A spacious one bed apartment, decorated with a quirky mix of contemporary and retro decor.
There is a small outside seating area with a small plastic lawn and variety of local shrubs , overlooked by one of the owners terraces.
Off the apartments garden is a utility/storage area , for the main house and apartment , where you are permitted one opportunity to use the washing machine during your stay free of charge,which we utilised to wash the bedding as only one set were provided for our 10 day stay, unfortunately the washing machine was too small to also accommodate the one set of towels during this one free use and as subsequent uses are charged at €5, which albeit is cheaper than the local laundrette, we were not prepared to spend more money, laundering items that we believe for a ten day stay should have been changed/ replaced by the host.
View of the mountains separating the countries of France and Italy , and the Italian coastline can be seen from the rental .
Glimpses of the Mediterranean between the blocks of flats built between the coast and the rental can be viewed, from the each room and garden.
Privacy in the garden is not guaranteed as the utility room is used by the owners, or as we experienced a short cut for a family member running late for work, so be mindful to not be in a state of undress during your stay.
We tend not to cook on holiday, but it was our habit to return to the rental after early start/busy mornings , but even salad and finger food preparation was hindered by there being no designated ‘food prep’ space, there is the cooker hob , the sink or the draining board.
Please note as this property is marketed as suitable for children or grandchildren, the kettle, coffee maker and toaster are on a small wall mounted shelving system approximately 4ft from the floor, opposite the cooker and sink unit, the electric cables for these items as well as the items themselves can easily be grabbed by little hands in passing, there are no electric points to move these items to the other side of the kitchen to keep them out of reach and prevent accidents, the microwave is located in the lounge below the free view cable box.
There are only small wine glasses and small tumblers, however picking up on the positive eco approach Menton and Ludivine has adopted , we recycled some large plastic beakers from drinks we purchased in the Old Town as we prefer a long cold drink.
There are two dogs at the owners property, which I had not realised on booking as it is not mentioned in the property site details,and we did not know until we arrived, when Ludivine, the owner , who had been very generous and had collected us from the bus station advised us that there were dogs who would give an initial vocal welcome but would be quiet thereafter.
However , the owners are busy people and not, understandably always at home, we were on holiday and often at the rental when they were out. The dogs who seem to favour the terrace located 10/12ft above and overlooking the apartments garden could often be heard briefly barking or whimpering.
One morning at 0840hrs on leaving we saw dog excrement on the apartments path , when we returned some six hours later , there was another deposit on the footpath and the original was still in situ. A couple of hours later, the dogs who were on the terrace were becoming quite frantic in their behaviour and for around 30/40 minutes repeatedly jumped at the fence and gate and eventually were successful in egressing from their terrace. The larger of the two dogs then on three separate occasions attempted to enter the rental through the open lounge door where we were seated but was dissuaded each time by my husband shouting at it .
We then had to contend with a very strong odour of fresh excrement wafting through the open windows of the rental as the dogs had emptied their bowels on the footpath that runs approximately 8ft below the windows , we had to close the window in the lounge as the smell was, in such humid conditions offensive.
Thankfully Ludivine had been kind enough to link with us on WhatsApp so I was able to advise her of the dogs running loose around their gardens and the apartments and were excreting on the apartments path adding to to those that had been there since at least 0840hrs. Within 41 minutes of my initial message it was acknowledged by Ludivine and a short time later one of her daughters was sent to dispose of the offending deposits , which I saw her scoop up with a shovel and throw into the shrubbery bordering the path, which each of the apartments large windows overlooked .
Another morning Ludivine was clearing dog and a neighbouring cats faeces from the path, and again I witnessed her throw them into the shrubbery.
On arrival please note there is no welcome pack of basic items , but the tap water is drinkable and there are a number of convenience stores close by.
Ludivine did on our arrival apologise for not gifting a bottle of wine as was her usual habit, but explained she had been very busy that day, a cheeky optimistic retort by myself to Ludivine that it wasn’t too late to do so, did result in a very nice chilled rośe being gifted.
The tourist tax for our stay pppn we were told prior to our arrival is €1.30 , this is not displayed in the rental.
Prior to arrival we were also advised a €25 cleaning charge was to be paid.
During our initial meet greet and information Ludivine reminded us of these charges and instructed us it was our role to clean the toilet and bathroom before departure .
We enjoyed a pleasant few hours with Ludivine , Russell and her immediate neighbours at a small gathering we were invited to one evening during our time at the rental.
The beach , bus station and train station are easily reached on foot from the apartment
We enjoyed days at Sainte Agnes, Gorbio, Menton Old Town , Castellan , a walk along the coast from Monaco, a train trip to Ventimiglia and another to San Remo, public transport is cheap and reliable .
All bookings are direct with the owner 