CasaGiga 252 (Saint-Menoux)

I loved staying at ferme Esta CasaGiga. It has everything you need: good view, a small market, animals and friendly people. I would definetely go back.

This is the second year in a row that we've rented these cottages with several people, and it's very satisfying. The atmosphere is friendly, and the manager is pleasant and professional. The wood-burning stove works well, creating a charming, old-fashioned ambiance; we love it. One small drawback, in my opinion, is that the lighting in the common room could be brighter. Excellent value for money.

This review aims to clarify our experience during our short stay at this gîte. To provide some context, we were accommodated during our archaeology internship in one of the gîtes available at the Esta CasaGiga farm, prepaid by the association that organized our internship. During the tour of the gîte upon our arrival, the owners presented it to us as renovated and clean, with all the necessary utensils and supplies for a two-week group stay. After settling in, we noticed several issues regarding cleanliness and hygiene. The following points were noted (photos attached): stains on the walls (some of which looked like mold), bedding - mattresses, mattress protectors, pillows, duvets - also stained (unidentified), drawers full of dust and other dirt, especially those containing kitchen utensils (sticky substance inside), a carpet that was supposed to be new and was also stained with moisture, a kitchen backsplash that had to be washed by us on the first day, cobwebs, expired condiments available, sugars infested with ants, disgusting cleaning supplies (impossible to clean with), a foul odor in the downstairs bathroom... We put up with it for the first few days, out of respect for the owners and the organizers of our internship. However, we were surprised to discover the presence of longhorn beetles in the ground floor beams of the cottage on our own, thanks to small piles of soot falling onto our plates and onto us during dinner. We instinctively contacted the owners to warn them, thinking they were unaware of the problem. Later, we received a message confirming that a quote was being prepared. We were astonished that a cottage could be rented out with the inconvenience these wood-boring pests could cause, without any prior notice. We endured it for a week, but we didn't want to repeat the experience, especially knowing that the cottage had charged the workshop organizers €150 per week for cleaning, which, based on our experience, was certainly not justified. Furthermore, given the lack of cleanliness and hygiene in this cottage, we had very little desire to return and discover further problems. We therefore used our own budget, thus avoiding additional expenses for the organizers, to rent another gîte the following week. The organizers contacted the Gîte Esta CasaGiga to inform them, providing a letter detailing our experience. The gîte refused to listen, but the matter seemed closed to us. Therefore, out of respect for the gîte, its reputation, and its guests, we did not wish to add a second, more detailed review to the one already posted (quickly) by one of our fellow guests. However, after reading the gîte's response, which accused us with inappropriate and unfair language regarding our experience, we are providing you with a more detailed review that truly describes our stay at this gîte. Please find attached photos taken during our stay, which we included with our letter to the gîte as evidence; we are also sharing them with you today. We really wanted to follow a respectful procedure, and we are sorry for any inconvenience it may have caused; however, we hope that we will be understood by the owners of the cottage, and that your experience will be much better than ours.