🛠️ Our Normandy Gîte Story: From Empty Barn to Family Holiday Home 🏡

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Last updated: June 2025

📣 This blog was featured in August 2025 as part of our Regular Featured Blog Series, updated every two weeks with hand-picked highlights from the Normandy region.

📲 As well as being published on our website, it was also shared across our Socials: Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Our Normandy Gîte Story

At Holidays-Normandy, we believe in sharing not just our property, but our personal story too. 🏡

About 15 years ago, we bought a French house in a small village near Coutances, Normandy. The main house needed a full renovation, so that’s where our adventure began.

In 2018, my husband Lee and I made the big move to France permanently, joining my parents, Robin and Kay, who had already settled into the newly renovated main house.

That same year, Lee started converting part of the old stone barn into what is now Ursula Gîte.

🧱 Converting the Barn: Ursula Gîte is Born

When Lee began in November 2018, the barn was literally an empty shell—no floors, no insulation, no plumbing, just walls and vision.

The dream was to create a spacious, family-friendly gîte that sleeps 8–10 guests, perfect for groups looking to explore Normandy or simply relax in the countryside.

The rest of the barn remains part of our family project for the future, while Ursula Gîte is now open and ready for guests.

🦙 Life’s Interruptions: Animals, Adventures, and Community

We have a large pond on the property, which fills with duckweed. So naturally, we got free-range ducks to help manage it. Unfortunately, the local foxes had other plans.

To protect the ducks, we adopted Ursula and Janet the llamas, and later added Pichou, Janet’s older brother.

Then came one of the most memorable moments in our Normandy life: Ursula the llama escaped! 🦙🚨

Her disappearance became the talk of the town—in fact, the local gendarme told us it was the most exciting thing to have ever happened in Coutances!

Her escape made headlines:

🧡 Community Spirit: Turning a Worry into Friendship

What started as a worrying situation became one of the most heartwarming experiences of our time in Normandy.

The local Normandy Facebook community came together, and within hours, we had 8 cars full of volunteers helping us search for Ursula.

People we had never met before spent their day combing the countryside, helping us locate her and secure her safe return.

Thanks to Ursula’s little adventure, we’ve made some life-long friends—proof that even the trickiest situations can lead to something positive.

🐓 Rescue Hens from Poules Pour Tous

In between building projects, Lee also constructed a luxurious hen house from scratch for our rescue hens from Poules Pour Tous, a French charity that rehomes ex-commercial hens.

Now our hens enjoy a peaceful life in retirement, happily scratching around the garden alongside our ducks and llamas.

😷 COVID-19 and the Pause Button

Like everyone, we faced unexpected delays due to COVID-19, which put the renovations on hold for a couple of years. But once things settled, the tools came back out and work resumed.

❤️ A Personal Loss Along the Way

In February 2023, we experienced a great personal loss when my father Robin passed away.

He was such an important part of our family’s move to France and this project. It is a huge sadness that he never got to see the gîte fully completed. Now it’s just me, Lee, my mum Kay, and our animals—keeping the dream alive in his memory.

🌿 A Gîte Built with Heart

Today, Ursula Gîte is a comfortable, welcoming place for families and groups to enjoy a peaceful Normandy getaway.

Whether you’re visiting the D-Day beaches, exploring Mont-Saint-Michel, or simply relaxing while watching the llamas graze, we hope you’ll feel right at home.