Loire Valley, France

Les Sources de Cheverny

Price per night from$230.15

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 (EUR212.73), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Feeling vine

Setting

Serene Sologne forest

Les Sources de Cheverny occupies a heavenly hamlet and acres of lush forest in the Loire Valley. A temple to wine in all its forms, you’ll discover the youth-giving secrets of grapes in the sprawling spa and taste esteemed vintages in the restaurant (including La Grand Vigne, a white wine produced right here on the estate). Depending on the season, days will be spent splashing about in the family-friendly outdoor pool, staying cosy by the library’s roaring fireplace, or borrowing the hotel’s electric bikes to explore the region’s grand châteaux: Chambord, Cheverny, and Chenonceau.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A bottle of local wine in your room on arrival and a room upgrade (subject to availability at the time of check-in)

Facilities

Photos Les Sources de Cheverny facilities

Need to know

Rooms

49, including 25 suites.

Check–Out

Noon. Earliest check-in 3pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £200.51 (€234), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €1.50 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates don’t generally include the buffet breakfast, served either in the Auberge restaurant or delivered to your room in a basket – it’s €25 an adult and €12.50 a child.

Also

The hotel is in the process of producing its own organic house wine: La Grand Vigne Vintage (it takes its name from the famous restaurant at sister property Les Sources de Caudalie). The variety is Romorantin, a crisp and delicate white wine that was a favourite of King Frances I of France, who made it into his mum’s good books by having the vines imported to the Loire from Burgundy as a gift for her.

Hotel closed

The hotel closes for a few weeks every winter – exact dates vary annually.

At the hotel

La Grand Vigne winery, farm, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, spa, hammam, gym, Pilates, yoga and fitness classes, wellies and bikes to borrow, on-site parking and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: tea and coffee, plug adaptors, Caudalie bath products.

Our favourite rooms

The stand-out suite is Le Baron Perché, a wooden cabin that stands on stilts and overlooks the lake. It takes its name from the Italian novel The Baron in the Trees by Italo Colvino about a young aristocrat who rebels against his parents by climbing into the trees and remaining there for the rest of his life, vowing never to set food on the earth again. You’ll understand how he feels after a night in this haven with its private Nordic outdoor bath tub, panoramic views of the estate and tasteful interiors – it’s nearly impossible to clamber back down to reality.

Poolside

The family-friendly heated outdoor pool in the grounds is surrounded by forest for sylvan swimming sessions. To use the indoor spa pool, wooden jacuzzi and hammam, you’ll need to book a treatment (a minimum of €154 a person a half-day) or buy a pass (€39 for two hours’ access).

Spa

A hand-painted forest scene welcomes you to the tranquil spa complex where treatments use all-natural Caudalie products that harness the anti-aging and antioxidant power of grapes. Indulge in a Premier Cru facial, a crushed Cabernet body scrub or a half-day ritual in one of the seven treatment rooms (three are double cabins designed for couples). Afterwards, swim blissful laps in the spa pool housed in a double-height wooden atrium and soak away any remaining stresses in the oak Jacuzzi that resembles a wine barrel. Speaking of wine, you can undo all of last night’s liquid excess in the fully-equipped fitness room – don’t worry, despite the oil paintings in gilded frames on the wall, it is permitted to work up a sweat in here. Or, go slower during the weekly yoga session on Saturday evenings (€26) that’s held in a high-ceilinged salon in the original château – reverse warrior has never looked so regal.

Packing tips

Leave room in your suitcase for your new favourite wines and bring plenty of activewear if you’re planning to make use of the gym, yoga studio or cycle routes.

Also

All common areas and two bedrooms (a Superior room and a Prestige room) are adapted for wheelchair users.

Pet‐friendly

Dogs are welcome for a charge of €30 a night; bowls and treats are provided. See more pet-friendly hotels in Loire Valley.

Children

All ages are very welcome. Cots (€20 a night for ages three and under) and extra beds (€50 a night for ages 3-12) can be added to all except Superior Rooms.

Overview

All ages are very welcome. Cots (€20 a night for ages three and under) and extra beds (€50 a night for ages 3-12) can be added to all except Superior Rooms.

Best for

There’s plenty of distraction on offer for all ages: pony rides, child-sized bikes to borrow and feeding the goats on the farm. For tiny Smiths, the indoor playroom has soft toys and games galore.

Recommended rooms

Larger families will need to book the Suite which can sleep a maximum of two adults, two children and one baby; all other rooms and suites can accommodate a maximum of two adults and one child under 12 in a cot or bed.

Swimming pool

They can splash to their heart’s content in the family-friendly outdoor swimming pool.

Meals

The laid-back L'Auberge restaurant has a children’s menu and high chairs to borrow.

Babysitting

Babysitting can be arranged with a minimum of two days’ notice – available for €50 an hour (two days notice). Minimum of two hours a booking.

No need to pack

Cots, baby bedlinen, changing mats, bottle sterilising equipment and high chairs are available on request.

Sustainability efforts

The hotel is committed to a light touch on the local environment – all food is locally-sourced and seasonal and food waste is composted; the chemical-free Caudalie bath products are made from recyclable and refillable bottles; there’s also a waste-water treatment facility on-site.

