Sophora

Sophora stands where the sisters' grandparents once lived and ran their butcher's shop. The old house was taken down entirely and rebuilt from the ground up, with mineral paint and plaster on the walls. Everything is new, yet it stands on ground where this family has gathered for generations. The honey tree in the garden, the sophora, gave the house its name.

Today it is carried by three sisters. You notice it in everything. This is not a house opened up by a manager, it is a house a family keeps in its own hands.

The light is the first thing you notice. It falls deep into the rooms, across the living spaces, across the long tables, across the garden that looks different throughout the year. In the morning you wake up without hurry.

And even with a large group, you have your own room, your own bathroom, your own quiet. Nine bedrooms, each for two, every one with a bathroom already prepared. Staying together does not have to mean you are never alone.

The warmth is in the things you cannot plan. For every group, the sisters bake a cake, and in the fridge there is house wine from the family vineyard. Downstairs there is a room fully accessible for those with limited mobility, as is the garden, the pool and the sauna. No one is left behind. The pool is heated from May to September; depending on the outdoor temperature the season can start a little earlier or run a little later.

This is not an accommodation you rent. It is a home a family shares with you for a while.