From our guide to French Bed & Breakfast
A truly delightful pair, Martine and Pierre rescued Mouillepied ('wet feet'; today's stream-fed moat is mostly dry) and are restoring house and grounds. Large airy bedrooms are charming and uncluttered...
Another marvellous family château, this one surrounded by a forest of wild boar. Smiling Madame speaks perfect English, is proud of her gardens fronted by topiary sheep and her big, beautiful rooms...
It is easy to be beguiled into inspecting places that look good but feel, upon inspection, less so. Separating the marvellous from the merely good is a daunting task. We have to be fully attuned to the nuances, the subtleties of human behaviour. We have, in short, to stick to our guns and only select the places that we feel really are special. We have to weed out the houses that are fraying at the edges just that bit too much, the owners who think of themselves first and foremost as businesspeople rather than B&B owners.
All Special Places from our French Bed & Breakfast selection »
