Detailed review by Chouchin
Chouchin
Kent, United Kingdom97%
Now no longer a working mill, but instead converted into a rather nice four star hotel. However, being secluded, away from the town and off the main road in its own little water meadow, you can still "sit and dream with Nellie Dean" and listen to the waters of the Dronne "murmur soft and low".
I stayed here for a night last September on my way further south. Having left a cloudy, cool UK (as it had been all summer), I found myself less than 24 hours later floating in a swimming pool looking up at a blue French sky. Reclining afterwards on the classy pool furniture and in the evening on the little room terrace I reflected that I had found paradise without the hassle of a long-haul flight or unfriendly wildlife, animal or human. In fact, I seriously considered staying here instead of moving on to my ultimate destination.
Possibly I was over-reacting to the endorphins released by unaccustomed sunshine, but looking back in the cold light of January I can find little to fault or criticise. It’s not a hotel that shouts out its virtues and facilities. Invisible from the road, it is approached over quite a long and rather rough track and on arrival you come upon a collection of disparate former industrial buildings. After it was a mill it became a shoe factory. But it is far from ramshackle, having been carefully restored to retain the different building styles and materials while providing modern-day comforts. The owners have happily resisted the temptation to over-modernise by enclosing everything in glass and linking walkways.
The centrepiece is the 16th century mill, a two-story slab with a shallow pitched roof, which houses the restaurant and two of the rooms. The mill wheel is still in place and you get into the building by a little bridge. Little bridges are everywhere in the grounds as the Dronne fans out into streams and rivulets. The rest of the accommodation is spread over the group of buildings. Many hotels like to boast of “individually furnished rooms but this one can claim “individually built accommodation. Our room was one of two in a single-story stone building, our own semi-detached nook. Other rooms, 10 in all, are on the first floor of a stable-type building approached by an exterior wooden staircase, or open on to the swimming pool terrace, or are in the mill building.
Interior décor is indeed all different, although as the hotel was full there was a limited amount of nosing I could do on your behalf. Our room was cool (did I mention the hot weather??) and dim, with ceiling beams and matching dark wood furniture, not heavy but rustic. Plenty of space to move around, although less so on the balcony, you couldn’t get a lounger out there. The bathroom was done in a chocolate and claret combo, which sounds daunting when written down but actually worked quite well. Again there was plenty of space, but I must tell you about the shower. It ran the whole width of the room, with two shower heads so you could share, or cavort around on your own with both jets going. The shower tray was a shingle-beach effect, happily without the foot-bruising properties of the real thing; all that was lacking was a rain-shower head to complete the Bali-esque effect. It amused me no end. Obviously I don’t get out enough.
And so later across t’mill for dinner. Decking is laid outside for alfresco dining but in mid September I find it a bit too fresco when the sun goes down. This is a temperate paradise. One or two brave souls did, however. Dinner was very good indeed. There was a good but not over-extensive choice, and the food was well cooked, with fresh ingredients, simply prepared and not over-elaborate. It was let down a little by the dessert. I had a tart which was a bit heavy so I know what to avoid next time. Breakfast, unusually, was not a buffet, but a whole tray of goodies was brought to the table: warm breads, fresh orange juice, fruit compote, jams, yoghurts, coffee by the gallon. I’d forgotten what it was like to have breakfast actually served, and I decided I liked the experience very much.
The owners are very hands-on, with attentive but not over-weening service. They did all the restoration and renovation so it’s very much their baby. If ever you feel it would be a good idea to sell up and buy a wreck in France, with a view to opening a hotel, take a look at the work in progress photos on the website. That’ll make you think again. But they seemed to have retained their sanity, and make guests very welcome.
Are there any downsides? Well if you want to immerse yourself in the French language, this is not the place. There were only English guests when I was there, the area remains perennially popular with us Brits, and especially the pretty little nearby town of Brantôme. Also it’s not cheap, the average price for a double room being about €200 without breakfast, although the range is from €120 to €270.
In France they are very keen on invoking the "patrimoine", or heritage, as a way of renewing one’s internal spirits, preferably in a non-urban setting so that communing with nature intensifies the experience. This hotel has both, and the website duly sings of a "hymne à la nature" and an "éveil des sens" (awakening of the senses). So did I feel history seeping through the soles of my feet and into my soul? Well not exactly, but I did feel rested, relaxed and well looked after. All in all, a good place to come for a few days with your own Dean, Nellie or James.
Moulin de Vigonac Relais du Silence9
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