La Ferme du Cayla

Thank you for a wonderful family holiday ! The perfect mix of relaxation for parents and freedom for the kiddies! I hope we can visit again soon with little cousins to try the pizza oven 😉

Just returned from a wonderful relaxing week on the farm with our son and his grandparents. We’re incredibly grateful to James and Olivia who have succeeded in enhancing the traditional gîte holiday we’re used to with the convenience of a catered childcare. It was great to switch off from the responsibility of cooking ourselves and to enjoy a range of fresh and local dishes all served to our door or on the terrace with the other guests and their families. La Ferme Du Cayla was originally a small hamlet of around 5 or 6 houses including the farm and despite significant modernisation and restoration of the buildings it’s still retains this feel. It’s overall size and the fact that it was enclosed gave us a sense of security that the children were never too far away. Despite our gîte being above the children’s crèche rooms we felt that it was private enough and the enclosed terrace gave 180 degree views down the valley. This became quite atmospheric one evening as high pressure led to an immense lightening storm. The rest of the time we enjoyed relaxing here during the heat of the day (in between dips in the pool). In terms of kids stuff - there are rabbits, goats and a tortoise in close proximity to visit and a daily kids club with activities. We also arranged swimming lessons for our son during kids club time which he loved. Lastly the massage included in our package was a lovely treat for all of us. My wife rebooked for a full body ‘gommage’ and said it was the best treatment she’d ever had. Would thoroughly recommend to any young families who want to switch off from the world for a bit. Just wish we’d stayed longer.

We stayed in La Ferme du Cayla for the first week of October on a self catering basis. I don’t know where to start taking about how great it was. The resort has several charming rustic apartments and houses. The accommodations have all been recently renovated, with all the modern conveniences you would hope to find in self catering accommodation. We stayed in the 'Acacia' house, which had a fully equipped kitchen including dishwasher and washing machine. The sitting room was very comfortable, and had a large TV with Sky and a media player pre-loaded with several kids and grown up movies, and very strong wifi. The bathroom was supplied with lovely Molton Brown products, which added to the feeling of luxury in the house. The bedrooms all had new, comfortable beds. The kids rooms had fullsize wooden cots. Everything at the ferme is designed with kids in mind, there were stair gates, toilet seat, potty, baby bath, side rails for the bed and toys to play with, every option was covered which was fantastic when travelling with kids. There was a lovely covered private terrace overlooking the river valley, with 6 seater table. On the other side of the house was a large brick barbecue. There is an indoor and outdoor pool, due to the October weather we didn’t use the outdoor pool, but made good use of the indoor pool, which also had a sauna, steam room, outdoor hot tub and spa facilities. There were a number of pool toys and goggles available for use. The little shop and the bar at the resort were near our house and open 24 hours, so we could help ourselves, which was very handy. Christophe put out fresh bread and croissants every morning which we got for our breakfast and lunch. There was a herb garden with lovely aromas and scents next to the sun deck which really added to the relaxation. Christophe sat down with us at the start of the week and went through all our activity options for the week, of which there were many, and all very reasonably priced. We chose horse riding, spa treatments, swimming lesson for our son and a trip to the monkey park. He really made us feel that we were the priority and that it was very important to him that we enjoy ourselves completely. Throughout the week he was always on hand to provide anything we needed, or give us advice on the locality. He went above and beyond at every opportunity to make sure we were enjoying ourselves and relaxing. The crèche facilities were absolutely lovely and I can’t say enough about Genevieve, who runs the crèche. We haven’t really left our children with anyone else before so we were a bit nervous, but as soon as we met Genevieve we were comfortable. She took a special interest in getting to know each child’s personality and I really felt that by the end of the week she really knew our children and their little ways. She drew up a plan for the children every day with activities that suited their age and abilities. On the last day she organized a lovely family treasure hunt through the gardens, with a lovely picnic down at the lake, which we all enjoyed thoroughly. It was the perfect mix of spending time as a family, while still being able to leave the kids in Genevieve’s capable hands and spend some time on our own relaxing. We went down to feed the animals every morning with Christophe and Genevieve, the kids really enjoyed feeding them and the tractor rides were a special treat! The local town, Figeac, is a really nice medieval town with good shops, restaurants etc. There was so much to do and enjoy we could have done with longer there. With Christophe and Genevieve we felt that we hadn’t just met the people who worked in the resort, but we had actually made friends. We’re all looking forward to a return visit next year!