Mayenne is one of France's best kept secrets - a département that the French wish to keep to themselves.
The département, stretching from southern Normandie to the north of the Pays de la Loire has often been described as one of the prettiest areas of France. Mayenne offers a taste of real French countryside.
This is the place for big, open, bright blue skies with empty roads and virtually no crime; for quiet country walks, private barbeques with the beautiful view of the Sillé forest hills and romantic nights in front of the wood burner. We see red squirrels in the garden, eagles and kestrels circling overhead and hares boxing in the fields surrounding us.
Set within the Parc Naturel Régional de Normandie-Maine, Blanc Bonnet is in a tiny hamlet of just five houses just south of the village of Vimarcé.