A new home for Sawday's Special Self-Catering Places in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Eire, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal

Restored family-friendly houses in richly cultured Western Loire: authentic kitchens and a pool a 4-minute walk through château parkland

Quel château! It's a neo-Gothic masterpiece and these little houses lie deep within its parkland. Handsome, comfortable and a delight to spend time in, both were restored by the indefatigable owners, with deft combinations of old and new. La Brosse is a 14th-century farmhouse, modest but dignified, all stone walls and great oak beams upstairs and down. Old the bedsteads may be, on floors of wood or tomettes, but the mattresses are new, the mats are seagrass and the mood is unexpectedly luxurious. Bathrooms are very 21st-century, some tiled imaginatively with old terracotta, all with old beams and tiny windows, kitchens are big, authentic and well-equipped, furniture is classically French. The swimming pool is a four-minute stroll through the grounds and each house has a private, enclosed garden but you can join forces with your neighbours should you wish. Monsieur is jovial and welcoming, his wife impressively energetic. This is a fine address in an area which is impossibly rich in culture, starting with France's largest Romanesque church in nearby Cunault.