The gite has been awarded the 4**** label for a capacity of 11 people + 1 baby bed. However, in response to requests from some families, we have added a second bunk bed in room 2 “Pont d’Arc”, bringing the capacity of our house to 12 people + 1 baby (10 adults maximum). These bunk beds, rather intended for children / teenagers, are however in conformity with the standards allowing to welcome adults.
If necessary, additional rooms can be rented at the “Mas des Loges“, a very comfortable guest house in the heart of the village of Chambonas, 5 minutes away from the gîte.
Although located in the heart of a hamlet in a heritage protection zone, the gîte has a large private car park for 5 cars, about 50 metres away, at the exit of the hamlet. A baggage drop-off area is of course provided at the entrance of the house.
Please note: the access path to the car park is quite narrow. No problem for private cars but access for motorhomes and vehicles with trailers is not allowed.
ATTENTION: due to the configuration ( car park at a certain distance from the house), IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO RECHARGE YOUR ELECTRIC VEHICLES on site. However, public charging stations are available 4km from the gîte in the small town of Les Vans (link).
For the comfort of its guests, it is strictly forbidden to smoke inside the cottage premises. However, smoking is allowed in the various outdoor areas including the pool area in accordance with some common rules (use of ashtrays, extreme precautions with regard to the risk of fire start)
Generally speaking and taking into account the layout of the premises, our friends the animals are not allowed.
On specific request and after prior discussion with the owner, a cat or a small dog (< 10 kg) may be accepted.
In any case, for reasons of hygiene, the access of animals to the bedrooms and the swimming pool is strictly forbidden.
A specific deposit will be requested; it will be returned 7 days after departure after verification of the absence of damage.
The rental includes an invoiced “end of stay cleaning” service. This one allows you to free yourself from the constraint of cleaning the cottage.
The tasks to be carried out before your departure are therefore quite limited: cleaning the barbecue and the plancha (not included in the cleaning package), emptying the garbage cans and removing waste, storing the dishes and the various equipment where you have found them in order to facilitate the inventory of fixtures.
On request, an additional cleaning service during the stay can be provided (additional charge).
We provide you with all the laundry you need during your stay at the cottage : bed linen, towels and bath sheets; pool towels (foutas); kitchen towels.
You only need to provide beach towels if you go to the riverside; we ask you not to use the pool towels outside the cottage.
We’ve got everything we need to take you in, Jade. A beautiful wooden cot in room 1 with pretty Vertbaudet® sheets, a bathtub just for you, a super changing mattress, a very solid high chair and an easy-to-use bottle warmer.
Like many traditional Ardèche buildings, our house has a few stairs. As such, the cottage is not recommended for people with reduced mobility.
Given the family destination of this house, these various existing stairs are all equipped with child safety devices: Barrier in accordance with standard NF EN-1930 for the inside staircase leading to the bedrooms upstairs, gate with safety lock in accordance with standard NF P90-306 for the outside staircase leading to the swimming pool area.
Excellent question, what every holidaymaker should ask themselves when booking a holiday rental !
The buildings of the “Terrasses des Sielves” were completely renovated before the opening of the gîte in 2019. The electrical installations are new and were the subject of a certificate of conformity (CONSUEL Certification of 20/07/2017) before being connected to the EDF network ; they therefore strictly comply with the latest standards in force.
Fire safety has also been a particular focus of attention. The house has 4 fire extinguishers positioned in each of the different buildings and around the risk equipment (plancha, barbecue…). A carbon monoxide detector is present in the panoramic living room (wood stove). Finally, smoke detectors (x4) have been positioned on the ceilings of each level of the different buildings.
The various safety and fire instructions are posted; a first aid kit is available in the reception hall.
These various provisions are detailed in the “Welcome Booklet” and are reminded to each holidaymaker on the day of their arrival.
The pool is open from 8 April to 30 September (during the middle, high and very high seasons).
The pool is south-facing and shallow (1.35m) and therefore rarely requires additional heating during the opening period.
However, in order to ensure that our guests always enjoy a pleasant water temperature from the first days of April until the end of the season, a heat pump heating system was installed in 2022.
=> More information is available on the specific web page.
