In the know

Our favourite rooms: Pierre d’Arceluz has a lofty ceiling, wooden beams, an exposed stone wall and a swathe of white fabric above the bed, suspended from hooks on the ceiling. For standalone seclusion, book up Maison d’Amis, a one-bedroom cottage with its own kitchen, and a living room with a working wood-burning fire. Stone walls, imposing oak beams and Combe stone floors create a romantic mediaeval milieu, and there’s space for extra beds if you have young ones in tow.
Packing tips: An empty suitcase to fill with booty from the boutique; some riding clothes and boots for a canter on Pierre and Max’s horses; your sociable side for conversing with your hosts.
Also: There are two VTT bikes for guests to explore the trails. Post-cycling aches or pains can be relieved, if you ask the hotel to book you a massage.

Current offers

Smith card offer: A bottle of sparkling Charlemagne wine

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Le Logis de Puygâty

Poitou-Charentes, France[view map]

Style: Magnificent mediaeval manor
Setting: Cognac country

Le Logis de Puygâty is a 15th-century manor that’s more regal than rustic, where farmers’ tools sit alongside crystal chandeliers and luxurious linen. Old troughs double up as sinks, hay racks act as headboards, and stable doors provide tabletops, all lovingly restored and re-interpreted by design-dons and owners, Pierre and Max.

Need to know

Rooms: Four rooms, including one suite.
Rates: €120–€250, including tax; excludes Continental breakfast at €12.50.
Check-out: 11am but flexible, subject to availability. Late check-out is free for Mr & Mrs Smith guests. Check-in, from 3pm.
Facilities: Library, including DVDs and CDs, gardens and a Daimler limousine providing a taxi service for guests (transfers and short journeys only). In rooms: free WiFi, CD/DVD player, flatscreen TV, preloaded iPod, kettle, fridge and minibar.
Poolside: Surrounded by boxwood and close to the woodland path, there is an outdoor, unheated pool, tiled in limestone, at the back of the main building.
Also: The owners have three dogs, along with a menagerie of other pets. They therefore prefer guests to come canine-free, but occasionally make exceptions, charging a dog fee of €15 a day. Ashtrays are left on the terraces but there’s no smoking inside.

Food & drink

Hotel restaurant: The Logis offers a flexible table d'hôte, with owner Pierre rustling up French and international dishes. Give 24 hours’ notice and you can have a three- or four-course feast for €50, with wine included. Sample dishes include duck breast with soy sauce and sweet potatoes, and Lebanese aubergine and beef lasagne.
Dress code: After all Pierre’s efforts, it’d be churlish not to scrub up. Match the hotel’s design quirks with a relaxed shirt in a hue worthy of a painter’s palette, or a tea-dress toughened up with statement jewellery, to match the quirky iron furnishings.
Top table: Dine with your hosts in the dining room. You’ll eat around a whitewashed wooden table overlooked by dramatic paintings, including a gargantuan 19th-century Medea. Alternatively, sit in the bar area for an intimate dinner.
Last orders: Breakfast is served between 8.30am and 10.30am, dinner between 8pm and 8.30pm and the bar stays open as long as guests stay thirsty.
Room service: You can opt to enjoy breakfast or dinner in your room.
Hotel bar: Drink like a farmer whose harvest has come in, with an ice-cold beer in the barn, bar and boutique, Sorti de Grange. There’s also a cocktail menu to explore – quaff the Cocktail Puygâty, a blend of Cognac, syrup and freshly squeezed lime juice.

Also worth knowing

Children: This hotel is better suited to couples - leave the children at home!
Weddings: This hotel is suitable for weddings. More…

Smith Members offer

A bottle of sparkling Charlemagne wine

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Book this hotel

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