Château de la Couronne
Dordogne, France[view map]
Reviewed by Mr & Mrs Smith.
Mr & Mrs Smith have just got back from a review trip to this boutique hotel near Bordeaux, and just as soon as they’ve unpacked their bags, a full account of their stay in southern France will be with you. In the meantime, just to whet your wanderlust, here’s a quick carte postale from boutique b&b Château de la Couronne…
It takes considerable cojones to take on a 16th-century French château and turn it into a haven of gorgeous modern design, but that’s exactly what English couple Mark and Nicky have managed to do with Château de la Couronne. The hotel still preserves its historic, turreted exterior, but inside, it’s a contemporary revelation, with pieces of 60s and 70s furniture in bold colours sitting alongside locally sourced antiques, natural stone walls and bold-hued artworks. The hotels’ five suites are, to be frank, massive – with hugely spacious bathrooms, many boasting romance-inducing twin tubs – and fitted with every 21st-century luxury; there’s even a private cinema with too-comfy lime green lounge seats and all the instruments a budding band needs to rehearse. Outside, you find acres of manicured parkland worthy of an afternoon’s wide-eyed wander, and just beyond, the peaceful village of Marthon, surrounded by swathes of Dordogne/Poitou-Charentes countryside muddling into the horizon. A fairytale-escape of a boutique hotel, with thoroughly modern manners.