Le Petit Manoir Des Bruyeres

“Love it or hate it?”

I'm a bit conflicted about our stay here, so let me lay out the pros and cons. For reference, we stayed in the luxury room in the main house. You will love this place if: You love cats so much, that finding evidence on the sheets that the cat has been occupying your bed before you checked in is n… lisää

I'm a bit conflicted about our stay here, so let me lay out the pros and cons. For reference, we stayed in the luxury room in the main house. You will love this place if: You love cats so much, that finding evidence on the sheets that the cat has been occupying your bed before you checked in is no problem. You loved staying at your rich grandmother's/aunt's grand country estate, filled with knick knacks, antique furniture, collectibles, books and other stuff, with decor appropriate to her era. You appreciate a quiet country setting on a small acreage, with smaller buildings set in a garden, and don't mind that you have to drive your car if you want to see anything more. ( eg 8km to town center). A big luxurious bathroom, done in marble, tile and mirrors, with a big soaker tub, and fixtures in baby blue with gold plated hardware is important. You enjoy eating breakfast around a big communal table with other residents, accompanied by your very talkative elderly hostess who speaks only French. Your favourite breakfast is a carbohydrate-rich spread of various French baking, accompanied by home made jams in 10 flavours. You don't mind a mattress as firm as a hospital bed. High quality amenities, including slippers, robes etc. Is important in your room. You may not enjoy this place if: You object to finding the seat next to yours at breakfast occupied by a cat, sitting like an Abyssinian princess, looking for an opportunity to grasp food from the table. Then again, what do you expect the cat to do, once your fellow table mates have stopped feeding it croissants. You want to be able to stroll around to soak up the attractive locale - as there is nothing much to see in the vicinity. You prefer a regular shower over a tub, since the (gold plated) hand held shower head on the big soaker tub is not very comfortable. Finding all the walls of your room covered in (padded!) chintz fabric, with a striped bed canopy is not your idea of design, because you prefer a contemporary look, not something from the last century. You never liked your grandmother or aunt. Although your hostess does not speak English, she does try to be helpful. She circled some 'must see' local destinations on a map, and was very present during the stay. She certainly loves to talk. I suspect most people would either really like or dislike this place. Being a bit of a sucker for grand country estates myself, I will let the positives win out. It certainly is an authentic, if slightly eccentric, experience.

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“UNNACCEPTABLE”

There wasn't a warm welcome here but the elderly and not too agile host wasn't 100%. We were shown to our room which was old fashioned and quirky, we knew it was a bit quirky from the photos. However it was very clean and well presented. It was raining which didn't help. So we sat in the dismal, al… lisää

There wasn't a warm welcome here but the elderly and not too agile host wasn't 100%. We were shown to our room which was old fashioned and quirky, we knew it was a bit quirky from the photos. However it was very clean and well presented. It was raining which didn't help. So we sat in the dismal, all purpose and large salon in front of an unlit fire to relax and read, which was okay but a bit depressing in the badly lit room! We asked for wine and found that the only white was Chablis, which after tasting we passed over. They had a reasonable (though rather pricey) selection of local reds and we the St Amour Medalle d'or. Which proved to be acceptable. We were the only ones dining that night and it truly seemed as though the cook had 'found' some ingredients in the fridge and made a meal of them! Starter was v. small scallops in a sauce, then pork medallions in a sauce with such dreadful reheated vegetables. I didn't have the dessert which was an individual apple pie, plonked on the plate, no cream, creme anglais or ice cream! And it was most certainly from the supermarket. I can say it was terribly disappointing and without doubt the worst meal we have had! Of course it does depend on individual taste, however overall we would have preferred a less embellished bathroom and bedroom, and just a little more style and taste in the general furnishings and more up to date bathroom fittings. Of course this is a small Manor House which in fairness had many interesting features but none of this managed to enhance our stay. The price of the room was 180.00 euros including a very bread and cake oriented breakfast which was not bad value. The dinner was 46 euros each coffee 3 euros extra. At any price it was awful and we felt quite frankly 'conned' with the dinner.

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