Food and Drink

Photos Les Sources de Cheverny food and drink

Top Table

Choose a table at the back to watch the chefs in action; on balmy evenings, bag a table outside to watch the sun set over the picturesque grounds.

Dress Code

Easygoing elegance is the order of the day at L’Auberge.

Hotel restaurant

L’Auberge is warm, cosy and relaxed. The dining room has vaulted, beamed ceilings, an inviting fireplace and open-plan kitchen – in the summer months, the mismatched wooden tables spill out onto the terrace. The menu uses local and seasonal ingredients to make traditional French country dishes like Potimarron soup (pumpkin and chestnut), glazed pork and rum babas. 

Le Favori, the hotel’s fine dining restaurant headed up by chef Frédéric Calamels, was recently awarded one Michelin star. Like L’Auberge, Le Favori champions locally-sourced ingredients to produce intricate dishes like courgette from the Varennes farms with ground ivy and seared blue lobster. Immersion in the hotel’s wild and cultivated natural surroundings goes beyond just the taste buds: the restaurant’s glass-walls open out to a verdant feast-for-the-eyes.

 

Hotel bar

In one corner of L’Auberge restaurant is the vibrant wine bar. The master sommeliers can lead you through tastings of local Loire bottles or recommend their favourite tipples to accompany the tasty tapas. Here, you can also try the Haut Lafitte wine produced at sister hotel Les Sources de Caudalie in Bordeaux.

Last orders

At L’Auberge, breakfast is from 7am to 10am, lunch is 12-2pm, and dinner is from 7pm to 9pm; small bites are available at the bar from 10am to 10pm.

Room service

There’s a limited room service menu on offer until 10pm; if hunger strikes after hours, your minibar is stocked with local treats.

Location

Photos Les Sources de Cheverny location
Address
Les Sources de Cheverny
Chemin du Breuil
Cheverny
41700
France

Les Sources de Cheverny occupies an 18th-century château, stone farmhouses and rustic cabins, all set in 110 acres of private forest in the heart of the Loire Valley.

Planes

The closest is Tours, though if you’re coming from outside France you’ll probably touch down in Paris – the hotel is just over two hours’ drive from Orly airport; car transfers can be arranged with advance notice.

Trains

The direct train from Paris to Blois takes an hour and a half. From the station, it’s a 25-minute drive to the hotel; with advance notice, the hotel can send a car to collect you.

Automobiles

You can roam much of the immediate region by bike, but if you plan to explore the larger Loire Valley’s vineyards and chateaux, we recommend hiring one at the airport.

Worth getting out of bed for

You’ll never be at a loss for things to do here, with 110 acres of forest, lawns and gardens. Explore the small working farm with goats and chickens, admire the neat rows in the vineyard, or stroll around the lake; the forest paths are perfect for restorative walks or a tour on an electric bike. Reward yourself for your efforts with a detoxifying wrap or deep tissue massage in the spa, or head straight to the bar for a glass of something local. 


If you’re leaving the grounds, make Chambord your first port of call – built as a hunting lodge for King Frances I, this fairy-tale castle is the largest in the Loire Valley; the hotel can pack you a picnic to enjoy in the formal geometric gardens. If you’re keen to taste local drops, you can discover hundreds of wines from the Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny appellations at the Maisons des Vins de Cheverny. You can taste seven wines – they’re poured from high-tech dispensers – for just €6.50.

Local restaurants

If you’re making the day trip to the lively Gothic city of Tours (a Unesco world heritage site), Nobuki Table Japonaise might be a welcome palate cleanser if you’re having momentary French food fatigue; their inventive bento boxes make a perfect lunch option. And for supper with a serious view, stop in at local Smith spot Relais de Chambord for dinner – their restaurant, Grand St Michel, has an outdoor terrace that faces Chambord castle.

Reviews

Photos Les Sources de Cheverny 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 holistic hotel in the French countryside and unpacked their bottles of wine and Caudalie bath products, a full account of their bucolic break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Les Sources de Cheverny in the Loire Valley

It’s been twenty years since husband and wife duo Alice and Jerome Tourbier founded famed estate Les Sources de Caudalie in Bordeaux. Now, they’ve brought their wine-and-wellness formula to another of France’s vine-striped regions, the Loire Valley. Les Sources de Cheverny’s rooms, suites and grounds sprawl across a romantic chateau, traditional stone farmhouses and cosy cabins, all surrounded by private forest. The star of the show is the Caudalie spa housed in a breathtaking double-height barn with an indoor pool that gazes out onto the trees through floor-to-ceiling windows, a bubbling Jacuzzi in a wine barrel and light-filled treatment rooms that use the brand’s vine-based products. Speaking of wine, you can sample a host of local vintages – including La Grand Vigne, a delicious Romarantin white wine that’s produced on the estate – in the open-plan Auberge restaurant along with hearty dishes dictated by the seasons. And, though there’s more than enough distraction here to keep the whole family occupied, there are bikes (of both the electronic and regular variety) to borrow if the valley’s ancient vineyards and Renaissance castles beckon.

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Price per night from $230.15