What a great place!

Try getting a place like this on the Costa Brava (or any other touristy area) for anything like this price, especially in high-season! This is a big house with a big old heart, very private but not isolated, and with everything you need from a good holiday rental. The fenced in pool is large, the water cleansing solution is ionized saline, much better for your heath than chlorine, and there is a perfect covered BBQ area with sink and lighting for nightime meals. The decoration is a bit spartan but that´s good if you don´t want other people´s idea of decoration imposed upon you.

The location is good too. A pretty little valley just 8 highway kms from the attractive market town of Gironella on the road towards Prats de Llucanes (the C-25D) Can Rovira is at the end of a 1.3 km unpaved but not rough road down from the main paved road, so no through traffic here. Back at the main road, the owner's son has a country inn which has just been awarded (Fall of 2007) a star in the Michelin Red Guide. I could go on and on about the locally famous ecological restaurant but that is not what I am trying to present at this time. Needless to say, it is very nice having such a high-quality restauraunt so nearby... and the owners sell a wide range of local produce, including sausages and cold cuts. The large private grounds around the house are a mixture of woods and fields and there is a lot of room for the kids to run around and the uninterrupted views of the countryside are splendid.

The living quarters of this house can basically be divided into four parts. First of all, there is the main entrance to the house, which goes through the arched and lovely wooden-beamed ground floor, formerly the stables, measuring about 60m2, now turned into a game room, with ping pong, a sitting area with sofa, TV, stereo, ping pong and other game... all surrounded by ancient stone troughs and farm instruments hung on the wall for decoration.

From the ground floor play room, a staircase leads up to the main floor, a floor measuring well over 250m2, with a 30 meter-long central hallway distributing traffic. At one end there is the kitchen, with all the usual kitchen stuff, and a elegant old wood and glass partition between the kitchen proper and the breakfast table and a handsome stone fireplace with a little stone window nearby (see the photo).

Across from the kitchen is the main dining room table, with seating for about 14, and behind that, two double bedrooms with handsome antique furnishings.

The next section of hallway, up a couple of steps, are three other rooms (two doubles and one with two single beds), and two full bathrooms, set side by side. Here, there is also a stairway leading up to the second floor, where there is large room under the sloped eaves which sleeps up to 6 in a bunk bed and four single beds. This is another of those slumber party room for kids. The owners have recently put in a new full bath for this upstairs room. Very convenient!

At the end of the first-floor hallway, there is a huge covered gallery with thick cross beams, and an interior courtyard lined with potted plants, mostly red geraniums, and some teak furniture for sitting in this cool and shady spot.

I think the photos of this house illustrate well the my written description. There are some other little details of note, like the son´s nearby restaurant B&B having internet wifi connection you are welcome to tap into, but let´s not take all the adventure out of renting a house like this. Let´s leave some things for that pleasant surprise for those of you who decide to rent this house. Needless to say, big thumbs up from me!