Villas with a tennis court

A house with a tennis court: on site or three minutes away

Two houses have their court on the property. At Montereau, a court in the middle of the wooded park, with a pétanque pitch and a ping-pong table to vary the tournaments. At Saint-Amarin, an amateur shale tennis court at the foot of the Vosges; when the rain sets in, the players fall back on the billiard table, the table football or the arcade cabinet and its 1,500 games. For our two other houses, it all happens in the village. At Le Plessis-Placy, the communal grounds, tennis, football and pétanque, are a stone's throw from the house. At Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan, two free municipal courts, with basketball and ping-pong, are three minutes away on foot. The difference is not small: on site, you play in a bathrobe at eight in the morning; in the village, you take your rackets with you and access depends on the municipal facilities.

A tennis and pool villa: sets, then lengths

In all four houses, the court goes hand in hand with a pool. At Montereau, everything happens in the same park: the court on one side, the heated 5x11 metre pool on the other, in the warm season. At Saint-Amarin, you play outside and swim inside, at 28°C, facing the Vosges summits, enough to keep the programme going well beyond summer. At Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan, the heated pool in the enclosed garden rounds out the village courts, with the Côte de Beauté beaches fifteen minutes away for the seaside option. At Le Plessis-Placy, the small heated pool cools you down after the match in summer, then switches to jacuzzi mode in winter.

Renting a tennis house: what to check before booking

Three questions to ask before you block out dates, with our answers for each address. Is the court private? Yes at Montereau and at Saint-Amarin; no at Le Plessis-Placy or at Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan, where you play on communal facilities a few minutes away. Does access cost anything? The municipal courts at Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan are free. Do you need to bring your own gear? Yes, everywhere: slip rackets and balls into the luggage; that is easier to plan for while packing than on arrival.