<< How did you find the places you stayed? Did you book ahead or find places as you went? >>

first of all you can look at http://www.gites-de-france.fr - this organisation formerly only had flats and houses to rent, but they also list nowadays the CdH. You can search on the website e.g. by region and standard and certain amenities. They also have a thick book you can order with all the listings for the whole France.

I did it differently for many parts of France. After writing emails to the tourist offices of the French regions (not departements) many of them sent me good listings of the special regions, most listings were brochures even with pictures of the houses which helped a lot - first to decide whether I like it or not and then to actually find the house... ;-)

To recommend some - do you have any preference where to go yet? As you already said - doing the whole France in ten days won't be a good idea ;-)

Baerbel.