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Costa Brava Villas : Mas Roca : Comments

Feedback on Mas Roca

 

 

----- Original Message -----
From: Caroline Clancy
To: charlie@villasbarcelona.com
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 9:24 AM
Subject: Mas Roca

Good morning Charlie,

I am part of the family who spent last week at Mas Roca, where we had a great time. What a super house and garden. Especially the fronton, which was much enjoyed by everyone.

We may well be in contact again, thinking of holidays next year. It worked so well at Mas Roca that I feel it's worth repeating.

Thanks again, let's keep in touch
Caroline Clancy



----- Original Message -----
From: David Harris MD
To: Charlie Williams
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 3:47 AM
Subject: Estanyol 2008 and 2009

Dear Charlie,

Ruth and I had a grand time at Mas Roca...we always do. We also found some new (to us) and interesting places. For example the Mediterranean Tortoise Sanctuaries in the Albera region. That's a great place to take children. If our little granddaughters ever join us, we'll surely take them there. You might want to include it in the next edition of your guide.

Hope all is going well for you and your family.

Regards,
David




----- Original Message -----
From: WILLIAM OMAN
To: villasbarcelona
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 5:47 PM
Subject: Mas Roca

Hi Charlie,

Just to let you know we had a fantastic holiday in Mas Roca. The house was great and very well equipped. The standard of fitments and linen was excellent. Conxita was exceedingly helpful to us especially when we were let down by the car hire company at 3am.

We travelled around the area, getting to know Gerona city quite well. Very beautiful and not very touristy!

We found the area much cheaper than the UK, for food shopping, eating out and luxury goods. The road network is far superior to what we have in Scotland also.

Best days- at Plaja Castelle then Palamos
                 La Fosca
                 Driving the coastal route round the Cap de Creus to Port Vendre
                 Figueres
                 Pals
Best food-  Tapas in the squares in Girona
                 Si Nos Fos cafe in Santa de Columa
Shopping- Girona
                Decathlon

Negatives

               - food at Estanyol Nue restaurant- although mobbed at weekend with  locals.   Perhaps we got an off day!
               - pool is in the main fairly shallow, which to some is a bonus

For next year Charlie, do you have any large villas for at least 12 people perhaps nearer France on the coast with a pool. Please let me know

Thanks again
Janice Oman




----- Original Message -----
From: Laurence Parry
To: 'villasbarcelona'
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 3:38 PM
Subject: RE: Mas Roca, final details, August 17 to 31 - how was it?

Your attention is drawn to the disclaimer at the foot of this email.

Charles

House was great. We ate outside most nights and whilst the covered bit under the balcony was great when it rained, if the little grass bit just to the front had been paved, we could have sat out under the stars.

We thought the Catalans were amazingly friendly (as compared as a generalisation to the French where we have holidayed in the main before) and it was very pleasant for people to speak to us in French rather than English, as they assumed if we were tourists we must be French.

Lastly, I am into wine in a big way and there is a great wine shop in Bescano which should be heartily recommended to all MAs Roca/Mas Grau tenants.

L



----- Original Message -----
From: Tracey J Rose
To: villasbarcelona
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 10:39 AM
Subject: Re: Mas Roca, August 2 to 16, 2005 - how was it?

Hi Charles,

We had a great time , the house was lovely and would be happy to return. We were a little disappointed to find that the restaurant in Estanyoll was closed for the whole of August, it would have been ideal . We did use the other local restaurants and were very impressed

We got a little confused with the directions to the house, instead of turning right after the restaurant with the large car park, towards the village and church we went straight on, but eventually realised what we were doing wrong. It may be worth amending your directions to reflect this especially for those visitors that arrive late at night

The location of the villa was ideal, near enough to Girona for all your everyday needs, but far enough away to be in the countryside. We went into France and was surprised at how near it actually was. We also caught the train from Fornells into Barcelona (anyone wanting to do this will need to get an up to date timetable from Girona as there are only a couple of trains that run each day, if you time it right you can still spend up to 8 hours in Barcelona)

Thanks again for everything, hopefully we'll talk again soon

Regards
Tracey



----- Original Message -----
From: Dr Harris
To: Charles Williams
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 3:28 PM
Subject: This year at Mas Roca....and next.