The law provides for strict regulations regarding the safety of buried private swimming pools. At least one of four safety features (cover, barrier, alarm or shelter) must be present. The alarm, being from our point of view insufficient (possibility of disconnection), we have chosen to install physical safety devices and double them :
– a peripheral barrier with secure gate compliant with the standard NF P90-306
– an electric roller shutter in accordance with the NF P90-308 standard for pool safety covers. The control button for this flap is also only accessible in a code box provided only to parents.
We have chosen an automatic salt treatment for a better bathing comfort. The pool is completely cleaned and its dosages checked every week before the arrival of our guests. Every Wednesday morning between 10am and 12pm, an intermediate interview is also held. If necessary, in case of specific needs, we can also intervene on request.
Yes, 5 km on the Chassezac river, by crossing the Chambonas bridge you can access the pretty “Nassier Beach” around the submersible bridge of the same name.
Even closer, 2.5km from the cottage, more confidential and very friendly for children, you also have the “Base nautique Plan d’eau Pont de Chambonas” with its small sandy beach, its family atmosphere and its access to the river by canoe or pedalo.
The quality of the bathing water in our rivers is regularly monitored by the public authorities: a bimonthly bulletin “Bulletin Inf’eau” on the quality of the water in the Ardèche, Beaume and Chassezac rivers is available on the ardeche-eau.fr website and is regularly inserted in the gîte’s welcome booklet.
There are many hiking trails which are directly accessible. The GR4 [long distance hiking circuit from Loubaresse (Ardèche) to Mondragon (Vaucluse)] is 3km away (Les Vans). The GRP “Le Cévenol” crosses the village of Chambonas. Several circuits pass right in front of the house: see map
The hamlet of Sielves in Chambonas is perfectly covered in 4G by the 4 telephone operators (Orange, Bouygues, SFR and Free). See link to the ARIASE coverage map (address to be typed: “Chemin des Sielves 07140 Chambonas”).
The Wifi installation was particularly careful inside the gîte: 5 Devolo Magic 2 Wifi PLC boxes were necessary to cover the different buildings. In spite of the thickness of the walls, which can be up to 80 cm thick, Wifi reception is thus perfect in all the premises (unique access code provided in the welcome booklet and by QR code).
For those who wish (and on request before your arrival) the Wifi installation can be cut off; in this case the Internet remains accessible by wired connection in each of the 5 rooms on RJ45 wall socket (the house is fully wired).
You also have a USB socket on the bedside tables in each room for direct charging of your mobile phones (a micro-USB or USB-C cable can be borrowed for emergency use).
The various televisions present in the cottage all give access to the 31 French DTT channels.
The television in the main lounge also gives access to the ORANGE bouquet channels, including, in particular, some foreign English or German-language channels (CNN, SkyNews, BBC World News, Deutsche Welle, ARTE (Deutch)…)
The various TV sets are also NETFLIX-compatible.
The 80 cm thick stone walls of our four hundred year old house guarantee a very favourable thermal inertia and allow a very pleasant temperature to be maintained naturally in every season in the various rooms.
However, for the greater comfort of our visitors and to be safe from the few episodes of heat waves observed in recent years in the south of France, we chose, in the spring of 2021, to air-condition each of the 5 rooms of the house. From now on, from the beginning of June to the end of August, each of our guests can regulate the temperature of their nights as they wish.
On request, high-performance fans can also be provided for people who do not wish to use air conditioning.
A welcome booklet is given to you upon your arrival at the cottage. This document contains all the information you may need: detailed description of the cottage, addresses and opening hours of the shops, useful telephone numbers (doctors…). It also contains a whole series of “good tips” and suggestions for fun activities to do during your stay.
We are also, of course, at your disposal to answer any questions you may have before or during your stay.
Furnished tourist accommodation and cottages are officially classified, declared by the town hall, according to a national grid of 112 criteria. This grid is now common with the one used by Gites de France in its “épis” classification.
This quotation is obtained following an official audit carried out before the opening of the cottage and is confirmed at regular intervals. It guarantees future guests an objective verification of the service offered, unlike the only “customer reviews” found on some other rental platforms.
