Venue Description

Nestling on the edge of the picturesque Languedoc village of Cessenon-sur-Orb, sits the region's most accessible holiday villa, specifically designed for the needs of wheelchair users with an open-plan layout, lift-accessible upper floor and balcony and an easy-access swimming pool. With everything the village has to offer just a short roll along flat, quiet rural lanes, guests can enjoy their break without ever having to leave the village, or explore the myriad vineyards, markets and eateries nearby.

Accessibility

Starting at the front door, you’ve got a normal key and a chain. Rather than lock the door all the time, if I’m going to be outside around the pool I tend to chain the door during the day, as you can be out back and unaware that someone has come in until they join you on the terrace. The door on the left in the hall leads to the garage where you’ll find some inflatables, masks, snorkels, fins and the hot water storage tank. Keep it closed as it bangs irritatingly in breezy conditions. The lock for the up-and-over garage door should be hanging on the key rack around the corner by the kitchen, but you can lock and unlock it on the inside by sliding a lever across on the door lock. There are two medium-sized bikes there for local forays, or you can hire bikes from: Rambic mountain bike rental: 500 Chemin du Moulin, 34460, CESSENON-SUR-ORB. Téléphone: +33 6 02 36 48 09 The next left is the utility room which houses the washing machine, a wash basin and the large grey wooden fusebox, which is behind the utility room door. If the hob plays up with small ‘o’ on two plates, you can clear it by flicking the relevant switch off and on. It’s on the top row far left for the hob. The circuit for the hot water is in the centre of the panel and has three settings: - off, auto and full time, auto is French Economy 7, so please keep it on that. Energy hasn’t been cheap in France for years. The ventilation fan for the wet room has three positions marked. If you are having lots of showers please move it to position ‘2’. There is also a hand-held vacuum cleaner and a black power pack/pump If the air-con units’ green light starts flashing, switch them all off, then go to the fusebox. The bottom row on the left with the two thermometer icons is their circuits – switch off for 10 mins, switch back on and leave units for a minimum of 10 mins while they re-initialise. The washing machine is pretty straightforward. Powder in the left slot, conditioner in the centre, set the cleaning to 30 or 40 blanc/coleurs, press the 'facile' (easy) iron button, then hit 'depart/pause’ (start/pause) and it fires up after a few seconds. There is a wall-mounted line by the terrace and a large rotary clothes line down the steps. We like to keep them folded up and covered when not in use, so please be careful that fingers are not trapped and the cover is placed over it. If you have a lot of clothes to do please load it equally and if the Tramontane wind is blowing hard limit the size of the load. The tumble dryer vents to its own tray-sized water tank which needs emptying after each load goes through. It’s at the bottom left front and simply pulls out. Above the utility room door is the first air-con unit. There’s a larger master one on the far wall of the lounge too. The units can be set to different modes: heat or cool, timer on and off, and temperature too, with the larger unit having a more sophisticated weekly timing option too. The manuals and remote controls are interchangeable, but it’s best to make sure that only one air-con unit is able to pick up the remote-control signal at any one time, or they can get out of phase. Please don’t operate them with windows and doors open as it is a very, very expensive way of cooling down France!! Far better to use the ceiling fans in the lounge and master bedroom. The hall now opens out and you have two bedrooms on the right with a wet room/loo ahead of you. I can recommend the seated shower, but beware using too tall bottles of shampoo and aftershave et al in the mirrored unit as the sliding doors can sweep them off onto the tiles. If water is slow to drain away from the shower that is because the drain has become clogged up. It's easy to clear, you just need a screwdriver (in the tool box in the wooden sideboard or in the ‘useful’ drawer) to lever up the grill, then lift out the square grey retaining frame and the black inner grill can be lifted out and the debris shaken and wiped off into the bin/loo. The twin bedroom has my wardrobe in the drawers under the left bed and house linen and towels under the right-hand one. The bedside lights are touch-sensitive with three different settings. Please use the black towels for the pool and beach. All the rooms have electric shutters operated by grey rocker switches. Please return the rocker switches to the central ‘off’ position when you have adjusted them to your liking. You will see that you can lower them all the way down and leave little slots open to allow some light through, while keeping the bulk of the sun’s heat out. This also allows air circulation if the windows are opened. Next up is