Dear Charlie,

We and our guests had a grand time in Catalunya. You wouldn't imagine it possible, but even after 4 visits to this postage-stamp size area of Spain, we still manage to discover new places to see and to dine. This year, we went as far afield as Cardona to visit the castle and eat at the parador, which, for a parador, offered excellent cuisine. We also checked out Sr. Barras's restaurant in Sant Salvador de Bianya, as your guide book suggested, and we were not disappointed...not at all. The food was expensive(about 50 Euros for the tasting menu) but superb, and the dining room (at least the one we ate in) was charming. The tackiness of decor that you noted in your guide was not in evidence; the place must have undergone the interior decorating equivalent of a face-lift. Sr. Barras was as engaging a host as you had described. Thanks for putting us on to this place. Oh yes, the portal of the Romanesque church next door would have been worth the trip to this little mountain village, even had there been no restaurant.

For the past two years the hotel/restaurant Castello Peratallada has been closed. We had dined there in 2001 and 2003, and enjoyed the food and the unsurpassed ambience. Too bad it has not reopened. We had eaten in the fraternally connected Palau de Mirador in Torroella de Montgri twice last year, but it appeared closed this year. Maybe they were just closed temporarily. At any rate, the doors were locked and there were no signs of hotel activity. Perhaps when you revise your guide, you may find this information useful.

We drove up to Sant Aniol de Finistres, as you suggested, but Can Tura was not ready to serve lunch and we didn't eat there. Maybe next year.

We had a superb lunch a L'Alianca in Angles. This restaurant in a restored and redecorated 19th century house was mentioned in a recent Issue of "Food and Wine", and so Ruth insisted that we give it a try. If I were a food-writer I might be able to give you a description that would do justice to the food we ate there. However, as I am not, I'll just summarize by saying that the lunch we had there was, excepting for the meal in Sant Salvador, the best we had this year. By the way, it turns out that the owner of this restaurant is a relative of the Conxita and her father. Angles may be a nowhere town, but it is near Mas Roca, and is well worth a visit just to dine at L'Alianca.

Charlie, Conxita has surely told you of our desire to return to Mas Roca next fall. Ruth is in Chicago right now, and so I can't tell you the precise dates we'd prefer, but we would like to rent Mas Roca for a month, probably mid-September to mid-October....like this year. We are happy in Cataunya, and our annual visits have become something of a habit with us...a good habit.

As soon as we consult a 2006 calendar, and we are more certain of the exact dates, we shall let you know.

By the way, Don Manuel, now 88, was in fine form. It seems that he has gone through a rough patch of health problems, but is now in pretty good shape. I should be in as good a condition if/when I reach 88.

Thanks for helping make our Catalunya 2005 so enjoyable.

Stay well and in touch.
David



----- Original Message -----
From: Laurence Parry
To: 'villasbarcelona'
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 4:38 PM
Subject: RE: Mas Roca, final details, August 17 to 31 - how was it?

Charles

House was great - only issue was it would have been good if there was a kettle and some anti-mosquito candles would have come in handy! We ate outside most nights and whilst the covered bit under the balcony was great when it rained, if the little grass bit just to the front had been paved, we could have sat out under the stars.

We thought the Catalans were amazingly friendly (as compared as a generalisation to the French where we have holidayed in the main before) and it was very pleasant for people to speak to us in French rather than English, as they assumed if we were tourists we must be French.

Lastly, I am into wine in a big way and there is a great wine shop in Bescano which should be heartily recommended to all MAs Roca/Mas Grau tenants.

L

Charlie adds: As for the mosquitos, yes, they are always a problem and even more so a hot and exceptionally dry summer like last... however, there is a very easy solution and I wish I had know as I could have instructed (Conxita) to take care of this for you.... namely, at just about any store you can buy coils of some non-toxic chemical product, usually green coils for outdoor use only, about 2 Euros for a dozen coils, which burn slowly like incense, and last for about 10 hours. A couple of these around the garden would have kept most of the flies away during the day and mosquitos and moths away at night. If it wasn´t for this product, we could have used the outdoors where my wife and I rented last summer (La Quintana - see Costa Brava/Pyrenees villas) as there were so many bugs, especially wasps! but the coils helped keep our garden bug free.


----- Original Message -----
From: Liz Ogilvie
To: tourism@catalonia.net
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 10:12 PM
Subject: Next year at Mas Roca again (the Ogilvie´s rented Mas Roca from 12 to 26 July, 2004)

Charlie- Have just gone to the website and was rather surprised to see that Mas Roca is already booked for the last 2 weeks in July? can you confirm this?

Are the first 2 weeks of August free?
Thanks
Liz



----- Original Message -----
From: Ang Owen
To: Charles Williams
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 10:20 PM
Subject: FEEDBACK MAS ROCA - 26 JUNE - 10 JULY 2004

Dear Charlie

Wanted to email you with some feedback re our stay at Mas Roca. We had such a fantastic time, everything was great, what a magnificant house/grounds and so clean and tidy. Conxita was there to meet us and gave us a detailed description of the surrounding area which was just what we needed - the beaches she recommended for the children were excellent. We had to call Conxita on a couple of occasions and she returned our calls/arrived very quickly which was greatly appreciated.