The 4**** obtained by the gîte “Les Terrasses des sielves” corresponds to “House of character and environment and high quality decoration” in addition to a very high level of equipment. The audit also validates compliance with all the security standards necessary to welcome guests.
The “Gîtes de charme” label obtained on 28 November 2020 is a complementary classification defined by Gîtes de France®; it gives rise to a specific audit and regular checks.
Atmosphere and charm are the two main characteristics of “Gîtes de charme”. These homes of character combine interior comfort and quality of decoration and architecture. This very selective label can only be obtained after 12 to 18 months of operation and takes into account the quality of customer feedback obtained during this period. Out of the 70,000 accommodation offers proposed by Gites de France, only 450 gîtes have received this label (27 in Ardèche).
Rental platforms such as Airbnb or Abritel take advantage of their wide distribution to impose high fees on holidaymakers and owners alike. The total of these fees can reach up to 20-25% of the rental amount.
The rates proposed on this site allow to save the totality of these additional costs: you will find in link an EXAMPLE OF THE SAVINGS OBTAINED IN DIRECT RENTAL for one week of renting in August (very high season) at the “Terrasses des Sielves”.
Grouped within the LVP Direct association which promotes direct rental between individuals, we invite you to examine carefully the GTC of these platforms (and the consumer forums…); you will note that the guarantees described privilege above all the preservation of these commissions at the expense of the security of the tenants.
Our house is available for rent all year round. The booking schedule is displayed on the “Rates” and “Contact & Booking” pages and is updated in real time.
Due to the very specific character of this house, bookings are often made well in advance (9 to 12 months), especially for the summer period. To be sure to choose the ideal period for your family reunions and holidays, please contact us early on, we can offer you a pre-booking that can be cancelled without any penalty.
The rules applicable to seasonal rentals are very precise and are framed in particular by article L.324-2 of the French Tourism Code : “any offer or contract for seasonal rentals must be in writing and contain an indication of the asking price as well as a descriptive inventory of fixtures”.
The booking conditions at “Terrasses des Sielves” strictly respect these rules ; the rental is systematically subject to a written contract, accompanied by a detailed description of the premises.
The calendar of availability of the gite is constantly kept up to date. To reserve an available period, use the contact form. To be able to draw up this contract, it is necessary to have the contact details of the person in charge of the rental (postal address, e-mail and telephone number) and a complete list of the people present: surnames, first names and ages (necessary to be able to calculate the amount of the applicable tourist tax).
The rental will be final upon receipt of the signed contract and the down-payment.
Please note : In accordance with the regulations, an inventory will be carried out on entering and leaving the premises. A security deposit, not cashed, will be requested on arrival and will be returned on the day of departure.
The nearest TGV stations are Montélimar and Valence TGV.
They are accessible by Regional Express Bus: line 74 (LES VANS / AUBENAS / MONTÉLIMAR / VALENCE TGV). Tickets are sold directly on the bus but can also be booked on the SNCF CONNECT website at the same time as the TGV ticket.
The small village of LES VANS is located 5 minutes drive (4 km) from the gîte.
More information and schedule available HERE.
The tourist attractions of the Ardèche are mainly based on outdoor activities which should be little impacted by the constraints related to coronavirus. The environment of the gîte and the gîte itself allow you, moreover, a stay in complete autonomy.
In order to welcome our guests in accordance with official protocols, as soon as the confinement was lifted in May 2020, we introduced reinforced cleaning and disinfection ranges for all the premises between each rental. You will thus be able to stay there with complete peace of mind.
Following the publication on 8 August of the decree implementing the law of 5 August, it was confirmed that the health pass was not necessary for holiday rentals which only offer accommodation and for which the equipment is totally private.
Our house and its swimming pool are totally reserved for you, so the sanitary pass is not compulsory. However, we can only advise you to have one in order to have easy access to all the activities and tourist sites of the region.
NOTE: Your hosts have a complete vaccination course (2 doses + booster). The O² Care services cleaning protocol approved by the Ministry of Health is strictly implemented between each rental (see specific page)
Particular case of non-residents in metropolitan France: the non-provision of the health pass required to cross the borders is not covered by the conditions of the COVID clause in our contracts. In this case, the cancellation conditions of our General Rental Conditions apply.