the open-plan kitchen on the right. The manuals for the appliances: microwave, induction hob and dishwasher should be within sight, or in the wooden sideboard. The induction hob is soft touch and responsive, with 0-9 power settings. If the right or left-hand two plates play up I have found that flicking the fuse for the hob, (there’s an icon for it on the panel in the utility room) or even the master switch under the hob, clears that glitch. To stop the ice-maker clogging up from lack of use there is an ‘ice-lock’ light on the fridge door, it is turned on and off by pressing the ‘dispenser’ button on the left. If it’s been on a while the ice-maker can get a ‘cube jam’ if it doesn’t get used for a while, you’ll need to pull the drawer out and break up the blocks, I then put the excess in one of the freezer drawers as they’re easier to get to there, rather than using the machine as lumps bounce off your glass and skid across the floor. I use the plastic measuring jug to catch them, instead of a glass. To switch between water and ice, press the button marked ‘dispenser’ and a bell will chime as the function changes. The microwave is worth persevering with as it has many functions. Excellent for a quick pizza and defrosting yesterday’s flute. When I buy bread, I cut it in half and park one in the freezer immediately for use the following day. The drawer under the cooker is the ‘useful’ drawer for fuses, spare batteries, screwdrivers etc. There’s a similar top drawer in the wooden sideboard. The cupboard below the oven has shopping bags, bin liners, ice cube bags etc. Please replace what loo rolls you use and let us know if you have to buy some expensive Brabantia bin liners :-). With the Brabantia bin make sure there is no food or packaging caught on the catch in the bin as you will break it when pushing the lid closed. If a bulb goes please let us know at handover. There is a selection of replacements in the left-hand cupboard of the wooden sideboard. The general rule with the fridge and ice box is that if it's left in there it should be within date and you are free to use it. The dishwasher has numerous programs and dishwasher salt is in the cupboard above the oven. If you cycle through the settings you will see that some take forever, I go for the 75-minute option, program 3 and on the P1 to P4 buttons, demi-sechage is half-full. Dishwasher tables are in the carousel to the left of the dishwasher. You have a long electric hot plate (a plancha) stored in the utility room behind the door above the grey fuse cupboard that is good for use at either table – though I prefer outdoors. There is a steam mop if you want to go over the floor at some time. Please use distilled water in the mop as this is a very hard water area. There should be a 5-litre container in the utility room. The left-hand glass-fronted sideboard in the lounge has tablecloths (and clips for windy days on the terrace), candles for when it's not windy, plus matches and some napkins. The right-hand sideboard has books, board games, toy cars, cards and jigsaws too. Now the technology. There is a 3.5mm jack extension in the cupboard under the amp, use the audio sockets on the amp front, so you can run an iPod or mp3 player through the amp. Select ‘tuner’ on the amp for this. There is also a Sony iPod dock for outside use. The house has UK Freeview satellite television (Radio too) with a hard disc for recording as well. There is also a DVD player. To operate: Switch on the TV, (on-off switch on low left side, red standby, blue active) and then the satellite box and the TV should switch its input to it. Manuals are to the left of the TV. The TV is connected to the amplifier and I have the Freesat volume set to maximum, then control the amp sound using the Yamaha remote. The source inputs you need on the amplifier are 'cd' obviously, and 'LD' for the TV and ‘tuner’ for the 3.5mm jack lead. The amplifier has different effects like movie theatre, TV sport, jazz club etc. The low sideboards contain DVDs, while the right one has numerous tourist guides bagged up for different areas like Beziers, the local district around Cessenon, Minervois etc. Please return them and if you get any up-to-date ones on your travels feel free to add them to the 'library'. There are also CDs and magazines dotted around the place With all the technology and also the telephone, if there is a thunderstorm, please unplug everything as summer storms can be impressive with lightning strikes more common in this part of the world. The ceiling fans need to be switched on with the double switch to the right of the wooden sideboard, they are then controlled by the small curved remote controls. Both have three settings and a light option, though the one nearest the telly has recently started to get a bit fussy and you can’t turn the light off with the remote once the fan is spinning, instead reset it by using the wall switch. The grey and white sofa is a sofa bed, as is the brown suede L-unit. Both need a bit of strength to open it up. The bed linen and towels for them is in the storage unit under the brown sofa bed. The patio doors lock by moving the handle