Maison Provost

Maison Provost

Behind a walled garden in Barneville-Carteret, three kilometres from the town centre, Maison Provost is a single five-bedroom house that guests book in its entirety, not room by room like the hotels lining the seafront nearby. The furniture dates to the early 1900s, kept rather than restaged, and the sitting room holds a wood-burning stove for evenings when the Channel wind picks up. Outside, a terrace set with a dining table and chairs looks over a lawn enclosed by stone walls toward the sea, Carteret, and the surrounding countryside; the beach itself is a two-kilometre walk. Three bathrooms serve the five bedrooms, each fitted with a hairdryer, and the kitchen comes fully equipped with dishwasher, microwave and coffee maker, so cooking a low-key dinner after a day on the coast is no trouble. A picnic area and barbecue sit on the grounds, free Wi-Fi covers the property, and there is space to park a car. Pets travel with their owners here, and check-in and check-out are handled privately, arranged directly with the host rather than at a desk, which suits couples or families who want the run of a house rather than a lobby. It will not suit anyone hoping for staffed amenities, a restaurant, or company: payment is by bank transfer before arrival, beach towels are not supplied, and hen or stag groups are turned away. What sets it apart from the small hotels and apartments scattered around Barneville-Carteret is simple: this is one house, taken whole, with its own walled ground between you and the sea. Maison Provost is a single five-bedroom house in Barneville-Carteret, booked whole rather than by the room, with a walled garden, a wood stove, and furniture from the early 1900s. It suits a group happy to self-cater and deal directly with the host. Hen and stag parties are not accepted.