Located at 1000m high in the stunning Livradois Forest Regional Park, the hamlet of Ardennes is just 5 minutes drive from St Germain L'Herm in the Puy-de-Dome department of the Auvergne in France.

GETTING THERE

Although a long journey, we drive to Ardennes using the Channel Tunnel and the motorways. Oh and a car of course ;-)

Collect your shopping at Carrefour in Issoire (which is just off junction 12 of the A75) then a little further down the A75 to junction 13 and take the D999 all the way to St Germain L'Herm. It's then only a mile or so along the D56 Route de Brioude to Ardennes.

Easyjet fly into both Lyon and Limoges, and although they are similar distances (approx 3 hours) from the farm, the route from Limoge looks to be easier. We got very lost the time we went in to Lyon, but then again we didn't have a map at the time so I'm surprised we didn't end up in Switzerland! Ryan Air flew into Clermont Ferrand just for the summer months in 2007 and there are rumours that this service may resume in the future. Clermont is less than an hour from Ardennes so may be preferable, but for any flights you will need to hire a car to get to the farm as it's rural/mountain location means there are no public transport links.

For those who use a SatNav, the postcode is 63630.