Le Mas de Grace
A French country house in Lancaster County.
Private bookings only. There is no listing, no calendar and no fee — you write, and I write back.
Write to JoycePrivate bookings only. There is no listing, no calendar and no fee — you write, and I write back.
Write to JoyceThe name
In Provence they call a farmhouse a mas. This one is on Lincoln Highway in Gordonville, with a cornfield behind it and a stone wall in front, and it has carried the name since {{TBD: year}}.
The reason is {{TBD: the real origin of the name — who chose it, when, and why. This paragraph is the reason this whole direction exists. If the answer turns out to be "it sounded pretty," this section cannot be written and the page should be built as Direction B instead.}}
What is here is {{TBD: one house or two — the photographs show a stucco farmhouse on the highway and a separate cottage behind a stone wall}}, sleeping {{TBD: N}} across {{TBD: N}} bedrooms.
The rooms
A gilt trumeau mirror over the bed, and a crystal chandelier that came out of {{TBD: where}}. The walls took four tries to get right. The headboard is linen and it shows every mark, which I decided I did not mind.
The armoire came out of a sale in {{TBD: where}} and was brown when it arrived. The two chairs are not a pair and never have been. The stairs to the top bedroom are original and they are steep — {{TBD: confirm}} I would put anyone with a bad knee downstairs.
What guests say
“{{TBD: one real guest quote, verbatim, hedges and all. Do not ship this page with an invented one.}}”
{{TBD: First name, last initial}} · {{TBD: Month year}}
The table
The long table seats {{TBD: N}}. It is the reason people book this house twice.
What's here
Two things to know before you write: {{TBD: stairs / air conditioning / pets / the gravel drive — the awkward facts belong here, above the list, in Joyce's own words}}.
Your host
There is no booking site and there will not be one. You send the dates and how many of you there are, and I write back {{TBD: usually the same day — do not promise this until Joyce says it}}.
{{TBD: two or three sentences from Joyce about why she lets the house at all, in her own words. Direction C stands or falls on this paragraph and on the name's story.}}
Write to JoyceNo booking site, no fees. You write, I write back.
Brand guide
Everything above this line is a working preview of the page. Everything below is the specification behind it. Copy marked {{TBD}} is a slot, not a fact — nothing in it has been confirmed with Joyce.
| Foreground | Background | Ratio | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Encre #26262B | Chalk #F7F4EF | 13.73:1 | AAA |
| Encre | Papier #FFFDFA | 14.83:1 | AAA |
| Encre | Linen #EDE6DC | 12.16:1 | AAA |
| Encre | Bleu Pâle #C9D2D8 | 9.82:1 | AAA |
| Encre Pâle #4A4A50 | Chalk | 8.02:1 | AAA |
| Encre Pâle | Linen | 7.10:1 | AAA |
| Or Profond #7C5526 | Chalk | 6.01:1 | AA |
| Or Profond | Linen | 5.32:1 | AA |
| Or #9A6B32 | Chalk | 4.23:1 | AA-large only — rules & ≥24px display |
| Or | Linen | 3.75:1 | AA-large only — rules |
| Garance #7E2A20 | Chalk | 8.55:1 | AAA |
| Garance | Bleu Pâle | 6.12:1 | AA |
| Chalk | Garance | 8.55:1 | AAA — CTA label |
| Chalk | Garance Foncé | 10.93:1 | AAA — CTA hover |
| Chalk | Noyer #3A2A1B | 12.54:1 | AAA |
| Linen | Noyer | 11.10:1 | AAA |
| Or Clair #D5BC9C | Noyer | 7.53:1 | AAA |
| Bleu Pâle | Noyer | 8.97:1 | AAA |
| Bleu Profond #5E6E7E | Chalk | 4.78:1 | AA |
| Bleu Profond | Linen | 4.23:1 | FAILS — use Or Profond |
| Bleu #8A97A6 | Chalk | 2.71:1 | FAILS — never text |
| Or | Noyer | 2.96:1 | FAILS — use Or Clair |
The three failures are listed on purpose: they are the three mistakes this palette invites. Text over photography is not covered here and must be re-checked on the real crops at build time.
What guests say
Private bookings only. There is no listing, no calendar and no fee — you write, and I write back.
In Provence they call a farmhouse a mas. This one is on Lincoln Highway in Gordonville, with a cornfield behind it and a stone wall in front. The stairs to the top bedroom are original and they are steep; I would put anyone with a bad knee downstairs.
“It rained the whole weekend and none of us minded.”
Example only · not a real guest
The board over the plate rack. It was here before the website was.
Label is always Write to Joyce. Never "Book", never "Enquire". Garance is the only saturated fill on the page, and it appears only here — that is what makes the button unmissable without an arrow. Hover deepens to #63201A; focus draws a 2px Or Profond ring at 3px offset. 52px tall at default size, clearing the 44px touch minimum.
mailto:booking@lemasdegrace.com
?subject=Request%20to%20stay%20at%20Le%20Mas%20de%20Grace
&body=Hello%20Joyce%2C%0A%0AI%27d%20like%20to%20ask%20about%20these%20dates%3A%0A%0A
Arriving%3A%0ALeaving%3A%0AHow%20many%20of%20us%3A%0A%0A
Anything%20I%20should%20tell%20you%3A%0A%0AThank%20you%2C%0A
%0A only — %0D%0A double-spaces in several iOS mail clients. The apostrophe must be %27. And the subject line is the one place a misspelling would be invisible in review and permanent in Joyce's inbox: it reads Le Mas de Grace, never La Mas, never Grâce.
Hairline rules, not icons. A row of grey pictograms is the fastest way to make a decorator's page look like a booking platform. Five to eight items, five words or fewer each. Caveats — stairs, air conditioning, pets — go in the prose above, never buried as a list item.
| Role | Family | Licence | Weights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display, wordmark, pull-quote | Cormorant Garamond | SIL OFL 1.1 | 300, 400, 500 + italic |
| Body, captions | Alegreya Sans | SIL OFL 1.1 | 400, 500, 700 + italic |
| Small caps — nav, labels, CTA | Alegreya Sans SC | SIL OFL 1.1 | 400, 500 |
Both families self-host in production (WOFF2, latin subset, font-display: swap). Cormorant runs roughly 10% small optically — the sizes above already compensate. Never set Cormorant below 20px, and never weight 300 below 28px; the hairlines break up.
One fact, and it is not yet in the brief: why the house is called Le Mas de Grace. This direction opens with that story and the story carries the page. If the answer turns out to be "it sounded pretty," build Direction B instead — the palette and type here still transfer, the structure does not. Everything else marked {{TBD}} above is listed in §12 of the-salon.md.