Périgord Pourpre, France

Le Domaine de Sirius

Price per night from$314.73

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR290.91), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Whole again

Setting

Dordogne domaine

It’s time to feel good with a trip to the Dordogne’s wellness-focused Le Domaine de Sirius, a holistic B&B with plant-based food, daily wellbeing activities and acres of flush-inducing countryside. Hearty, healthy meals are cooked by the caring owner Victoire, who’s just bursting to show guests the light (not in an evangelical way). She’ll be on hand to prescribe the tisane for you (based on your particular ailment), cook you dinner or lunch daily, or take you forest bathing. This isn’t the kind of wellness retreat where you stay put feeling wan – the purple Périgord is waiting, with its hill-top bastides, gourmet restaurants and mediaeval market towns. 

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A 30-minute welcome meditation, mantra and relaxation session; and, return transfers to and from Le Buisson train station

Facilities

Photos Le Domaine de Sirius facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Three, including one suite.

Check–Out

11am. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £274.20 (€320), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €0.55 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates usually include breakfast and lunch or dinner (let the hotel know which you'd prefer); full-board options are available for an extra €35 a day. Return transfers from Le Buisson train station are also included.

Also

Wellbeing is on offer 365 days of the year, but there are also frequent retreats, where topics include energy rituals, the body and food, and walking and meditation.

At the hotel

Spa, free WiFi in certain areas, library, 12 acres of grounds, herbal tea station, wellness studio and practitioners, rowing machine and suspension rings, and a small shop selling candles, spices and home-made jams. In rooms: eco-friendly bath products.

Our favourite rooms

The two rooms are named after stars (Sirius itself was the Ancient Egyptians' polestar): healing Chiron has Earth as its element; for a bath tub and a hammock, choose Neptune. Moon is more like a private home, so it’s ideal for families and anyone planning on sticking around to really get their chakras aligned.

Poolside

The outdoor pool is open from spring until the autumn, with sunloungers and a shaded area for snacks.

Spa

The entire domaine is basically a spa, with your wellbeing the only goal, whether it’s achieved on a running trail, a nature walk through the forest or sitting by the fire with a book. A daily wellness activity is included in the room rate: these include coaching sessions, energy cleaning, meditation and mantras, oracle reading, cooking classes and breathwork practice. Additional activities can be booked for €60 each. Guests can also sign up for private yoga, qi gong sessions and massages.

Packing tips

Books to read in a hammock, gardening gloves to help tend the land and a life problem for Victoire to solve. Leave the fast fashion at home.

Also

The 18th-century house is unfortunately not suitable for wheelchair access.

Children

Little Smiths will have to stay home, this retreat is adults only.

Sustainability efforts

Half of the estate’s acreage will eventually be vegetable patches – the aim is to be as self-sufficient as possible. In the meantime, the team is only buying from organic, local (within a 15-minute drive) producers. There’s no air-conditioning in the 18th-century house (its thick walls do the necessary seasonal cooling and warming). All of the bathrooms have eco-friendly products, rainwater is harvested, there’s no plastic on the property and Victoire’s homegrown, plant-based kitchen aims to be zero-waste.

Food and Drink

Photos Le Domaine de Sirius food and drink

Top Table

Swapping sage advice with your fellow guests at the communal table, or out in the garden.

Dress Code

Hemp clothing, optional.

Hotel restaurant

Rabbit food is firmly out in Victoire’s kitchen, which will show you that plant-based meals don’t have to be suitable for small mammals and can instead be creative, delicious and, most importantly, nourishing. You’ll complete a questionnaire before arrival to craft your meal plan and stay, with the catering adapted depending on whether you’re burnt out, trying to lose weight or in need of a detox. Everything is cooked by Victoire and much of the produce is grown on her land, with the Dordogne’s famous nuts put to good use, home-made jams and preserves, and dishes from all over the world. Anyone fearing clean-eating and an overload of lettuce needn’t worry: she loves cooking pastries and there’s something baking every day. And, any meals not included in your chosen package are available from the main restaurant menu, which changes depending on the season.

