In the know

Our favourite rooms: Antique birdcages hang from the ceiling of La Volière, which translates as ‘the aviary’. This room has burnt-orange walls, a four-poster dressed with a lemon quilt, and French doors leading to a patio. La Chambre Pigeonnier is named for its location in the ancient pigeon house. There is a downstairs sitting area, a mezzanine bed with a hand-carved frame, and a bathroom with chessboard tiles.
Packing tips: Some bubble-wrap to package up your Moustiers-Sainte-Marie pottery with care; a notepad-cum-recipe book so you can record the restaurant’s creations; driving gloves and a headscarf for whizzing around the roads in style.
Also: The hammocks by the greenhouse are the perfect spot to unwind with a good book.

Need to know, La Bastide de Moustiers, Provence, France

Current offers

Smith card offer: A basket of seasonal fruit and flowers in your room

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La Bastide de Moustiers

Provence, France[view map]

Style: Ducasse's enticing inn
Setting: Gorgeous Provençal gardens

La Bastide de Moustiers is Alain Ducasse’s romantic hillside hideaway, and along with its obligatory wow-factor restaurant, the hotel showcases local craftsmanship, from the sheets to the teacups. The surroundings are spectacular – verdant fields, a dramatic gorge, limestone cliffs and a turquoise thermal pool nearby – and you could easily lose a day in the Bastide’s gardens.

Need to know

Rooms: 12, including one suite.
Rates: €190–€400, excluding tax and breakfast (€20).
Check-out: Noon. Earliest check-in, 4pm. Both are flexible, depending on availability.
Facilities: Private park, gardens, library including DVDs and free WiFi. In rooms: Bains Plus cotton nightshirts, flatscreen TV, DVD/CD player, iPod dock and minibar.
Poolside: The elegant pool faces the vineyards and is shaded by a wall of tall pines, with white sun loungers and parasols, and a small stone building with changing rooms.
Also: Should you like to make a dramatic entrance, the hotel has a helipad. You can also banish any residual pre-holiday tension with a massage by the pool.

Food & drink

Hotel restaurant: Alain Ducasse’s gastronomic restaurant, headed up by his protégé, Wilfred Hocquet, is a foodie’s fantasy. Vegetables, herbs and edible flowers are plucked from the gardens, ornamenting the delectable dishes, such as roasted young pigeon with polenta, beetroot and turnip.
Dress code: It’s a relaxed eatery, but don’t let the seductive food outdo you – ornament your (loose-waisted) ensemble with a touch of glamour.
Top table: Take a terrace table for views as beautiful as the menu’s offerings. For a ravishingly romantic meal, book the intimate Salon des Amoureux (lovers’ salon), which has just one table.
Last orders: Breakfast is dished up between 7.30am until noon, lunch is a leisurely 12.20pm–2pm, and you can linger over dinner from 7.30pm until 9pm.
Room service: With such a tempting restaurant just a stroll from your boudoir, you won’t mourn the lack of in-room treats.
Hotel bar: Though food takes centre stage at this hotel, there is a small but well-stocked bar area, in a cosy room next to reception. The bar itself is fashioned from carved antique wood, topped with silver ice-buckets. Green glass lamps hang from above and the open fire provides winter warmth.

Also worth knowing

Children: Little Smiths are welcome, with cots provided for €25 and extra beds for €45. Babysitting with a local nanny can be arranged.
Weddings: This hotel is suitable for weddings. More…

Smith Members offer

A basket of seasonal fruit and flowers in your room

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