fully up before turning the key. The smaller third pane allows you to get in and out without needing to unlock the main doors, but is too narrow for all but the tiniest wheelchair. Out on the patio you’ll see many light switches for wall lights, the blue led uplighters and the pool light. The pool light switch is over by the pool house porch, which has been occupied by several families of swallows. They make a bit of mess, but it’s also a bit like having your own wildlife series as they flit around your ears when you are in the pool, and hunt low over the grass around the house, or the youngsters master their skills chasing each other. You can actually sit around the pool house porch to enjoy a sun-downer drink and they will come in to roost above you as the light fades and the bats come out instead. The pool pump runs from 8am to about 8pm each day, and then for an hour in the small hours. Make sure the door is closed properly to minimise the noise. The pool heating is via the black rubber 'solar' blankets on the garage roof, and has been known to raise the temperature to well over 30 degrees in a long hot spell. Please don’t let it go over 30 degrees as once it gets to that temperature the chlorine struggles to cope and you could get an algae bloom (it’s also not that refreshing). To shut off the heating, there is a blue valve between the two vertical pipes in the pool house, turn it to the horizontal. Please don't adjust any of the others. To keep debris and geckos out and preserve the heat, the pool cover should go on when you are not using it and at night. Make sure it is fully out and lying on the water surface completely, otherwise the wind will get under it and could rip it off its straps. When you roll it up, secure it with the elastic strapping for the same reason. There are some maps and other tourist guides in the wooden sideboard that you are welcome to use and return please. Various manuals for everything are in the middle drawer. Please return them after use. Lift and stairs– The platform lift is simple to operate with a grey cigarette packet-sized controller (and a small black spare strapped to the rail) which has the safety feature that it requires constant button pressure to make the platform rise or descend. Spare batteries should be in the cooker drawer. Please lower the rails and keep your fingers off them as it is possible to catch your fingers between the shaft and the lift rail. If the rails are left up they can wobble and snag on the sides of the lift shaft. At the top, there is a gate into the bedroom and a stop microswitch and buzzer which does go on a bit at 20 seconds. However, you can push the gate open during buzzer time. The lift will not descend unless the gate is closed onto the microswitch. As you descend there is a small mirror mounted on the cupboard opposite for a final visual check that you aren’t about to squash something. The stairs are steep, so if you are a little unsteady on your feet, please take the scenic route and use the lift. At the top of the lift you have the master bedroom, balcony and en-suite bathroom. The bath has hydro-massage jets which are wonderful, especially if you have just arrived after a long journey, but you have to make sure the water covers them well as they are fierce; the controls are on the inside of the bath. Left hand is a steady stream, centre is turbo, and the right one is pulse. Be aware that the hot water in the house is hot! Don't burn your shin on a running bath tap like I did! (I’m glad I couldn’t feel it). The extractor fan in the bathroom comes on when the lights are switched on, if you want to turn it off for some peace and quiet because you are parked on the loo for a while, there is a pull cord by the towel rail. There is a roller shutter at the foot of the stairs that you can close for privacy and peace and quiet as noise does travel around the house. It is worth keeping closed during the day on sunny days, not only does it stop little ones clambering up the spiral staircase, but it also stops the day’s heat that comes in through the open French windows downstairs rising up the stairwell and turning the master bedroom into a hotbox. For the same reason, keep the shutters down in rooms that are exposed to the sun when you are not in there. For example, the upstairs bathroom gets baked by the afternoon and evening sun. Lowering the shutters to the ‘slot’ position and opening the windows creates a good flow of air through the house I use one of my grabbers or a broom handle to prod open the nearest shutters from the bed so you know whether to roll over and go back to sleep, or get out there for one of the 300 sunny days the region gets each year. :-) Have a great time! Chris

Accessible Performances

Only soirees when my friends come round to make music!

Toilets

There are wide, sliding doors, the two toilets are at different heights, with bath stools for para support. fold down shower seat with arms, had bath upstairs, through need to be agile to transfer in and out.

Staff

Property managers live locally and can be there at the drop of a hat. Neighbours Bob and Barbara Armstrong are lovely.