via our newsletters (if you would like to sign up for your copy, please do so by clicking here for Quality villas offers).

In any event - we are happily placing our clients in their favourite villas, therefore guaranteeing their place in the sun later this year!

We have noticed however, from speaking to a few of our clients, they are waiting a bit to see what happens (referring to the current economic climate). Something to bear in mind is that the issues facing the UK are not the same in other countries around the world; this means there is as much a rush on as ever to get the best weeks reserved in the best villas before someone else does!

We are adding more special offers week by week as our owners speak to us, meaning prices are keen. If you would like to see the updated special offers, please click here for France villa offers and here for Italy villa offers - we look forward to hearing from you.

The January Sales!

Following what has been an 'interesting' period before Christmas and a fair amount of uncertainty in the travel world generally, we are pleased to say that things appear to have settled down and returned to some normality!

We are very pleased to welcome back our usual clients who are reserving their villas for the coming year as well as many new clients who will soon be relishing their first experience of a Quality Villas holiday.

We at Quality Villas are aware of the precarious situation of the Euro against the pound, for this reason we have been carrying out a reprice of our rates and seeking reductions from our owners. We are pleased to announce that in the majority of cases, owners have been lowering their prices, so that there are some very good offers available. In many cases, the prices are cheaper than last year!

We would suggest calling our staff who will be able to offer (as always) first hand and first class advice on which villa holiday will suit you and your party as well as the best rates. There has never been a better time to get good value. Our special offers pages (which are constantly being refreshed and updated) can be found by clicking here for France villa offers and here for Italy villas offers. The best offers should be live by the weekend of 10 Jan 09 and constantly refreshed from then on.

Our French villa and Italian villa portfolios are visible online (displaying availability and pricing, as well as a wide selection of images) or email/call us and we will send you a selection of villa recommendations. If you are seeking a break to escape to some winter sun, our Morocco villas are an inviting prospect as are our Mauritius villas.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Tel 0044 (0) 1442 870055 or email us at info@qualityvillas.com

Christmas is here but...

With the advent of Christmas, thoughts of course turn to managing the turkey roast, opening presents with suitable thanks given to the watching friends and relatives and of course enjoying good times with all concerned.
There is often a celebration of the year just had, as well as a look ahead to the coming one. Certainly a question often raised, where will next years holiday be taken and what other family gatherings are on the calendar.
It goes without saying of course, a family villa in France or Italy is an ideal base for a family reunion or party. With self catering facilities, private pool and grounds, a party staying at a villa can manage itself very nicely indeed. Compared to a hotel, there is no hindrance from hotel staff (and meal timetables), other guests sharing pools (and poaching sunloungers!) and of course a villa usually works out far cheaper.
If you haven't requested your brochure yet for 2009 and are considering booking a France villa or Italy villa, please call us or click here - France or click here - Italy to enter your details on line and we will happily mail a copy to arrive with you in the festive period.
Happy Christmas to all friends of Quality Villas.

Beat the Credit Crunch in a Quality Villa in France or Italy

The Quality Villas' blog has been a touch silent recently mainly due to our office move. As a family business we are still in Berkhamsted in leafy Hertfordshire, close to the homes of the owners, but now have purpose built quality accommodation of our own. Not quite like a luxury villa in France or Italy but pretty smart all the same! Our reservations team has especially benefited from an improved telephone system and speedier internet access, thanks to a super new server and state of the art telephone system. This will mean our response times will be even faster. We're practising with the new equipment even now!

And the phones have been busy. People have been calling wanting to book villas in France or Italy but concerned about the possible costs in this economic climate. Everyone we speak to is therefore delighted when we begin to talk about prices for 2009. For families, a villa holiday in France or Italy is still exceptional value and can cost as little as £250.00 per person per week, for a house with a private pool and maid service. These prices of course compare extremely favourably with hotel costs, especially when the villas in question are situated in locations such as Tuscany and the Cote d'Azur ... but of course the benefits of quality villa rental do not stop there.

All our villas offer "home from home" comforts such as English speaking satellite TV channels, internet access, full laundry facilities and proximity to wonderful countryside, seaside, or to interesting, peaceful or vibrant local towns and villages. Of course for many holiday makers "home from home" is great, but because they are on holiday they want something extra and special... A quality French villa holiday can provide that too, with a range of villas offering true luxury and style. Choose from traditional villas, ultra modern homes or fully staffed houses. All your vacation homes will complement and enhance your holiday choice ensuring that a great time is had by all!

Luxury Travel Fair Olympia

Over the last weekend (5 - 8 November) Quality Villas participated at the international Luxury Travel Fair at London's Olympia. The fair gave us the opportunity to meet customers and owners in person, and to discuss holiday requirements with the many people who are planning to spend their 2009 summer holiday in a villa in France or a villa in Italy.

The fair gave Quality Villas the opportunity both to showcase some of the houses which have proved so popular with clients and which have contributed to the company's reputation as a provider of first class villas, and also to discuss new properties which will be available for rental next summer.

One of the main themes of discussion this year was of course the credit crunch. The Quality Villas team was encouraged that many people are interpreting the UK's changing financial temperature to mean that when they book a villa they want to be reassured that it will offer the standard and facilities which they have paid for.

As one client said to us "Your approach to villa rental, supported by your highly professional and pleasant staff means that we will certainly be returning to you for our future villa bookings."

ends

What do you want from your villa in France?

Every year Quality Villas asks for, and receives, feedback from clients who have spent time at one of the company's villas in France or villas in Italy. This feedback is used to help us improve our service to our customers and is also relayed to the owners of houses we represent so that they can get a better understanding of what makes a villa holiday truly memorable.

In the middle of a credit crunch and with our villas in France and Italy costing above average, based on the levels of quality and luxury they provide, we have been particularly delighted this year so many of our customers have reported very high levels of holiday satisfaction both from the accomodation they chose and our service.

Customers who stayed at Villa Harmonie said ...."The villa was very comfortable .. we were very happy with everything and had a lovely holiday. Speaking to your staff, telling them our needs, and having the opportunity to chat through different options was most helpful. The fact that they actually know the villas too was most valuable...."

Because our villas have a strong reputation for the standards of accommodation and for the support services ( maids, chefs, babysitters, etc ) which are also on offer, repeat bookings are commonplace. One of the most popular villas on the Cote d'Azur, Villa Mozart, has already taken its first repeat booking for August 2009 and others like The House on the Beach in Brittany are being requested daily.

In these straightened times holidays become even more important as we all struggle to relax and escape the pressures of day to day living... knowing you are going to "excellent" accomodation such as Mas des Grands Pins chosen in association with " very helpful and understanding" people will ensure a successful quality holiday which offers value for your money!