OUR HOME

Entirely renovated last year with a new floor-plan, our home includes a spacious open plan kitchen/dining-room/living-room area and three very good sized bedrooms of which two are used as our offices but can be transformed into bedrooms. It is the 1500 sq. ft ground floor of a two-storey brick duplex built in 1950 on a corner lot of which we are the owners. Combined with extra-large windows in every room, this location makes our home a very bright and cheerful place to live in. The bathroom is quite striking with separate bath and shower and a lot of marble plus unique tiles, creation of the former owner who is a beautiful artist. The living area has a very quiet and warm feeling with an eye-level fireplace beside the dining room table. It opens unto a terrace and a nice garden which is very private in the summer when the trees have their leaves. Cardinals, chickadees and woodpeckers visit our feeders. We only moved here last December but you can count on a lavish flower garden, come next summer! You will be amazed to realize that all this nature is within a 4-minute walk to the metro station and all amenities. The house has simple yet refined decoration and all the usual appliances, all quite new.

We employ a charming cleaning lady who makes sure the house is perfect before you arrive and after you leave the house, at our expense. If you want her to come during your stay, she will gladly oblige.

We also have a cosy country home (a farm house) , 2 ½ hour from Montreal, which we would gladly make available to our guests, along with camping material for those who are interested in the wild spaces of Québec.

OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

We live on a good street in a nice part of Côte-des-Neiges (the neighbourhood located between Westmount, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Outremont and Ville Mont-Royal), 4 minutes away from the Snowdon metro station and all amenities (supermarket, drug store, pastry shop, dry cleaner etc.), in the vicinity of Université de Montréal. The metro takes you downtown in a matter of minutes, and mostly anywhere else you may want to go in the city within half an hour. If you prefer ground transportation, you will also find important bus routes stops beside the metro station.

Montreal is a true North-American metropolis with a vivid European flavour thanks to both its French and British heritages that are still alive today. It also has great ethnic neighbourhoods with sensational dining and food stores. In North America, Montreal is known for its great safety, sensational nightlife, friendly atmosphere, summer festivals (Jazz, Film, Humour, Theatre, Nuits d’Afrique etc. ) and marvellous quality of life in general. In the summer, it is sometimes warm but with the garden and a little help from air conditioning, you will find it very enjoyable in our home. September is usually superb and October glorious, with the Indian summer. If you choose to come during the winter, you will be thrilled by the beauty of the city after a snow storm and love skating on Mount-Royal or walking in the beautiful hilly streets nearby.

From Montréal you can easily visit New-England or Quebec City. You can also discover beautiful countryside and several ski resorts (as close as one hour away) or grandiose wild life (St-Lawrence gulf, whales, salmon fishing, breathtaking sceneries. . .) a lot further, but worth it.

If you are interested in our country home, we will be glad to give you more info. You can also look up “Mauricie Quebec” on Google to discover the main attractions of the area — mostly wild life and sceneries.

WHERE WE WANT TO GO

Summer 2006 : Eastern Canada or US — On the Atlantic (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Carolinas etc.). Other times : Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Ireland, England or another European country. Caribbean Islands or other sunny destinations, British Columbia, United States. Open to all suggestions!

Charm comes first on our list and to us it can take many forms as long as they are authentic: the ocean, wildlife, historic village or neighbourhood, scenery, strong cultural character. . . Seaside/remote/wild/unspoiled locations and river fly fishing nearby are a big plus for us.

OUR DATES

Open, generally 2 to 8 week stays. We have family in Geneva and British Columbia. Some years, we look for a place in Europe where they can join us some of the time during the summer holidays (we did that in Bordeaux and Bristol and it was perfect!) . Other times, we just want to travel alone, mostly anywhere in the world and any time of the year.

WHO WE ARE