See inside our french gîte - it is 'a little corner of paradise'

It was one of these endlessly long and dark nights in Lund, a city in southern Sweden. 

Danish-born Marian Gunson and Swedish husband Gustav Martin were mindlessly jumping from one TV channel to another until they stopped on TLC.

The Swedish channel was broadcasting A Place In The Sun, the popular British property show that helps participants house-hunt abroad. This particular episode featured a couple viewing homes in southern France. 

‘Doesn’t that look nice?’ they thought.

Change of scenery

At this point in their lives, their kids had left home for university and the endless Swedish winter was taking a toll on their morale. 

They had originally moved to Sweden in 2010. Before that, they were in Kenya, where Marian grew up on Karen Blixen’s old coffee farm estate near the Ngong Hills, the setting of the hit memoir and movie, Out Of Africa. 

Was it time to find their own place in the sun again?

Marian was naturally drawn to France. She already spoke a little French and used to visit Danish friends in Cognac (Charente).

She contacted an estate agent who was selling a house in Cézac (Gironde). The owner offered them a two-week stay if they were seriously considering buying. On this occasion they did not pursue it, although they returned regularly to France over the next four years.

Finding 'the one'

In 2019, the same estate agent called them again, this time offering visits to three properties. They only needed to look at one.

“I knew it was the one,” says Marian. Les Citronniers is a self-contained edge-of-the-village holiday home with an inner courtyard, pool and two walled gardens in Villeneuve-Minervois (Aude).

They bought it for €255,000 in May 2019 and spent €15,000 on furniture. 

When Covid hit, they began three years of renovation before opening for business on May 1, 2023. They have been fully booked ever since.

Perfect getaway

It is a three-bedroom house with interiors designed entirely by Marian, who worked as a commercial interior designer in Nairobi.

On the ground floor is the ‘master’ bedroom with a king-size bed and large ceiling fan above. It has a spacious ensuite with a shower and free-standing bath. 

The first floor features the ‘Peacock’ double bedroom and the ‘Blue’ single bedroom. The bathroom is shared.

The fully-equipped kitchen has a large open-plan feel which extends off the lounge. French doors open to the private courtyard, 9m² pool and gardens. The entire front of the property is walled and follows the contour of a small river.

Six months after they had moved in to Les Citronniers, a neighbour revealed he was thinking of selling up. The couple now live in his old house, l’Orangerie, from where you can walk straight into the gîte.

“When we were renovating, we put in a door so we could move easily from one house to another. In a sense, we created a large domain,” Marian explains.

Any guest concerns about lack of privacy are quickly allayed by the fact the door is easily locked. Indeed, the proximity to the main house is actually a selling point for many people, said Marian, especially those looking for the reassurance of owners on hand to help should a problem arise.

“Gustav fixes everything. If people have a problem, it is sorted almost immediately.”

The couple is proud to have been awarded the Coups de cœur voyageurs on Airbnb, recognising high satisfaction from the community of users on the platform. 

Les Citronniers also boasts an impressive 4.89 out of five rating.

Adding to the property’s attraction is its convenient location.

“There is so much to do in this area. You can hike, you can cycle, you can birdwatch… it is so beautiful and wild. You cannot get bored,” says Marian.

She still remembers the awe she felt seeing Carcassonne, only 25 minutes away, for the first time when she first drove around the Montagne Noire.

“I could not speak. It was so pretty. I fell completely in love with the castle and insisted we had to live nearby. It certainly had an effect on us,” she says.

She likens the experience to the thrill she used to experience in Kenya. Both evoke the same sense of freedom, she says, recalling the landscape, horse riding and mountain-biking trips.

“Ultimately, in Kenya we ended up surrounded by electric fences. That was one of the reasons we left. But driving the foothills of Montagne Noire, I felt I had found the Ngong Hills of Europe.

“It’s the closest we will ever get to being back in Africa.”

Find out more here.