Executive Golf Magazine

This luxury château hotel near Lyon is surrounded by the famous vineyards of Beaujolais, has a moat, a drawbridge and towers of honey-coloured stone. Enjoy cookery courses, wine tasting, golf and tennis, or indulge in the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant and excellent selection of wines.

This is a really staggering building in a tiny village, its historic might absolutely apparent. Complete with extraordinary castle walls, moat, drawbridge and towers in the honey-coloured stone called pierre dorée. The interior of the château is the brainchild of a truly cultured woman, Lady Helen Hamlyn who masterminded the renovations. The rooms in both the original 13th-century castle and the ‘new’ (ie: 15th-century) block are beautiful. Bedrooms are sublimely decorated with fragile antique textiles and made up with tactile Swiss bedlinen and bathrooms are grand and feature antique marble baths.

Hotel restaurant
Michelin-starred La Salle des Gardes serves modern cuisine, as well as traditional dishes and spit-roasted meats and game, in the former guards’ room and on the south-facing terrace. Lunch is served 12h–13h30; dinner, 19h30–21h30.

Top table
Dine by the fire in winter; outside under the century-old lime trees in summer.

Hotel bar
There’s a small bar off the magnificent first floor sitting room, open until the last guest leaves.

Rooms
21, including eight junior suites, four suites and one apartment.

Rates
€445–€915 for the rooms; €2,250–€2,500 for the apartment; from €25,000 a night for exclusive occupancy of the entire château (this rate is inclusive of the €10,000 minimum spend on food and drinks). Breakfast, from €32.

Check-out
Midday.

Facilities
Library with internet access. Guided walking, horse riding, golf, tennis, cookery classes and wine-tasting. Bicycles to hire at €40 a day. Luxury chauffeured cars available for transfers and touring. Heated outdoor pool in summer.

Room service
24-hour service, with a reduced menu after 22h.

This hotel overview and images are courtesy of the boutique hotel experts at Mr & Mrs Smith

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