Hotel bar

This may be France, but B&Bs don’t have alcohol licences – plus hangovers don’t really go with the holistic agenda here. Instead, Victoire will prescribe the healing tisane for you, to wash down her home-made cakes, ice-creams and treats.

Last orders

Meals are served when you want them (within reason).

Room service

Victoire can cook something for you to enjoy in your room or terrace, ideally between 8am and 9pm, but it won’t come as a surprise to learn that she’s very flexible.

Location

Photos Le Domaine de Sirius location
Address
Le Domaine de Sirius
Lieu dit Boulègue
Montferrand du Perigord
24440
France

Surrounded by the purple Périgord in south-west France, the domaine is miles away from anywhere in Montferrand du Périgord.

Planes

The Dordogne’s two main airports are Bergerac, a 45-minute drive from the estate, and Bordeaux, two hours away by car. Bergerac is the quickest and easiest, and private transfers are available for €60 each way.

Trains

Local rail stations include Lalinde, a half-hour drive from the hotel, and Le Buisson, 15 minutes away. Or you can chug into Agen (an hour and 15 minutes away) or Bordeaux. Private transfers from Le Buisson are included in your stay.

Automobiles

The dreamy Dordogne needs a set of wheels in order to be appreciated fully – and the secluded setting is at least 15 minutes away from the nearest sign of life. Rural taxi fares here quickly run up into the hundreds of Euros, so it’s not wise to depend on them. Mediaeval masterpieces within driving distance include the towns of Belvès, Monpazier and Cadouin. There’s a car park in the grounds.

Worth getting out of bed for

The domaine has 12 acres of Dordogne countryside to its name, half of which is farmland, ready for runs, forest bathing and general ambling. A daily wellness activity is included for each room and you can book more – but don’t miss the Périgord Pourpre (Purple Périgord) on your doorstep (if nothing for 15 minutes in a car counts as a doorstep). Nearby bastide beauties to explore include Belvès, Monpazier and Cadouin – some of which are so attractive, they’re part of Frances’ modest Les Plus Beaux Villages association. Or go on a wine pilgrimage (cue references to Britain’s best detective) with a visit to Bergerac, just under an hour away by car. The region is also home to lots of wineries and markets. And if all the mediaeval architecture has got you in the mood for a banquet, be in Beaumont-du-Périgord in the middle of July and bring your dagger.

Local restaurants

There are charming bistros to choose from in all of the neighbouring towns, but for something a little smarter, try Le Vieux Logis in Trémolat, which may be a fine-dining restaurant, but it has a plant-based menu so you can keep up the good work. More vegan and vegetarian goodness awaits at Maggie’s in the marketplace in Villeréal.

Local bars

Anyone in search of alcohol should head to Belvès, which has lots of bars, including the English-owned Planches et Plonk, a cheese and wine bar for fellow Francophiles.

Reviews

Photos Le Domaine de Sirius reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this wellness hotel in France and unpacked their tinctures and tisanes, a full account of their bucolic break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Le Domaine de Sirius in the Dordogne…

France may be a country more associated with carnivore-pleasing cuisine (still-walking steaks, foie gras, snails, frog’s legs…), but it’s plant-based all the way at Le Domaine de Sirius. The owner Victoire is a holistic convert, having been ‘saved’ by changing her lifestyle a few years ago – and she’s desperate to help you out, too. Every detail has been considered: there are even covers for the mirrors in some of the rooms, since feng shui says you should never sleep in a room with a mirror (or have one facing an entrance, for that matter). There’s no chance of anything preventing you from having a good night’s sleep here, though – especially since each room has its energy cleaned with candles and white sage between guests. And when you’re ready for some adventure (or some meat), there’s lots to do in the surrounding countryside, including trips to Bergerac in search of wine and tours of the beautiful bastide towns of the Dordogne Valley. A votre sante.

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Price per night from $314.73