Dar Tifrouine

As our favourite riad was full at the start of our holiday, we decided to stay here at the recommendation of Gilles and Dominique who own the Riad Abaca Badra. Dar Tifrouine is about fifty minutes south of Marrakesh by car. Dar Tifrouine is a family run - Philippe and Veronique - restaurant with five hotel rooms, so it is more of a french auberge, on the edge of Lake Takerkhoust and is a wonderful blend of Morocco and France; my basic French was stretched but we managed to get by and Veronique speaks English which is a great help. We were picked up from the Medina by Philippe and driven the fifty ish minutes to Lake Takerkhoust. This is desert scrub scenery and is starkly beautiful with fairly bare hills and small areas of woodland with the occasional hamlet in the foothills of the Atlas mountains. Lake Takerkhoust is large but judging by the water marks on the rim was a lot deeper than it is now. This is a partly artificial lake so may be deeper after the snow melts in Spring. The rooms are delightful and the auberge sits on a promontory on the eastern side with beautiful gardens and terraces with stunning views of the Atlas mountains to the south. Breakfast is included in the cost of the room and lunch, which ranges from barbecued kebabs to sandwiches and desserts including ice cream, more of which below, is available at seemingly any time. Dinner is predominantly Moroccan cuisine but there are pasta and steaks too. I had rabbit tagine which I have not seen anywhere else but can recommend; the onions and raisins and succulent flesh made this a dish to remember. While there are other puddings on offer, the home made ice cream just has to be tried. This is probably the best ice cream we have ever eaten and we took turns in choosing chocolate and caramel, but other flavours include mint tea and cinnamon. Being run by Europeans, this is not a dry restaurant. The auberge offers quad biking, dune buggies, jet skis, camel/horse trips and there are lots of walks through the locale, but we spent most of our time chilling by the pool which is unheated so very refreshing to cool down in. There are three official Dar Tifrouine cats and a number of local "guest" cats and a former stray dog whose name we can't pronounce but who became Pongo; a calm and very friendly dog. Being on the edge of the village this is a very peaceful place but there are regular quad bike outings which can be noisy but they soon pass. One thing to be wary of, the local mosquitoes are voracious - the rooms have anti mossie diffusers - but once you are outside all bets are off and these little buggers are vicious. Bring repellent and when that doesn't work, take anti histamines. This is an excellent place to stay to start exploring the lower Atlas or just as a break from the chaos of Marrakesh. We will be back again which is a recommendation in itself.