Our home is a 4 bedroom semi-detached house on a cul-de-sac, residential road in the small town of Bulle. The house is vey open and full of light. We have a nice view on the mountains around. The neighbourhood is very quiet, so you can sleep with the window open and enjoy the fresh air and moonlight !

Upstairs: 2 bedrooms (1 with single bed, 1 with single bed and cot) and a playroom (possibility of adding two beds in the playroom is necessary). Large bathroom with a bathtub.

Ground Floor: Modern open plan living area kitchen with oven, microwave, dishwasher.
A small office with a computer and an internet connexion. There is broadband WIFI so you can use your computer wherever you please, inside and out.

Downstairs: 1 master bedroom (180cm X 200 cm double bed) and a bathroom with shower.
Living-room with comfortable sofas and a closed fire place.

We don't use our TV set but we are glad to install it in the living room. We also have a DVD player and a nice collection of English films.

Basement: laundry room with washing machine, a cellar and an additional storage room

Outside: You can walk out of the kitchen onto a terrace with a table, chairs, a gas barbecue and a large roller shade when it gets hot.

There is a second-terrace in front of the living-room with chairs to relax: Nice in the evening and a good spot if you need to smoke.

The garden itself is small. The children (20 of them along the street!) usually play together on the street, ride their bikes, play football, tennis, hockey, or a mix of all of the above ! Kids of all ages play together, so your children can pick up some French if they want to.

17'000 inhabitants. It's a nice old town, but don't expect any spectacular buildings ! There is a pleasant main street lined with restaurants and shops and several large supermarkets you can walk to. Every Thursday morning, there is a large market in the middle of town.

There are 3 cinemas. If you like folk art, you might be interested in the Gruyere Museum.

For local events such as concerts and festivals, check the what's on page. This web site gives info, in English about lost of Swiss events.

Close to our house, you'll find a sports centre (tennis, badmington, climbing wall), a skate park, a riding school and a football stadium.

If you'd like to try a Swiss football game: http://www.fcbulle.ch/

If you enjoy golf, the closest range is a 15 minutes drive away. You can buy a weekly greenfee for $45 pounds and enjoy the view over Lake Gruyère.

http://www.golfgruyere.ch/

The town of Bulle has an open swimming pool. you can also swin in Lake de la Gruyère in Morlon (a 5 minutes drive). Morlon is also a good starting point for windsurfing, canoeing, etc.

If you want to find out more about the Gruyere lake

Bulle is a great starting point for hiking and cycling. We'll leave plenty of documentation on the table for you.

--> Some pictures to get you started

Bulle is situated in the middle of the Prealps, which means there are several family ski resorts nearby.

If you are beginners, a lovely place to start is les Paccots (15 minutes' drive): lots of easy pistes, you can pay for each ride (helpful if you are with young kids and only stay for an hour or two).

Charmey (15 minutes' drive) is a bit more challenging and has a lovely panorama: more info
You can also use the cabins in the summer if you don't like climbing up steep mountains.

Le Moléson (15 minutes' drive) is more difficult, but offers a great panorama. You can easily get there by bus from Bulle: -> more info
Great for a hike in the summer too.

Sometimes over the Christmas holidays, the snow is not that great and it is better to go higher up. In that case , you can go to Gstaad (1 hour drive): -> more info

les portes du Soleil (1 hour drive), a skiing domain including 14 resorts, including Avoriaz:-> more info

Verbier (1h30 drive):-> more info

We prefer Les portes du Soleil . You can ski there for days and always discover new pistes.

The local shop in Bulle to rent skis. They are competent and friendly.

We are a Swiss-British family (mum born in Poole, with family in Dorset) and would love our 2 children (Frank, 4 years old and Juliet, 18 months) to have as much contact with England as possible.

Stephanie works in a teacher training college in the media and ICT department where she organises continuing education courses and develops curriculum. Laurent studied biochemistry and was a research scientist for many years, but now works as a bioinformaticien in a medical informatics company. We are both book, art and theatre lovers, passionate about politics and world affairs and enjoy discovering other environments and points of view.

Frank loves books, and best of all, books about dinosaurs, outdoor games, his neighbourhood friends. Juliet is a free spirit who loves to move things around, eat flowers and grass. Both are used to being careful with our house and furniture.

We would care for your home and are happy to help with the garden/pets/plants and so on to keep your place ticking over whilst we are there. Our kids are used to being careful with furniture and plants and would love to meet other kids in the neighbourhood.