Casa Rosalie, Cozy Lakeside Cabins In The French Countryside 2 Hours From Paris

When Anne-Christelle Roussel and Bertrand L’huillier decided it was time for a change, they left Paris and their jobs in pharmaceuticals and television to build Casa Rosalie – in Costa Rica. But then Covid hit and a surprise guest showed up in their lives: their small daughter. So, instead of escaping half-way around the world, they stayed put.

Well, almost. The couple packed up their lives, snapped up a plot of land on the edge of a forest with its own lake in the trendy Perche (lower Normandy), and built three cozy wooden nests for urbanites in need of downtime time and fresh air. We are such urbanites, my partner and I along with our small daughter.

We leave Paris in the full swell of rush hour on a Friday evening, so by the time we get close to our destination, our nerves are shot. We drive along an empty motorway until we have to suddenly turn off into the darkness. We arrive at the village of Tourouvre with a handful of houses and no sign of life.

Everything is still. It’s 8. 16pm and pitch black.

We continue along a small unlit road, roll across a tiny creek until we reach an open field with a couple of wooden cabins with huge windows lit by little lights inside. Stepping out of the car, we walk under a blanket of stars stretched out above our heads. I had never seen as many stars, even in far more remote places than this little corner of Normandy under two hours from the French capital.

It was like looking right up into the entire Milky Way at once. My phone suddenly vibrates: “You’ll see the lake after the second house. Keep going.

Your cabin is in the woods by the water,” a message reads from Anne-Christelle. As we walk deeper into the blackness, our cabin pulls into sight. The next morning, we open our eyes, looking at an pine wood ceiling, restful line drawings hanging on the walls and deer skipping in the forested surroundings on the other side of floor-to-ceiling windows.

Our cabin, Casa Slow , is set slightly back, with wrap-around windows letting in lots of warm golden sunshine and looks out onto bushy trees, big blue skies and a heated pool that overhangs a lake. With views like these, it’s tempting to just sit for a while, contemplating the changing colors in the sky, from under a blanket on the big cozy couch strewn with bouncy cushions. Each cabin at Casa Rosalie has a full kitchen, we have a mezzanine with space for two extra people above and a chest of toys and games for kiddies.

Bertrand, a tall, cheerful character, brings us breakfast of fresh croissants and jams from the village. Before he sets off again, he tells us about his little houses, which he designed and tapped the Compagnons du devoir, a prestigious guild created in the Middle Ages known for their craftspeople’s meticulous know-how, to build, while Anne-Christelle focused on the interiors, throwing down cozy rugs and seeking out colorful wallpapers and cushion covers that add pops of color to the restful palette of muted tones. The houses are compact but feel spacious due to the gabled ceilings and huge windows.

There are freestanding bathtubs against forest backdrops and lunches of mushroom risotto and local hams and pâtés left for us by the owners to be enjoyed at the dining table or on the terrace by the pool – days can easily be spent padding from one to the other. At Casa Moon , the next house down which we can just about make out in the distance through the trees, there’s no pool, but there is an open-barrel Nordic bath steaming under its cover on the banks of the lake. Casa Friendly , like Casa Slow, is more spacious, also with its own heated pool.

There are forest walks to be enjoyed nearby and a short drive away, is the picturesque village of Mortagne, which merits an explore for its handful of Medieval stone streets and the atmospheric Hôtel du Tribunal restaurant worth booking to try French classics like the local boudin noir (black pudding). So far, Anne-Christelle and Bertrand, who live nearby, are revelling in country life and regret nothing about leaving the big city. However, they enjoy nothing more than a new challenge, so don’t be surprised to see these little travel cabins pop up on a plain somewhere in Costa Rica after all.

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