We ate at the restaurant in the village on a couple of occasions, it was excellent food and the staff were very friendly and went out of their way to help us with the menu - they were also very good with the children.

Overall a wonderful holiday - thank you to both yourself and Conxita.

Regards

The Owens/Chambers/Griffiths families


----- Original Message -----
From: colin sams
To: Charles Williams
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2003 5:16 PM
Subject: Mas Roca
Dear Charlie

We have just returned from Mas Roca. This was our second experience of rentals from you. Yet again we were delighted with the property. There were a few minor quibbles but not serious enough to cause any major concerns. Conixtha's father was a delight. I wish I knew how he kept so active. His son in law and grandson were also lovely. This house is ideal for exploring both inland and on the coast and is equipped to a good standard. Considering the very high temperatures, we were relatively comfortable.

Our friends sampled the delights of the village restaurant. The hospitality and food were first class, although the richness of the food together with a bottle or two of fine wine led to a rather delicate state the next morning!

Thanks again for your excellent service. Please pass our thanks on to the owners and we will be in touch with our choice for next year. This is such a diverse area with so much to see. I am pretty sure we will be making a decision soon.

Kind regards

Colin & Tracey Sams

P.S - Golf was excellent at Girona Golf Course.


----- Original Message -----
From: Trevor Mogg
To: Charles Williams
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 9:45 PM
Subject: casa nova /mas roca

hi charlie

having just returned from mas roca our thoughts are now turning to summer 2004 (around the end of July through to early August) we are interested in casa nova, but perhaps a little concerned regarding some of the comments from previous visitors ie not enough cutlery/china/sun beds (although this seems to be a Spainish thing), also is casa nova next door to the farmers house as the pictures seem a little confusing and again the comments from visitors suggest rather a lot of comings and goings regarding the farm. I hope we aren't being to fussy but as we've been lucky twice with rentals we just want to make sure in our minds that this is the rental for us, I know we can trust your honest comments.

With regard to Mas Roca what a beautiful house, although we did have a bug problem with the downstairs bedroom ants coming from the floor and other creepies coming from the open beams above and of course not enough sunbeds (only four sunbeds between what could have been fourteen guests) however these small things apart Mas Roca has an excellent location for exploring both coastal resorts and inland towns and beauty spots.

The villa is well equipped and spotless the mid week cleaning team were execellent, and conxita fathers very spritly for a mere eighty-six year old, he was always helpful when little things went wrong. Everyone loved the tennis/squash court especially my ten year old son.Please pass on our thanks and our comments to him.

On our many trips one being into Roses (what you might call beer and fast food heaven) we happened upon an excellent chinese Restaurant its called Hong Kong telephone number 972 15 21 88 address c/pescadors 11 17480 Roses it was very cheap and the staff/service was excellent as was the food if you get a chance try it.

Thats it for now Charlie, hope you get this e~mail and if you could get back to me when you have time i'd appreciate it,thanks once again for all your help and support when we booked mas Roca you had it spot on and your book was very informative. well done again Charlie

regards jackie mogg


----- Original Message -----
From: Gail Heatherly
To: "Charles Williams"
Cc: Conxita Feliu
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 5:43 PM
Subject: Re: Mas Roca, June 4 to 18

Mas Roca was a dream. We adored our time there. The house was beautiful, clean and well-appointed. The grounds and swimming pool were too. The surrounding countryside was full of good restaurants, and we were only a short drive away from the beach or the mountains.

But more than anything, I can't say how much we appreciated the hospitality and kindness of Conxita Feliu, the owner. She was INCREDIBLY nice and helpful, spending a lot of time going over maps and itineraries with us, telling us the highlights of the area, good restaurants, local favorites. WE LOVED HER!

We would recommend this house to anybody. We had a really nice vacation there.

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Why inland farmhouse rental?

Not only is it simply nicer to stay in an old restored farmhouse, but also …

  • eco-tourism helps preserve traditional ways of life
  • agro-tourism revitalizes depopulated villages
  • sustainable tourism controls the environmental impact (of tourism)
  • package tour operators leave little to nothing in local economy
  • mass tourism is an abomination - just look at so much of our coasts!
Catalan Tourism Authorities

This sign indicates that the Catalan Tourism Authorities regularly inspect and license the property. We have also visited and recommend all the properties we have selected for our listings.